2013 C7 A6 Avant - MMI & Bluetooth Issues

[Shandy12]

On a recent trip the bluetooth on the car has just stopped working. The start of the 5 hour drive, my iPhone connected to the car and I was able to make calls as normal.

Approx. 3 hours in I went to make another call and the phone wasn't connect, nor would it reconnect - The bluetooth was switched off, no bluetooth name was showing and no list of paired devices. I've performed a factory reset and a system restart - still nothing. My local Audi specialist has run diagnostics and upgraded the firmware - still nothing.

When you first start the car, the bluetooth logo shows for a few second then the bluetooth shuts off. Turning it back on causes the system to lock up for a few second, the bluetooth turns on and allows you to search of devices but it doesn't find any, nor can you find it with any devices - the device name on the car still remains blank. After 20 or so seconds the bluetooth shuts off again.

Everything else runs as it should - satnav, DAB etc. Only issue I've seen over the last few months is a handful of random restarts of the MMI system when driving.

My local specialist have diagnosed it as a faulty MMI/RMC unit - A cost of £2000! They have suggested that if I sourced the part myself they'd be happy to code/remove component protection. Part code 4G0035192H. An ebay search shows units at circa £200 plus £120 coding from my specialist.

My questions are:
- Has anyone else seen this? Is it common?
- Is there anything else I can try?
- What are the thoughts of new vs an ebay unit?
- Other then ebay, is there any where else I can try for a new/refurb/used unit?
- If I'm going to pay £2K, is there an upgrade I can do at the same time given the original unit is showing its age?

Car is a 2013 Pre face lift C7 A6 Avant black edition with the standard fit MMI/Nav unit.

Thanks in advance!

[Whippy53]

I had this on an Android fone, just stopped working, tried everything, in the end I fixed it. I bought a new fone.

[nevbadger99]

If it's just the bluetooth that's gone pop I would go for something like this:

503 - Service Unavailable Error

£20 fix rather than £200 or £2k. Not perfect I'm sure but a lot cheaper.

[Shandy12]

I had this on an Android fone, just stopped working, tried everything, in the end I fixed it. I bought a new fone.

It’s definitely not the phone. Tried all different types of phones both IOS and Android.

[Shandy12]

If it's just the bluetooth that's gone pop I would go for something like this:

503 - Service Unavailable Error

£20 fix rather than £200 or £2k. Not perfect I'm sure but a lot cheaper.

Had thought about that, or a decent set of wireless headphones. I travel a lot for work so having a decent hands free in the car is a must really - obviously given COVID it’s not an issue at the moment, more an annoyance.