Possible electrical gremlin???
Hi all,
I have used this forum for years for solutions on various vag cars I've owned but cant find an answer to this anywhere regardless of how I word my search.
I bought a 2006 a6 2.0 tdi se avant in sept last year and have noticed by chance that when the car is locked the needles on the dials sometimes light up and flicker on and off. I had the battery replaced at the weekend as it had the original battery and wasnt holding a charge. Since then I had the aas active light come on this morning even though its not fitted to the car? Also just once the big light in the boot turned itself on at some point during the night. I have found similar things relating to a4's and door micro switches but no one else seems to have had matching symptoms.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
Welcome to VWAF! :) .
It will aid you to have a diagnostics scan IMO. This map contains members of VWAF who have VCDS, for some beer tokens a member may do a scan for you. You can make a request via this section of forum or I can contact a member for you via PM.
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking this would be the likely root. I will check out those links. Do you think they would also be able to help with an mmi update as I dont think its ever had one. The version is 1.2.0.0! I would love the 3d view on the sat nav and im looking to install dab at some point this year
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
No worries :) .
The 3D view was not to my liking, maybe to yours :) . Google the words mmi 2g 3d view , then select Images and 3rd image is MMI 2G. Until you've got to the bottom of the electrical gremlins I'd steer clear of MMI Firmware update TBH.
Besides a scan, a visual check of some of the electrical "places" maybe prudent. For example:-
i) check plenum chamber electrical boxes (black plastics ones either side), signs of if water is getting in (ie lid not on properly).
ii) check the fuse areas either side of dash panels, in the boot RHS.
Other areas I will every so often check (ie DIY service time as my car is a 2005) is wiring harness locations like door hinges, boot lid hinge. I once had a BMW which was freaking out electrically, the wiring loom on the rear boot lid had several wires with cracked insulation and shorting with each other.
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
Might be a loose plug somewhere. Ive already found 1 when it told me all the rear lights on the passenger side had failed. When I looked the connector wasn't quite pushed in all the way on one side. Was only 2mm but seemed to make the difference
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
Your guess is as good as mine.
The scan will give you something to go on, the 1st scan will probably have historic faults as well, so basically save that log, clear all faults and then when an issue has occurred do another scan, this 2nd scan will be better to go off of to see what maybe issue.
Another visual check you can do is find out if the car is going to "sleep", after locking car view the hazard light switch illumination, for a few minutes it should stay illuminated (I'll time mine when get a chance), if it stays on after say 10mins then IMO whatever the electrical fault is it's not allowing the car to go to "sleep". This may cause battery drain, a low battery can result in "electrical gremlins" as well.
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
The car is definitely going to sleep. I havent timed it but it seems to sleep fairly quickly. The old batttery did get very low when it was cold over Xmas. Went down to about 10%. Since putting a new battery in the windows are quicker and so are the mirrors.
The trouble with doing a second scan is that it seems random when the fault occurs and I've only caught it by chance each time so I guess my best bet would be to scan it and leave it say 2 weeks and scan again
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
As I don't know what you know about the A6 Avant I'll just forewarn you the rear washer pipework goes from front to rear on left side of interior. It is known to break at the rear boot hinge, IIRC models after 2007 had a more flexible section of pipework at the hinge, earlier models did have a VAG TPI/TSB and dealers FOC were carrying out fix. If you have MMI 2G high it kills that as there are MMI components in stack there.
It's also a good idea in the winter to use low freezing point washer fluid (I go nuts with neat -23°C stuff), as if it freezes the rigid pipework splits and cause all sorts of problems.
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
a spare key fob may have the welcome home lights switched on, where the fob you use all the time may have it switched off
or disconnecting the battery has reset the settings in your mmi ?
Re: Possible electrical gremlin???
I was aware of the rear washer pipe issue. I always research common faults of cars I'm thinking of buying