Fluffhead

I don't remember if I posted anything about this before so here it goes...

In the morning of 12/15/05 I was getting ready to leave for my bachelor party in Killington, VT. When I went out side to pack the car, my remote wasn't working, so I thought the remote battery was dead or there was a problem with the signal. After I opened the door with the key I noticed that the interior lights didn't go on. When I tried starting the car all I got was a light in the dash and nothing else, the car was completely dead. I had Audi Roadside come to jump me and asked if was safe to drive to VT, I also called my dealership to ask them. I was told that the car should be fine and the cold weather was probably the cause. Seeing how I don't have another car and I was already late getting on the road, I went to Sears and purchased a portable battery jumper just in case and headed to VT.

I got to VT with no problems and stopped 3 times on the way, one stop was over 2 hours. The next morning the car was dead, I jumped it once and it was fine all day each time I started it. The next morning it was dead again, I decided to leave it until we were leaving the following day b/c I didn't want to keep jumping it. The next day I jumped it again and drove back to NY. The following morning it was dead again. I took it to the closest dealer and told them what was going on, they told me those famous words that they "Can't Duplicate Problem". I asked them if they didn't believe me or if they wanted me to call the 10 guys I was with to confirm the battery issues. They told me they will keep it overnight to see if it happens again in the morning. The next morning I get a call that the battery was dead (shock) and that they need to order one b/c they don't have it in stock. I got my car back on 12/21/05 and for the next few days the car seemed fine.

Then on 12/25/05 when I went to start the car it was dead again. I didn't drive the car the rest of the day, but plugged it into a Groits garage battery peak holder. The next afternoon the car started right up. That night I disconnected all of my accessories to see if the battery would die over night. My V1, Lidatek, Parrot, and Phatbox were all disconnected. The next day the car started. Last night I plugged only the Parrot back in and today the car wouldn't start, but it kept enough power for the remote to work and for the radio to turn on. However, a new problem had occured, my car was showing the it had 0 miles until empty even though I had filed up the night before. Thinking anything is possible and that maybe someone stole my gas somehow, I went to the gas station and tried to fill up. My car took about 5 dollars and that was it. When I started the car it now showed 10 miles until empty. So it seemed that the 5 dollars was all that was reading.

I have no idea what is causing all of this. On 11/28/05 my car was brought into service for many little things; 25,000 mile service, AudioPilot TSB, Fixing On-Star that wasn't working for 9 months, issues with drivers side speaker, etc. I got the car back on 12/7/05 and everything seemed fine.

That night I went to Mindtrip's house to take care of some things that were bothering me. One was that one of my LED city light wasn't working and I didn't know why. That turned out to be a break in a wire. The other thing was to get my Parrot and On-Star both working with my RNS-E. I basically had to connect the mute and speaker wires from both the On-Star and Parrot and got it to work.

On 12/9/05 I had another service appointment 80 miles away b/c I was told that the tech at this dealership would be able to figure out what was causing my vibration issues. I got a call towards the end of that day to tell me that they figured out what was causing the vibrations. They said one of my wheels was bent and their machine said it needs to be replaced. Even though I told them the wheels are not the cause it's all they would do and my 80 miles drive was for nothing. To top it off they accidentally tore one of my LM-22's when mounting it on my spare wheel. How I dealt with that is a whole other story. So b/c of all this my car wasn't ready with the new tire(s) until 12/14/05. I picked it up and everything seemed fine, even the vibrations seemed to be gone (but they aren't). The following day the battery died for the first time.

Any ideas would be greatly apprecaieted. My plan today is to leave only the Phatbox plugged in overnight to see if the car starts tomorrow. If it does I will try to leave only the Parrot installed again to see if the battery dies again. If it does I would think the Parrot is the cause or something Mindtrip and I did is the cause, but I just don't know what it can be.

I'm at the point where I just want out of the car. The battery, vibrations, gas, and other little things are pushing me over the edge and knowing that Audi service will probably never figure anything out isn't making me feel any better. Then I start thinking about JD's, Wes', and many other cars and don't have any confidence in Audi, or AOA to take care of me.

I'm not sure if this makes sence b/c there is so much going on, but I just neeeded to post it.

2PUTT

good luck and keep us posted.

JDBlueAudiS4

if your still having the issue then go from there. If you are then pin it on Audi, they have to fix all of it. It sucks but its your best course of action.

MarkN

not going to read all that ****-- but ya gotta let the car run 4 like 15 mins at least after da jump

RKA

With the battery issues, you're on the right track. Get the non-factory stuff disconnected, and leave it that way for 3 days. Make damn sure nothing OEM is draining the battery. Then one by one introduce all the stuff that you've previously disconnected. Allow several days for an issue to crop up before reconnecting the next thing. Not sure if you can buy something to measure the draw on the battery...that will speed along the diagnostics.

The fuel gauge is likely a bad sending unit...unrelated to the battery issues. It was a common problem on the A6's and B5 S4's/A4's. The service dept. should have no trouble confirming and fixing this.

The vibrations could be a number of things, but start by getting the stock wheels on the car and going from there. Could be an out of round tire, bent wheel, imbalanced tire, imbalanced rotor. Might be wise to tug at the wheels while it's on a lift, just to make sure all the suspension links are snug, but even if there was another problem, it probably wouldn't cause the vibrations. Still doesn't hurt to check it out.

Unfortunately this is life with an Audi...moreso if it's modified. Just deal with things one at a time. Unfortunately, in many cases you're better off getting a handle on the problem before you turn it over to the dealer. There are good techs and not-as-good techs at every dealer. The no-as-good techs outnumber the rest, so the odds that you got somebody more experienced is rather slim. Talk to the service manager, express your dissatisfaction, and hopefully he'll take steps to put somebody on the job that has the experience to *solve* the problem rather that just push it out the door.

Fluffhead

Done that, keeps dying.

Fluffhead

I've been thinking about it anyway and might work something out with my father for his 997 S.

No it won't have AWD and I will still have to deal with bad service departments, but I won't be able to afford to mod it so at least it will remain stock.

Plus, I have my finacee's TT for the real snowy days. Ski trips will have to be in other people's cars or in a rental.

This is only for the next 2 years b/c after that I was planning on getting a more practical family car that the wife can drive anyway, like a Q7.

KamS4

Sounds like a plan - I think you should move on. Congrats on getting marrried.

RingoZabel

I recently had similar problems, but the cause was fairly obvious. My brake light switch had gone bad, so my brake lights would stay on all night. Battery would be dead in the a.m. Maybe something like this is happening with your car, where something is drawing power that should not be when the car is off. Incidentally, when I broght the car into the dealer, the faulty switch did not show up on diagnostics, but they replaced it and it did fix the problem.

Fluffhead

I'm doing with the car I will set one up, if I stay with Audi or get a P-car.