A6 c6 s line avant driver information display problom

brian.n

brian.n

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hi ,
i have a 2006 A6 c6 s line avant 2.0 tdi.it has the full colour mmi and mfsw with driver info display in the instrument cluster.
my problom is that the driver info display does not power up immediatatly when the car is started, when driving for about 20/25 mins the display suddenly powers up and works perfectly for the rest of the travelling time. it will usually work if the car is started soon after but if it is left for about an hour or so the cycle starts again.
it has been going this for about the last year or so off and on and i really want to get to the bottom of it .
the car has been scanned with vcds and no faults present.
i read somewhere that this can be caused by a volt drop on start up but that it should only occour for a few seconds. it still is on its origional battery but is starting perfectly so i see no reason to doubt the battery at this point.

any input is appreciated.

cheers,

brian.
 
Probably needs replacing cos the pixels go off but its expensive
 
Mike B said:
Probably needs replacing cos the pixels go off but its expensive
Click to expand...

i dont think its a pixel problom tbh,when it decides to start the display works perfectly with clear screen in all menu,s inc sat nav . it appears to be a powering up issue almost like a loose connection but the funny thing is it always appears to work after the car is running for a specific length of time?
 
It could very well be a pcb issue, dry joint etc, but without another test cluster you wont know for sure where to start mate, but is it only on engine start or are you referring to just when ignition turned on?
 
NHN said:
It could very well be a pcb issue, dry joint etc, but without another test cluster you wont know for sure where to start mate, but is it only on engine start or are you referring to just when ignition turned on?
Click to expand...

could well be a poor connection or dry joint as you say,its just a bit odd that it always decides to work after the same time frame .

it does,nt work when the ignition is turned on either and i could,nt say if it would eventually as i never left the ignition on long enough to test.
i guess the next stage is to take it out and have a look at it is it difficult to remove the instrument cluster in these?
 
brian.n said:
could well be a poor connection or dry joint as you say,its just a bit odd that it always decides to work after the same time frame .

it does,nt work when the ignition is turned on either and i could,nt say if it would eventually as i never left the ignition on long enough to test.
i guess the next stage is to take it out and have a look at it is it difficult to remove the instrument cluster in these?
Click to expand...

Hiya,

I am having the same issue. It started to happen when I updated MMI to 5570 funny enough (although most likely not related).
Have you progressed this at all buddy? It's really starting to irritate me.

Works fine after about 10-20mins of driving! Nothing from cold start.

I do recall seeing an Audi technical bulletin for this, but when I spoke to audi about it they said it wasnt for my model of car!.
My car just over three years old now anyway so would most likely have to foot any bill in fixing the blooming issue.
 
audi upgrades
Audime said:
Hiya,

I am having the same issue. It started to happen when I updated MMI to 5570 funny enough (although most likely not related).
Have you progressed this at all buddy? It's really starting to irritate me.

Works fine after about 10-20mins of driving! Nothing from cold start.

I do recall seeing an Audi technical bulletin for this, but when I spoke to audi about it they said it wasnt for my model of car!.
My car just over three years old now anyway so would most likely have to foot any bill in fixing the blooming issue.
Click to expand...

hi there,
the problom still remains and i have,nt got an opportuinity to look in to it further in the last while. its intresting to see that you are having a simalar issue with your car though.
incidently yesterday morning i started the car from cold and the display came on immediatly so go figure? its back to its usual tricks again today.
i never upgraded my mmi but i did upgrade my sat nav to the latest version last year but i dont see any connection between the two .
please let me know if you find out any more info on this issue and cheers for the pm:yes:

regards,

brian.
 
I had the same issue start over the weekend. It's completely off when I start the engine then comes back on after a random period of time, longest being around 10 minutes. After this starts off dim and then comes back to full brightness. Tried starting up with a fresh battery connected to check whether it's voltage related but same issue. I Wonder whether it's temperature related given the cold snap we've been having. Hope there is a solution to this problem as it's very annoying to say the least.

