Dreaded electrical problems!

[A19quattro]

We have a 2001 A3 TDI. A few days ago when the car was opened up first thing in the morning instead of the red mileage etc displays coming on they would flash on and off. If we tried to start the car this would persist and the tacho and other needles would jump up and downa nd make a clicking sound. this would continue for a few seconds and then everything would go as normal. The car would then be fine for the rest of the day as if once warmed up the problem was fixed. One morning I opened the door and the lights started to flash so I just closed it again locked it, re-opened ot and it was fine but that only worked the once. Today things are worse, no red display at all, lights for the radio/heater display but not the headlamp switch, dimmer doesn't work, no instrument illumination but the needles are lit up continually, even with the doors locked, keys out etc. Did this most of the day ten suddenly on the way home everything sprung into life. I have checked fuses and relay connections and at times convinced myself i was getting somwhere but I am now sure I was dilluded. I also thought it may have been a low battery as I experienced somthing similar with another care but the battery and alternator have checked out OK. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I would appreciate any advice you can offer otherwise i think it's goodbye principles and probably a large wedge of cash and hello dealer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/swear.gif
Thanks in advance
Vorshprungdork

 

[jojo]

This sounds like a problem I had with my S3 last year, kinda like the car was possessed some what with lights blinking and flashing right? I traced my problem down to a poor earth after uprating the factory Bose system.

 

[HTC]

A friend of mine had a similar problem with his A6. In cold weather his car played up no end.

Turned out to be a faulty dash panel. The guage pod was replaced and that sorted it. Not cheap tho :-(

 

[A19quattro]

The car hasn't really had any mods but whist I was in behind the dash I did clean up an earth now that i remember but it hasn't helped. I must admit a lot is now pointing to the dash panel but I was hoping it wasn't a complete replacement job cause I am sure it needs coded in using vag-com or somthing so it's not like old cars just take it out and change it yourself. Oh dear, the joys or modern cars great when they are working well but...!

 

[AndyMac]

If it works fine some of the time then it has to be a loose connection somewhere.
The problem jojo had was due to the earthing of the rear lights (in the rear cubbyhole in the boot) so no where near the dash. Have you replaced a bulb or something recently and could have disturbed a dodgy earth?

 

[a4sline]

Yep sounds the dash panel is throwing a wobbly.
Chaged many a panel for this prob and never see the car return once fitted.
Your gonna have to bite the bullet and suck up to a dealer for a new one. About £4-500 and don't forget to take all your keys in as the immobilizer/ dash panel will need to be recoded to the keys.
Don't mean to be the grim reaper but this is the onlt fix, sorry.

 

[A19quattro]

No, the car has been 100% reliable for some time now. I had a similar but slightly different problem with my MK4 Golf which turned out to be the door locking mechanism which caused dashboard lights not to dim, I lost my lights on alarm, the interior light didn't come on when the drivers door was opened but would with all the rest and then the alarm would go off if you didn't turn the ignition key within about 30 seconds. Sounds crazy but makes some sense when you realise what the problem was and the car basically didn't know when I was opening the door. None of this really ties in with the A3 though, the above wasn't intermittent but the A3 is and most of the items listed above are OK even when it's playing up. One thing is it did have a difficult to fix water leak for a while and I wondere if some had got into the electrics, maybe relays or somthing but when i checked this all seems OK.

 

[A19quattro]

For those interested, the car is going in tomorrow to a local VW specialist. He thinks it may be the headlamp switch which ties in with some of my earlier investegations although I had decided that most of what I had deduced was probably me kidding myself on, ie you fiddle with somthing, the lights flash-therefore it must be that but 9 times out of ten it's just that the lights were going to flicker anyway it just happened that your finger was on the-whatever at that particular moment. Anyway i will keep you posted and if they are sucessful there will be no secret about who solved the problem but I don't want to advertise anyone who turns out to be rubbish. they talked a good game on the phone so watch this space.
Vorshprungdork