2013 A6 C7 Avant - Serious Electric Faults

[istate75]

Not posted for a while, but thought you guys would like to know about an issue I've had with my A6 Avant S-Line Multi, which I picked up new in June.

Yesterday drove from Rugby to Ashbourne in Derbyshire with no problems. Had a meeting for about 1-1/2 hours and then left to return South.

Went to start the car and the following faults came up:

TPMS System Fault
ABS System Fault
Traction Control Fault
Self Levelling Headlight System Fault
Parking Brake System Fault

MMI System would not boot and the screen self-retracted.

As i was in the middle of nowhere but only about 15 miles from Derby I decided to head for Derby Audi.

Within a few miles, the following additional faults came up

Steering System Fault
Then message 'DO NOT DRIVE CAR'
Then Speedo stopped working and read 'zero' and it stopped recording mileage.

The steering felt no different to before so limped the car to Derby Audi who basically told me that they were busy and to drive a few miles away and call out a recovery truck! Great customer service!!

When I restarted the steering error and self level headlight error cleared, and the speedo came back but others still showed.

Decided I didn't want to be stood on the side of the road for hours (many years ago my 52 plate Audi had a problem and it took me 5 hours to get back) so took it to Coventry Audi. All the way it kept trying to put the parking brake on and off while I was driving along. I bet the back brakes got hot!

Currently Coventry Audi who have it now, have no idea what's causing it. :yikes:
It's undergoing a complete software update to see if it sorts it. So I'm currently off the road (no courtesy car available). Not a great experience after owning my brand new A6 for 7 months!

I'll update when I hear back. Anybody else had electrical problems?

[Wuffles]

It's undergoing a complete software update to see if it sorts it. So I'm currently off the road (no courtesy car available). Not a great experience after owning my brand new A6 for 7 months!

I'll update when I hear back. Anybody else had electrical problems?

That all sounds pretty scary stuff. No electrical problems I am aware of, and we are the litmus paper for the C7 I believe.

Bristol Audi once suggested I call out the recovery people from my home rather than bring it into them as they had no courtesy car available, but as it was a re-repair they then thought a little harder and found us a car after a while.

What really gets my goat is you drive into a place bearing an Audi badge on the forecourt, with an Audi car that's clearly in dire need of assistance, and yet you are basically ignored. I know I'm simplifying things, but it feels so wrong of them to do that. If you'd bought it from there it might make a difference, but it shouldn't!

[istate75]

That all sounds pretty scary stuff. No electrical problems I am aware of, and we are the litmus paper for the C7 I believe.

Bristol Audi once suggested I call out the recovery people from my home rather than bring it into them as they had no courtesy car available, but as it was a re-repair they then thought a little harder and found us a car after a while.

What really gets my goat is you drive into a place bearing an Audi badge on the forecourt, with an Audi car that's clearly in dire need of assistance, and yet you are basically ignored. I know I'm simplifying things, but it feels so wrong of them to do that. If you'd bought it from there it might make a difference, but it shouldn't!

I agree completely. The bit that annoyed me about 'not having a car' is when I asked about any of their demonstrators, they said they stay with the sales staff. I always thought that Customers come first!

As an update, my car needs an 'AJ533' whatever that is, which they are trying to source before putting it on order with Audi. Whatever happens I won't get it back today.

[Wuffles]

The thing is, in the parasitic world of a car salesperson, you are no longer a customer.

Glad they've found the fault though.

On the bright side, you could have been given a courtesy car with an excess of either £350, £1000 or nil, depending on the dealership. I've had all three and on two of them, it's a scary prospect. Gone are the days of getting the back end of a loaner out on a roundabout or running down a bus queue of nuns (other denominations are available) and not caring about the paintwork, unless you pay the £15 excess waiver. Be interested to know the excess at that dealership and whether they would have waived it in the circumstances.

[istate75]

The thing is, in the parasitic world of a car salesperson, you are no longer a customer.

Glad they've found the fault though.

On the bright side, you could have been given a courtesy car with an excess of either £350, £1000 or nil, depending on the dealership. I've had all three and on two of them, it's a scary prospect. Gone are the days of getting the back end of a loaner out on a roundabout or running down a bus queue of nuns (other denominations are available) and not caring about the paintwork, unless you pay the £15 excess waiver. Be interested to know the excess at that dealership and whether they would have waived it in the circumstances.