Regards,

Steve.
 
Hi steve,

It's good to know we are in the same boat so to speak.
I do suspect dry connections of a sort which when warmed cause the display to function again. I bought my car late summer when it was still warm outside. When the weather changed, that's when my issue with the driver information display started too.

Steve, what car are you driving exactly?

Could Brian and yourself steve provide your VIN number to me?
 
I'm still leaning towards dry joints fellas.
 
Hi AudiMe,
Mine is a 2007 A6 Avant 3.0 Tdi SE Quattro, VIN wauzzz4f67n132304.
Regards,
Steve.
 
2006 A6 avant 2.0tdi s line. vin wauzzz4f86n152214.

appears to be a pattern emerging here guys,i cant say in my case if its temp or weather related as its cold all year round in ireland:3sadwalk:
 
Hi,

Yeah just sent you a pm.

The basic gist of said pm I'll post here too in a sec. iPad and forums don't work to well.
 
Of course, anybody else too if they change it.
 
I have a 2008 A6 Saloon 3.0tdi Le mans Vin: WAUZZZ4F38N153709 and I'm having exactly the same problem.
It sometimes shows for a second once started then goes off for between 10-15mins
It only seems to happen when the car is cold, if the interior is warm its not such a problem.
My garage just shake their heads and tell me there is nothing they can do about it.

Any ideas would be gratefully received
 
Gadget32 said:
I have a 2008 A6 Saloon 3.0tdi Le mans Vin: WAUZZZ4F38N153709 and I'm having exactly the same problem.
It sometimes shows for a second once started then goes off for between 10-15mins
It only seems to happen when the car is cold, if the interior is warm its not such a problem.
My garage just shake their heads and tell me there is nothing they can do about it.

Any ideas would be gratefully received
Click to expand...

Hi,

Audi offered me a discounted cluster unit and labor for around £987 or something like that.
That wasnt what I had in mind to put it another way. They (Audi) were very nice to inspect the issue with compliments (saved £100), however back to square one (coff up money for a new cluster to fix the issue).

The problem is bad connections on the ribbon which attaches to the cluster board. My only thought is that these connections are expanding and retracting in different temp conditions. Poor joints in manifacture process blah blah.

I wonder how many VIN numbers you need until Audi give in to a hardware fault and replace free of charge :(
I will eat my cheese (hate cheese) if they do!
 
Last edited:
Hi I have a 2008 57plate A6 SE 2.0Tdi with the exact same fault.
Everytime I first start the car it comes on although not very bright, it then goes off until the car is warm then its perfect (clear and bright)

It is definately temperature related and the colder it gets the longer it stays off for.
If anyone decides to repair the contacts/ribbon connector or what ever it is then take lots of pictures and post up a how to thread.
cheers...
 
I suspect there are thousands more out in the UK which have the same issue. Audi havn't come back to me. I think I scared them off when I showed this thread to them. Trading standards perhaps?
 
Audime said:
I suspect there are thousands more out in the UK which have the same issue. Audi havn't come back to me. I think I scared them off when I showed this thread to them. Trading standards perhaps?
Click to expand...


Mine has just decided to go completely blank Arrggh!!! I dont fancy shelling out the best part of 1k to put it right.

Does anyone know anyone who might be able to repair these?
 
sorry to hear that. i found turning up the heat in the car to full usually got it to work again after a while. my display has decided in the last few weeks to work perfectly which is good but kind of irrating at the same time as i know it will start misbehaving at some point.
i would also like to know if it is difficult to remove the cluster ? i would tackle most jobs myself but i dont fancy dismantling the dash on mine in case i break any trims or clips so if anyone has any tips or know of any online guides that would be great.

in other news my mmi has decided to go pear shaped as well but thats for another thread as i dont think the issues are related.
 
Did anyone get to the bottom of this - come up with a reasonably priced or easy to do fix?
I have a 2005 A6 Avant 3.0Tdi SE which just started exhibiting exactly this issue. Blank DIS on startup, usually comes back to life after 15 mins or so and then works perfectly.

