A6 (2007) - Annoying Electrical Issues - all connected?

[niall campbell]

its number 11 above the battery

do yourself a favour & replace number 12 as well, the rear cigarette one. For all it costs

http://acislovensko.sk/wp-content/up...useList-EN.pdf


Your internal light as well might goose up things

[rjsdavis]

The oil level can be affected by leaving the car on a slope, maybe forward facing down hill for a change rather up hill

maybe the oil needs changed etc etc

You could try an oil flush next time, or every 10,000 mile change instead of long life 20,000 mile change


Just monitor it or change the sensor ........................ I would wait till after next oil change, cheapest option

Thanks Niall

This isn't it. I completed a full timing belt service on the car just two months ago. Everything was changed. The oil temp/level sensor hadn't played up before or after that service - it just randomly occurred, at the exact same time as the compressor stopping working - for no particular reason. The car sits on a driveway which is near enough dead flat.

A brand new, genuine Hella unit was fitted. This made no difference whatsoever. Then it just stopped, and the compressor started working again. Figure that out?!@?!?

This is why I'm scratching my head - I'm pretty confident now, that something else triggered both to go. I'd be very confident that the oil sensor I removed, is probably fine, and if I fitted it back in, would probably work ok. I should probably stop thinking about it - but I've still got the battery drain problem - it's not impossible that they're connected also?!

[niall campbell]

They sound as if they are connected.

When the Compressor wasn't working, the car should have been scanned ( I use an Autel VAG505 ) and hopefully thrown up a Fault code. Now the Fault Codes are a great thing in that it certainly speeds up fault finding, just not so good is it can lead you up a country path.

The car might have noticed a Fault and either put it in a Stored folder or a Pending folder.

You have to check both in my humble opinion & Clear the Fault in both just to make sure things are reset.

Anyway, it could have been that for whatever reason there was a miscommunication due to software problems or some random weird consequence of the Compressor fault.

If you have the Diesel car, leave the Aircon on all year round. A diesel car loves working hard & you wont notice any worse fuel consumption. Your windows will also stay mist free when you jump in the car in winter with wet clothes. The Aircon on Auto will also blow hot air. You also wont get bugs growing in the aircon unit as well

If you have an Autel vag505 , you select Audi on main screen, then System I think, Full scan and it checks all the different systems

Of course vcds would be the ultimate daddy to get, but I can reset the oil service light and rewind the rear brakes.

[rjsdavis]

They sound as if they are connected.

When the Compressor wasn't working, the car should have been scanned ( I use an Autel VAG505 ) and hopefully thrown up a Fault code. Now the Fault Codes are a great thing in that it certainly speeds up fault finding, just not so good is it can lead you up a country path.

It threw up the N280 Voltage regulator fault code (010 - Open or Short to Plus) when the compressor stopped working. It also reported that the Oil Temp/Level sensor was simply defective (Sensor for Oil Level/Temperature (G266) - 010 - Open or Short to Plus)

I can't remember how many times these (and other) faults were cleared - it was loads. Both would return almost instantly within VCDS... until it just started working again last week. There's no rhyme or reason for it. They just started working after a complete discharge of the battery due to the drain problem. I hadn't even cleared the codes!

Thanks for the other post on the fuses - I'll check them in the morning, but have a sneaky feeling that they're going to be ok. We'll see...

[niall campbell]

Some people will say to disconnect the battery, switch on the headlights and then connect Plus & Minus battery terminals together for 10 minutes to drain all the power in the electrics.

A hard reset


Which, if your battery was completely flat, would have more or less done the same thing

A bit like switching the power off at the wall to fix your Sky box

[rjsdavis]

its number 11 above the battery

do yourself a favour & replace number 12 as well, the rear cigarette one. For all it costs

http://acislovensko.sk/wp-content/up...useList-EN.pdf


Your internal light as well might goose up things

Hi Niall

Thanks very much for posting up this link - it took me while to work out that even though this fuse list link is for left-hand drive vehicles only, it turns that you can't just reverse left-hand for right-hand, I've found that right-hand vehicles have fuses in completely different places too! It's bloody confusing!

For example, on the PDF in the post, for the triple rack of fuses on the front passenger side of the vehicle on UK cars, for a RHD drive vehicle in the top rack (Black carrier); Fuse 1 is vacant and Fuse 2 is for the Control Unit for the advanced key (15amp), on the PDF doc above , in the same location it states that Fuse 1 is for the Control Unit for the Advanced Key (15amp) and Fuse 2 is for the cigarette lighter, front (20amp) !!

