Possible electrical fault ? Audi A6 2019

[DylanBur]

i’m wondering if any of you can help,

I have a A6 Avant 40 Tdi 2019, over the past week i have been having warnings coming up on my dashboard. The main one being ‘Front parking fault, obstacles may not be detected’. This fault appears most of the time as soon as i put the car into ‘D’. The warning will bleep whenever it feels like it, usually when slowing down for traffic. The sensors do work and i have checked them for damage etc and they appear to be fine.

One day last week i pressed the start button, without starting the engine. And a number of faults appeared, one was ‘Parking Brake Fault’. My parking brake however was not faulty and worked fine.

I had another which was ‘Central Locking fault’. This has been causing me a few issues such as not being able to open my drivers door due to it locking itself, today i stepped out the car and it locked me out of it although i had the key. I had to manually unlock the car by inserting the key behind the handle as it wouldn’t unlock using the fob. Sometimes the fault doesn’t appear but i still have trouble opening my drivers door to exit my vehicle.

These issues all at once make me think its an electrical fault somewhere ? Unless anybody can advise otherwise. Somebody suggested to me that it would be the Control Module that runs the electrics ?

Do i take my car to Audi ? And are they likely to find the problem quickly without trouble. Is this something they have previously recalled for ? Or would it be under warranty ?

Thankyou in advance,

Dylan.

 

[Johncam]

Have you got a means to take a look for fault codes ? This will give a better idea of what is going on with the car rather than going on guess work.

 

[NHN]

Given it's a C8, the latest batch of cars like B9 era have had so many software glitches, it's not beyond possibility it's also the same for you, as above, a scan would help possibly.

 

[DylanBur]

A mate of mine has a small bluetooth diagnostics, this has come back with the following codes,

450048
01555
196665

I dont know if these help, he told me its not the most advanced diagnostics. If these do not help i will find someone with a better one and report back.

 

[Johncam]

If you put a P and then the numbers in Google there is a few explanations for these codes. Ideally you need a better reader for the codes as that will give you the correct information for each fault code.

 

[DylanBur]

I have arranged for a better reader on Monday, i will post a reply once i know more, Thankyou.

 

[elan2s]

Given the car is about 5 years old it may be that the battery is starting to drop below the minimum acceptable level. I would check that first as it can cause all sorts of seemingly random unconnected faults. Modern car batteries do not last as long as the old lead acid ones did and the car electrics are very unhappy if they do not get the voltage they expect. If the battery voltage is showing anything below 12.7v it would be best to get it changed

 

[DylanBur]

I have just had a free battery health check done at Kwikfit and he told me it looks ok, although i’ve noticed it says 12.5 voltage. Iv put a picture of the test below.

He did say that he thinks my car has a damp smell ? And it might be water getting in somewhere.

 

[DylanBur]

There doesn’t appear to be any dampness within the car, carpets etc are all dry.

 

[spartacus 68]

Personally I wouldn’t use Kwikfit. Get yourself a cheap multimeter. As mentioned, batteries on their way out will flag various issues given there are so many sensors. It will use AGM battery. Only way to really determine what’s going on is to scan car with VCDS. That will show up all logged faults and then you can rule out by clearing DTCs and seeing what reappears. You can also see what the multimeter reads when car running under load on battery.

Odd thing for Kwikfit to say car smelt damp? Car fitted with panoramic? Check usual culprits, lift boot floor and side trims to ensure no water pooling. Also bulkhead behind engine under wiper motor. Use a torch to ensure no water sloshing about.

 

[A6 Avant]

i’m wondering if any of you can help,

I have a A6 Avant 40 Tdi 2019, over the past week i have been having warnings coming up on my dashboard. The main one being ‘Front parking fault, obstacles may not be detected’. This fault appears most of the time as soon as i put the car into ‘D’. The warning will bleep whenever it feels like it, usually when slowing down for traffic. The sensors do work and i have checked them for damage etc and they appear to be fine.

One day last week i pressed the start button, without starting the engine. And a number of faults appeared, one was ‘Parking Brake Fault’. My parking brake however was not faulty and worked fine.

I had another which was ‘Central Locking fault’. This has been causing me a few issues such as not being able to open my drivers door due to it locking itself, today i stepped out the car and it locked me out of it although i had the key. I had to manually unlock the car by inserting the key behind the handle as it wouldn’t unlock using the fob. Sometimes the fault doesn’t appear but i still have trouble opening my drivers door to exit my vehicle.

These issues all at once make me think its an electrical fault somewhere ? Unless anybody can advise otherwise. Somebody suggested to me that it would be the Control Module that runs the electrics ?

Do i take my car to Audi ? And are they likely to find the problem quickly without trouble. Is this something they have previously recalled for ? Or would it be under warranty ?

Thankyou in advance,

Dylan.

They might be separate issues as the first one can be caused by a wiring issue with the front parking sensors (sometimes following on from repairs to the bumper and the sensors not being put back properly). The second fault with the central locking system often appears if one of the electric door handles gets stuck because the door hasn't been shut properly (fixed by opening and firmly closing the affected door).

 

[Adrian1871]

quick fit cannot check the 48v battery all they have checked is the 12v battery

 

[OliS]

I had the first fault list on mine, it happens every time I go out in a massive rainstorm and is indicative of the fact the sensors can't work properly in strong wind and rain. I spoke to Audi who told me the warning messages are scary but not a true representation of a fault. More just warning you the sensors are disabled for now. They also said I wasn't the first to ask the question... So.... What was the weather like when you had that fault...

 

[DylanBur]

With a better reader, the fault said parking sensor front left centre. Swapped it with the front right to see if the code changed, however it didnt, so i knew it was the wiring for the left sensor. Found a broken wire further up behind the wheel arch, thats now fixed and front parking sensors work again.

Also put a new battery on it as i believe it was the original battery since new, just had to tell the car that it had a new battery through the reader. All appears to be sorted so far so good.

Cheers for everyone’ replies.

 

[mstv]

A little late to this party, but I once had an issue (2023 C8 A6) where a problem with the door lock and the parking brake fault message were related. This happened at speed on a motorway, where there was a noticeable clunk from the driver's side door and a simultaneous parking brake fault warning. Worrying at 70mph! Turns out there's some relationship between the door opening and the parking brake being applied, and the fix was a replacement door locking mechanism. Might be helpful in case the issues you saw were not related.