It does seem to be temperature related ...once the car cabin warms up it pops back into life.
 
As I suggested before, you need to take it apart & resolder the pcb's, as I suspect its a dry joint thats causing this.
 
NHN said:
As I suggested before, you need to take it apart & resolder the pcb's, as I suspect its a dry joint thats causing this.
Click to expand...

Any idea which bit needs soldering???!!! My 2006 3.0 tdi, (which I bought 2 weeks ago!!) is doing this. Maddening!

I read a U.S. thread saying its a transformer on the back of the clock board, but I now can't find the same thread again. Anybody got any ideas??
 
Well good start with be any solder points for the dis.
 
NHN said:
As I suggested before, you need to take it apart & resolder the pcb's, as I suspect its a dry joint thats causing this.
Click to expand...

I still can’t believe how people are so willing to throwmoney at the problem/fix it from one's own pocket (time is also money).

I feel so compelled to draw up a website to advertise the issue publicly or something, soAudi can see what crap they have put into £20-30K+ vehicles and maybe dosomething about it from their own profits! These cars should have new/refurbished units
installed at Audi's cost.

It was only yesterday I heard of a guy that bought a used Q7 (costs a lotright?!), which has the same issue.
Audi said it was a design feature! Oh pull the other one!

Last week another guy/gal complaining about his/her DIS (different forum) notworking for 30 minutes until internal temp reached 15c+. oohh sounds about right.

How many vehicles would it take to address it as a realproblem, for Audi to actually do something about it!?

ABS ECU units (bosche I think) was (still is) another problem (complete failure). Yet customers are forced to either send the ECU off to a third party (companys created and cashing in on the problem) to get it fixed or dig around a scrap yard to find another on the cheap!

Utter madness!

So yes, rip your dash apart and whip out the soldering iron (possibly doing more damage on the way), or stand up and shout!

 
audi upgrades
Have just joined this forum - Isn't Google fantastic! My 2008 RS6 avant has a similar DIS problem, which just started in November last year as it got colder. On startup the display stays blank for a few minutes then appears for about 15secs perfectly OK with nothing missing before going blank again and repeating the cycle but remaining on for longer and longer as the car heats up until after about 20mins and up to full temp it stays on and works as normal. Very annoying! Definitely temp related and I agree with NHN, I bet its just a little bit of solder required - just a case of finding out how to get at the board and where to put the solder!!
Would be happy to join in with any joint approach to Audi as this is obviously a common problem
Many thanks to all that have posted so far.
 
Guys, my wife's A6 Avant Sline has the same problem. Let me know if anyone figures out a way to get this fixed!
 
Well managed to get my cluster repaired by cartronix in waterlooville. Highly recomend them. £250 inc vat including removal and repair with new LCD and 2 years warranty and rebuilt. All was done in 3 hours.

Hope this helps others.:)
 
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Kind of a seperate note, but was driving at a constant 70 last night, 6th gear, the instant MPG was all over, 40 then 50 then 70 then 250 then zero reset. is this normal or am i losing the plot with this car
 
Yes that is normal for instant MPG, it's all based on the throttle position, gear and speed of the car. I just leave it on computer 1 average MPG. I've never understood why Audi give you instant MPG it's kind of point less.
 
hi, thanks, it seems it, id expect it to go up and down, like 30mpg-45-50 etc, but 20-250 seems like its not reading correct, so yeah did same lol
on the subject of the cluster, been quoted £129 for repair with cluster repairs, seems good
 
Hi,

I have the same problem but only after washing my car, the display not work 10 minutes and then back live.
Seems that is lost connection from water or from downgrade a temperature when I washing the car.
Any ideas?

Thanks,
 
Same happening here - 2009 A6 3.0 TDI ..... after about 20 minutes the display is crisp and full brightness ... before that, it's either completely off or "yellowed" / dim. Annoys the crap out of me.

Definitely worsened as the temperature has dropped here in the UK.
 
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