Therefore, I've had to discard the PDF document, as it's not right. Not for UK vehicles anyway... I'll try and photograph and upload the UK spec fuse list separately when I get a chance.

Also - counter-intuitively, the two fuse racks in the boot run from bottom to top - ***? Such stupidity. Anyway, it took me a while to realise that the two fuses that control the cigarette lighters in the front (driver) and front (rear passengers) are the top two (Fuses 11 & 12 as you correctly described them). Interestingly, I noticed that these two fuses in my car have both been changed, as neither of them match all of the other original Audi fuses. They are both correct at 20Amp, but they are a style that makes it virtually impossible to work out whether the fuse has blown or not! - I'm going to change the Fuse 11 regardless to see if this makes it work or not - I suspect that a previous owner/driver has spilt drink on the driver's cigarette lighter in the past and shorted it out - it's not great positioning on Audi's part, as it looks easy enough to get it wet.

I also found a nasty looking cable coming out of the bottom red rack on the front passenger side fuse box. I spotted that this was part of the legacy wiring from the (dead) Parrot telephone system that I'd removed weeks earlier, but didn't check the fuse boxes. This has also now been removed, as there's got to be a chance that this non-original extra cable could be messing with my electrics, even though the blue Parrott brain box that it had been powering previously, has long-since been removed.

I have found what appears to be some anomalies with the fuses - the vast bulk of them appear to be correct, in the correct slots and with the correct fuses ratings. With the exception of:

1 - Driver's side fuse box: No. 14 - Brake Light Switch (5A) - is missing from my car. Should I not have one inserted?
2 - Driver's side fuse box: No. 18 - Headlight Electronics (right-side) (5A) - is missing from my car. Is this for Xenon/Adaptive headlamps only?
3 - Driver's side fuse box: No. 40 - MMI display screen (5A) - is missing from my car. Surely I need this?? It goes without saying that my MMI screen works, so was confused about this!!

So, in summary, I'm going to change the Fuse 11 to see if it makes my front cigarette lighter work. Fingers crossed. I've removed a dodgy ex-Parrot power cable. Am hoping that this is causing the power drain. Have a replacement courtesy light on order from a breaker to replace the rusty one that I removed the other day. If changing Fuse 11 doesn't work, I'll change out the cigarette lighter unit completely - still a chance that this dead unit is causing me the power drain issue? And that's all I've got...

As an aside, I have just got a gen Audi automatic anti-dazzle rear view mirror from a breaker. Does anyone know if these cars are pre-loomed for this upgrade - i.e. that I will find a power plug tucked away behind the headlining light unit for this to be plugged into to power it? I noticed, this afternoon whilst going through all of these fuses, that Fuse 11 in the passenger side front (brown) fuse rack is allocated to this function (Automatic Anti-dazzle interior mirror) (5A) - which currently, on my car, is an empty fuse slot - I am hoping that it is as simple as remove the old standard mirror, fit the new automatic one, plug it into the unused power plug in the headlining and add a 5A fuse into the Fuse 11 (brown) slot to make it work?

[niall campbell]

if you know the rear cigarette heater works, swap Fuse 11 & 12 over

if the rear still works then you know the Fuse is ok

[rjsdavis]

if you know the rear cigarette heater works, swap Fuse 11 & 12 over

if the rear still works then you know the Fuse is ok

D'oh!

Schoolboy error... just swapped them, and the front cigarette lighter works (albeit the red ring light around the driver's lighter base does not come on, like the one in the back does). It's a duff fuse. Can't believe I didn't think to try that myself!

[niall campbell]

dont worry, we have all been there

[rjsdavis]

Ok - all fuses checked and now working. Front cigarette lighter now working also... Rear tailgate light replaced and now working fine.

Still got the serious power drain - only last thought that I've got, is that the cigarette lighters remain "on" after the car has been shut down and locked. That is to say, that if you leave a mobile charger in either of them, they still continue to be powered after the shut-down and lock. Shouldn't they only come on with the ignition? It's not like they go off after a while either - they remain on, for as long as you leave something plugged in.

This isn't the actual power drain though (I.e. I'm not leaving things plugged into them) - I was just wondering aloud if this could be linked to the cause?

Short of that, I've got nothing!