jwoelfle

Hi Guys,

Noob here. Just took possession of a really nice 2007 A8L 4.2 right before Christmas. All was well until the temps here dropped below freezing. Now I'm having MMI problems. Symptoms seem to point to "Pepsi Syndrome" so I took the console apart, found evidence of a very small coffee spill, and thoroughly cleaned all the switches, sides of switches, springs, bezel, and all. Spent a couple hours with Q-Tips and alcohol-based cleaning solution. Compressed air finished off the job...she's as clean as new but my problems persist. Ross Tech has been closed for the holidays but as soon as they open tomorrow, I'll be ordering my VCDS so I can scan the fiber ring to help pinpoint the problem.

From searching and reading the forum here, spending more hours than I care to admit doing so, I'd like to ask for some help. Here's the symptoms:

It seemed to work fine when I picked it up Friday before Christmas although I did notice an occasional static noise when listening to the radio. After the snow we had on Christmas day, it has been totally wonky until the system "warms up"...then it MOSTLY stabilizes with just an occasional hiccup. It keeps rebooting itself, sometimes the cd changer works, sometimes the NAV works, then they all shutdown and the system reboots. When it first started happening, the adaptive air suspension would not come out of lift mode. Since cleaning the buttons/switches, things seem to be better and don't last as long, and the car no longer stays in lift mode.

I've verified I have lit fiber at the amplifier, radio, and NAV unit. I have not verified light at the cd changer or MMI control head because I don't know how to safely access those components(knee airbags).

To the questions:

How do I safely access the MMI Control Head and CD Changer without setting off the knee airbags?
If all features seem to work after being run for a while, does it seem likely the MMI control head is dieing? If so, does anybody have one they want to sell?
The voice recog switch on the steering wheel reports "button not active" when pressed. Is this normal?
Didn't all 2007+ models come with Sat radio? I have the little shark fin on the roof but nothing shows up in MMI?
Can anyone point me to locations and pics all the devices on the MOST ring?



MMI sw version is 3360 but should have 4140 and 4610 in my hands on Friday. And as stated earlier, I will be ordering the Ross-Tech VCDS tomorrow. Anybody in the DFW area have one that wants to do a scan for me? Since I just bought the car, with no warranty, I want to find this problem quickly and try to get the dealer to stand up and take care of the repair.

Sorry to be so long winded, and I appreciate any and all help.

Jim

MP4.2+6.0

as you are already thinking. You are on the right path with that since you have tried a few of the easier things already. A guess might still be an optical connector since it may be temp related, but for that matter it could be a cracked circuit board or other component contracting when cold. Rather than try 20 guesses, scan it as soon as you get the cable in hand.

Airbags: when in doubt just disconnect battery and then proceed. I've dropped the drivers side lower one like that with no further worries, and have pulled A6 steering wheels with bag units several times similarly.

carterleeds

yes as mr. mp4 said wait for vcds then you will have a clearer idea about whats going.

personally i think its your mmi control head behind glove box, because mine acted up like yours then went toally dead, ive now replaced my mmi control head and its all good

so yeh just wait for vcds then post scan and take it from there. unfortunately im in the uk so unless your happy to pay for a very large call out fee i.e. a flight, ill bee more then willing to do it for you lol

jwoelfle

UPDATE: the car is at the dealer getting looked over. I was driving by the dealer yesterday and the MMI was still acting up so I stopped to talk to the shop foreman. He listened to my description of the problem and promptly grabbed his laptop to do a fiber ring test. Voice recog module failed. he suggested we pop it out real quick, recode the car to eliminate the module, refire MMI and see if that clears up the issue. I agreed. After removing the module and recoding the system, MMI won't boot at all. Rescan shows the radio tuner it be inop. At that point, he suggested I leave the car for them to fully diagnose the next day(today). Now I'm just waiting to hear back from them with the diagnosis...and see who is going to pay for the repair.

Anybody have a part number handy for the voice recog module?

I appreciate everyone's advice and I'll report back as I get more info.

jwoelfle

UPDATE: Dealer said it was the radio control module(4E0 035 542X) causing the issue. New unit has been installed, tested and verified it fixed the problem...BUT...Service Adviser said the failure was caused by previous water damage so they wanted to keep it for water intrusion testing to make sure it doesn't happen again. Seems I remember reading on this forum about a TSB for the rear window leaking? I've searched but can't find reference to it. Does this ring a bell for anyone that can point me to it? I've found plenty of references to the issues of the sunroof drains clogging but not the rear glass.

jwoelfle

UPDATE: After a frustrating month of non-communication with my "service adviser", I FINALLY have the car back and fully functional. It was a bad radio module caused by a water leak in a body seam around the rear wheel well. All has been repaired and I am tickled to death to have the car back.

MP4.2+6.0

That's certainly an unusual causal issue. Good you have it fixed. By chance, did Audi cover it under the body corrosion type warranty or otherwise?

jwoelfle

Nope...the dealership covered it all..."good faith"...sort of. When making the initial purchase negotiations, I asked for a full scan and verification that the MMI was fully functional. The salesperson lied and said everything checked out fine, when in fact, they never checked it. It was obvious when the shop foreman opened the panel and removed the voice recog module that there had been previous water damage. If they had done a scan, they would have seen the code thrown by the inop voice recog module, opened the panel to inspect, and seen the damage, and reported it to me. Since they didn't do what they said they did, they failed on their end of the contract. Repair bill was all on them. I'm extremely happy I didn't have to fight for it and even though it was an extremely frustrating month of no calls from the SA with updates, in the end, the dealership stood up did the right thing. I give them credit for that.