*Note: Kinda long-read, so if you don't wanna read it or don't have time, just skip to the last part =)*
I bought an A3 2004 new a few years ago, and despite the fact that it has given me a few problems, I just love it. However, after a year and a half after I bought it, the battery went dead. I thought it was weird that the battery would die so fast, so thinking I was under warranty I asked the dealership to check it throughly for a current leak.
To my surprise, they said the battery was the only responsible and that since the battery only has 6-months of warranty and the problem was related to the battery, I would have to pay them an extra $100 (on top of the price for the new battery) for checking the car.
So anyways, roughly a year and a half later, the battery DIED on me again. I was convinced these idiots had failed to find the leak and that the car still had it, so I took the car with them again and explained them the issue. I also checked all the papers they had given me when I took it the first time and realized that they only checked if the recharging system worked and if the car worked with a new battery. They never actually checked if there was a current leak in the system.
So anyways, they said they would check it again. Today they told me they didn't find anything and that it was a faulty battery once again. I asked them to give me a detailed report of what they did, and I found out that they did the EXACT same thing as the first time. They checked the recharging system and if the car worked with a new battery, but they didn't check if something was slowly draining the current from the battery.
I explained this and said they would check the current of the battery in front of me so I would see that there was indeed no leak. The technician (stupidly) connected the multimeter in parallel with the battery and thus he killed the fuse of the multimeter. He then realized his mistake, but without saying anything, he tried to measure the current of the battery when the car was off. Since he killed the fuse, the multimeter obviously showed a current of ZERO, however, this technician was like "see? there's no current flow from the battery when the car is turned off, and thus there's no leak". I then told him he had probably messed up the multimeter since there are always at least a few mA of current used to power up all security devices, the radio and clock memory, etc.
The technician then said that I would have to leave the car running for a few hours for a current to be appear in the multimeter (seriously, WTF is wrong with this Audi technicians). So after a while of arguing with this idiot, I proceeded to visually inspect parts of the car that needed to be off but weren't.
Among other things, a guy in another forum suggested that I should check if the light in the glove box turned itself off after you closed it because he had a similar problem with his Volvo. One day he realized the bulb was hot when it shouldn't have been, and on further inspection, he realized it didn't turn itself off even after he closed it.
So I checked the glove box to see if the light turned itself off properly and there it was. The technician and the manager were amazed and they were quick to make up some excuses. First they said I had probably some papers which obstructed the switch and thus the light stayed on. Then they said that since they had checked the air-bags as well, they probably messed up the switch, but that it wasn't like that before.
Then, they finally said that the light does actually stay on even after you close the glove box and lock the car. They said it was *normal*. They were about to close, so I agreed to come back tomorrow and they said they would look into it, but that it's a normal feature of the car.
Can anyone actually confirm that this light stays on even after you close it and lock the car?
Sorry for the long read, but I really needed to write about how retarded these people are. Thanks in advance!
I bought an A3 2004 new a few years ago, and despite the fact that it has given me a few problems, I just love it. However, after a year and a half after I bought it, the battery went dead. I thought it was weird that the battery would die so fast, so thinking I was under warranty I asked the dealership to check it throughly for a current leak.
To my surprise, they said the battery was the only responsible and that since the battery only has 6-months of warranty and the problem was related to the battery, I would have to pay them an extra $100 (on top of the price for the new battery) for checking the car.
So anyways, roughly a year and a half later, the battery DIED on me again. I was convinced these idiots had failed to find the leak and that the car still had it, so I took the car with them again and explained them the issue. I also checked all the papers they had given me when I took it the first time and realized that they only checked if the recharging system worked and if the car worked with a new battery. They never actually checked if there was a current leak in the system.
So anyways, they said they would check it again. Today they told me they didn't find anything and that it was a faulty battery once again. I asked them to give me a detailed report of what they did, and I found out that they did the EXACT same thing as the first time. They checked the recharging system and if the car worked with a new battery, but they didn't check if something was slowly draining the current from the battery.
I explained this and said they would check the current of the battery in front of me so I would see that there was indeed no leak. The technician (stupidly) connected the multimeter in parallel with the battery and thus he killed the fuse of the multimeter. He then realized his mistake, but without saying anything, he tried to measure the current of the battery when the car was off. Since he killed the fuse, the multimeter obviously showed a current of ZERO, however, this technician was like "see? there's no current flow from the battery when the car is turned off, and thus there's no leak". I then told him he had probably messed up the multimeter since there are always at least a few mA of current used to power up all security devices, the radio and clock memory, etc.
The technician then said that I would have to leave the car running for a few hours for a current to be appear in the multimeter (seriously, WTF is wrong with this Audi technicians). So after a while of arguing with this idiot, I proceeded to visually inspect parts of the car that needed to be off but weren't.
Among other things, a guy in another forum suggested that I should check if the light in the glove box turned itself off after you closed it because he had a similar problem with his Volvo. One day he realized the bulb was hot when it shouldn't have been, and on further inspection, he realized it didn't turn itself off even after he closed it.
So I checked the glove box to see if the light turned itself off properly and there it was. The technician and the manager were amazed and they were quick to make up some excuses. First they said I had probably some papers which obstructed the switch and thus the light stayed on. Then they said that since they had checked the air-bags as well, they probably messed up the switch, but that it wasn't like that before.
Then, they finally said that the light does actually stay on even after you close the glove box and lock the car. They said it was *normal*. They were about to close, so I agreed to come back tomorrow and they said they would look into it, but that it's a normal feature of the car.
Can anyone actually confirm that this light stays on even after you close it and lock the car?
Sorry for the long read, but I really needed to write about how retarded these people are. Thanks in advance!