Car alarm keeps activating

[john_garrard]

Hi

My Audi A6 has recently developed a fault where hazard lights and alarm activates after about 2 minutes. Removed the fuse from central locking (38)and no problem - but not a long term solution.

Alarm seems to be coming from boot on drivers side - seems to be quieter than main alarm.

Could it be car alarm battery and is this easy to replace - can't see any easy way of getting to any internal components.

Regards

John

[OldAdam]

Hi

My Audi A6 has recently developed a fault where hazard lights and alarm activates after about 2 minutes. Removed the fuse from central locking (38)and no problem - but not a long term solution.

Alarm seems to be coming from boot on drivers side - seems to be quieter than main alarm.

Could it be car alarm battery and is this easy to replace - can't see any easy way of getting to any internal components.

Regards

John

(In case you've still got this problem - or if you haven't - how did you solve it?)
I had the same thing a week ago (2000 A6 1.8T) + the engine management system listed a couple of obviously non-existent problems. Solved it, or made it go away, by charging the main battery , in situ, for about 36 hours!

WHY? - had a similar, not same, problem three months ago after a broken water pump impeller (apparently quite common) in the middle of nowhere caused me to have to stop, cool down, and restart the engine about 60 times to get to the nearest dealer. That was a £350 job, plus another £120 for an air volume meter that was faulty.

The alarm thing happened a few days later - 4 beeps on starting up. When I rang the agent they said the alarm battery is running down, the battery is not replaceable, the unit is sealed, costs ~£150+ to replace.

Having just paid out, I decided to try charging the main battery and the beeping stopped until the very cold morning last week. Does anyone know if a trickle charge tops up the alarm battery? Or if the alarm battery is unused if the main voltage is high enough?

Adam

[john_garrard]

Adam

I took my car to the Audi dealership and it seems that there were two errors logged on the cars computer - seemed that both faults were non existent. Audi seemply reset the system and I've had no problems since - they didn't even charge me ( unusual).

Most people seem to think it was the additional battery in the boot that maintains the alarm - but in this case - it was simple to rectify.

John

[PapaG]

John,
I had a similar problem in that when I returned from a week abroad my neighbour informed me that the alarm went off during the previous night. I initially couldn't get it to repeat the problem but later thate next day, every time I locked the car using the blipper, the alarm came on immediately. Even when I locked the car using the key the alarm came on after about 2 hours. I booked it into the Audi dealer for a check up but before the day arrived, the problem went away. Two thoughts are 1) it may have been related to water ingress as the first time it happened followed a violent downpour, or 2) as suggested by Adam, the main battery had run down in the week it was unused & triggered the alarm. I had this problem with my son's TVR & the only solution was to keep the battery on trickle charge or leave the car unlocked. Think I may decide to get a new battery before my next absence of any duration. It will be a small price to pay to stop neighbour aggravation.
Cheers,
PapaG