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My wife's 2006 A6 decided not to start today. Totally dead, no ignition lights, no attempt by the starter to crank. Trying to jump start it achieved nothing. I'm quite sure that the battery is not dead. It's only a year old and I can lock and unlock the doors, turn on the hazards, run the MMI, etc. Any thoughts on what may be the cause would be very welcome.
Unfortunately things get worse. I called a tow truck to tow the car to my local indie garage and they could not get the car out of park, so they couldn't get it out of my garage. Any ideas on how to get it into neutral? Someone told me that there is a button under the ashtray that will release it but removing the ashtray looks to be a real pain in the butt. I would hate to remove it and then find there is no button.
My wife's 2006 A6 decided not to start today. Totally dead, no ignition lights, no attempt by the starter to crank. Trying to jump start it achieved nothing. I'm quite sure that the battery is not dead. It's only a year old and I can lock and unlock the doors, turn on the hazards, run the MMI, etc. Any thoughts on what may be the cause would be very welcome.
Unfortunately things get worse. I called a tow truck to tow the car to my local indie garage and they could not get the car out of park, so they couldn't get it out of my garage. Any ideas on how to get it into neutral? Someone told me that there is a button under the ashtray that will release it but removing the ashtray looks to be a real pain in the butt. I would hate to remove it and then find there is no button.
I removed the plastic tab in the ashtray but I'm not sure what I do next. I'm told that there is a metal tab that will release the shifter when it's pressed. I can't find anything like that. There are a couple of white plastic gizmos that are probably electrical connectors but no metal tab to be seen.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Zero degrees here today - not the weather to be fooling around in an unheated garage.
I removed the plastic tab in the ashtray but I'm not sure what I do next. I'm told that there is a metal tab that will release the shifter when it's pressed. I can't find anything like that. There are a couple of white plastic gizmos that are probably electrical connectors but no metal tab to be seen.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Zero degrees here today - not the weather to be fooling around in an unheated garage.
Thanks
Vic Norman
I'll prolly get in trouble for this direct link, but......
That last reply seemed like exactly what I needed...Unfortunately when I looked in the hole in the ashtray I could not find any small round white button....Damn...what am I missing?
One other thing I should have noticed earlier - the steering wheel is locked no matter where I turn the ignition key. Sign of a bad ignition switch?
Success! Finally found the right spot to press under the ashtray and shifted the trans into neutral. More by luck than judgment.
So now I can get the car towed to my local garage. I'm 99% certain that my problem is a bad ignition switch - something that I would have fixed myself a few years ago. But old age, coldest temperatures in decades and an unheated garage says screw it - let the professionals fix it.
Sorry for jacking your post man but I had the same exact thing happen to me hundreds of miles from home this past weekend. Battery is 1 week old. No response from the ignition. Locking, Hazard, climate and MMI work but no crank, start or instrument panel. Car was locked into Parking with eBrake. Called the closest stealership and asked how to bypass the shifter. They told me there is no way to by pass it and to drag it onto the flat-bed, disappointed at that answer. The towing guys disagreed and kept looking for the bypass but I had no way of looking up online where I was so they did not want to proceed without the owners manual. They got creative instead and took me to the stealership.
Today, the bad: Steering Column bad & Altenator is over producing (What!). Is there such thing as over producing? I though they got old and did the opposite. Stealership cleared the codes and the car now starts but urgently recommend replacing at $2250 Steeting Column & $900 Alternator. I will talk to my mechanic tomorrow about this two jobs but not sure if the steering column is dealer only, anyone knows before I get an answer tomorrow? Thinking of driving all the way over tomorrow to return my rental and drive my car back straight to my mechanic. Thanks for any advice and for anyone with this symptoms, it is the steering column.
09-02-2016, 02:14 PM
2006 A6 won't start, cannot get it out of park