Just had a call from them to say that my car will not be ready today as they have to wait for the part to be delivered by Audi. Because of this delay, they have 'found' me a car to use. :drive:

I'll let you know about the excess as I am getting a lift to pick it up in about an hour.

[Wuffles]

Apparently it's down to Manager's discretion, so kick off if they make you have one, it's not on.

Good luck.

[ScottyA6]

When I read your first post it sounded like one of the black boxes had pitched a fit, I recall having issues on my C6 and it turned out to be a faulty ECU, they insisted it was software related and must have re-installed the software five times before I lost my rag and called the dealership chains head office, one master technician visit later and a new box of electrics cured it. it is pretty scarry in these modern cars when 'the computer says no' !

The service you have had sounds diabolical and if I were you I would e-mail Audi UK and copy in the head office of the dealer group. Telling you to drive a badly defective vehicle off the forecourt is a disgrace, at the end of the day they are Audi's presence in the country and should act accordingly. It is one thing about Audi that Jaguar has them beaten to a pulp in my experience, I always had good service from my own Jag dealer and when I had a minor incident while in the South last year (nutcase Lorry driver gave me two options- thump it up a kerb or become his bonnet mascot) the local Jag Centre took it straight in, had it repaired and ready in under 24 hours and as all their loaners were out gave me one of the senior directors XJ for the duration. Bit of a difference from what you got and a real shame.

[istate75]

Well, I'm now in a 63 A4 Black Edition Multi. The Tech told me that the part is a contol unit, which controls 6-7 different systems. It seems the C7 has tons of them, all controlling a number of different systems. It's on back order and they have no idea how long it will take because they have never ordered one before. They said could be 1 day to over a week. They did say each one is between £500 - £700 each for the unit alone without fitting, so glad it's happened now.

The loan car has a £500 excess, but they said they've never had a claim so are unlikely to impose it.

I'm not sure what i'm going to do about the poor service (in particular from Derby Audi) who should be shot, quite honestly. I'll wait until my car is finished and back and then give Audi Uk a rundown (as this may not be the end of the story yet)

[Wuffles]

I'm not sure what i'm going to do about the poor service (in particular from Derby Audi) who should be shot, quite honestly. I'll wait until my car is finished and back and then give Audi Uk a rundown (as this may not be the end of the story yet)

I wish you all the best with that, Audi UK have been shown to be very slippery in the past for me.

[daycartes]

I'm just wondering if you have driven through a lot of water recently and whether, if you have, some water has entered into the ECU?

[Tia24]

Hi istate

The problem you just mentioned on your a6.
Mine just got the same. It went to s car wash had it cleaned. When I got in the same faults came on-
Tpms-brake fault-all the warning lights came on. Then I couldn't switch it off I had to stall the engine. It's gone to garage Audi independent they said it was a Ecu brake module. Well they changed it. And still has not cleared the other faults. Mine is a late 2011 61 2.0 tdi 177 s line.
It's got same faults as yours. Can you let me know how yours got on & how they fixed it please.

[istate75]

Hi Tia24,

The problem was in January of last year. Mine's a 2013 2.0 tdi 177 sline multi. It happened when the car was 6 months old. I didn't have problems switching off the engine, but everything else just failed. It was caused by a data controller that is located underneath the back seat. I mentioned the part reference in my earlier post. Audi found it straight away, but it took a while to get the part from Germany. At that point they hadn't come across one of them failing before. Does the independant have the same diagnostics as Audi?

Since the repair, I've had no further problems (2 years/ 50,000 miles since repair)

[Tia24]

Hi
I've just got mine back today. Lucky it was a wiring on o/s/f wheel. A speed sensor. Which needs to replaced and is rebooked in next week. I was starting to worry when I read your post. Thanks for getting back to me. No other issues.

[Tia24]

Yea they got same software as Audi & fully equipt upto date machines. They get all this from Milton Keynes he told me when I first used them. That's where all Audi or most dealships go if they can't solve the fault 👍🏽

[A6S]

I think you should complain to Audi uk about the dealership that told you politely to f-off.
I had a problem with my last c7 and I was close to the dealership. They said leave it with us but we don't have courtesy car as it was a Sunday so the workshop wasn't open. They gave me the number for Audi uk and I called them to explain my situation. Within a couple of hours a car hire company dropped off a car for me to use till it was fixed. Took a few weeks to source the parts as it was on back order. Can't fault the dealership or Audi.
Similar experience with bmw as well which is what you would expect from a prestige marque.