DEAD DASH !!!

[peter poppleton]

Hi guys,

Its been a while since i was last on here,
However i now have an issue with my 2012 A3 sport back, a few weeks ago i noticed that the battery was starting to fail, the start up was sluggish and the start stop completely stopped working, so i replaced the battery which was 150 quid ish, problem solved,
then today i went to start and i have no dashboard, no lights nothing, the ignition is on and everything else works, engine will crank then cut out as the immobiliser kicks in and kills the engine,
Now i have seen a few posts about the battery tray rubbing the wiring away on the right hand side, something to with pin 30 the can bus power wire, just wondered if anyone else has any suggestions,
i do have a cheap code reader and it says communication lost with instrument panel,

thanks in advance for any suggestions,

pete

 

[Troubs12]

Hi Pete i just picked up my phone as your post came up, first off is the fuse for the dash ok? I know it sounds billy basic but they have to be checked out. I’ve the years with mine I’ve had a few issues with my dash and others so much that I’m now learning how to fix them as a side line lol. Let me know about the fuse.


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[peter poppleton]

Hi Pete i just picked up my phone as your post came up, first off is the fuse for the dash ok? I know it sounds billy basic but they have to be checked out. I’ve the years with mine I’ve had a few issues with my dash and others so much that I’m now learning how to fix them as a side line lol. Let me know about the fuse.


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hi, i had a quick look today, its to cold to start doing to much at the min, the fuses under the bonnet nest to the battery box all seem to be fine, haven't looked at the fuse box in the end of the dash yet,
where would the fuse mot likely be?

 

[peter poppleton]

also is this 1 solid positive rail or are they fuses?,

the far right has no positive value at the nut F

 

[Troubs12]

The solid rail is the battery side of the fuse so it’ll go:

Battery to solid rail to fuse then to consumer.

But too be honest bud when I said check the fuse I just meant the fuse by the door. If I remember correctly you said it’s a 2012? If that’s the case it should be fuse 8 (5amp) behind the cover. If it’s not a 2012 it’ll be under the bonnet and at either fuse 6 or 17 depending on high or low fuse box etc.

But yeah double check SC8 and see how you go either post on here or pm me if I can be of any help.


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[peter poppleton]

ok its official, this car has gremlins, just been out to check the fuses as suggested, all seem in good order, well fuse 8 for instrument cluster anyway, however now i have the warning lights coming on and the car starts and stays running no speedo, no rev counter and no back lights,

 

[peter poppleton]

also is this 1 solid positive rail or are they fuses?,

the far right has no positive value at the nut FView attachment 215621

can anyone tell me what fuse/connection F powers?

 

[Troubs12]

can anyone tell me what fuse/connection F powers?

Sounds like you have a failing dash buddy mine did the same when I was on the way out.

As for F according to Elsa that’s the battery side of SA6 which is a 100a fuse that supplies the aux heater. But if you don’t have an aux heater you won’t have one fitted obviously.


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[peter poppleton]

i had the battery box out today, cant see any damage / corrosion on the wires, apparently this is a common fault, also other posts i have read are water damage to the CCM in the boot and water damage to the clocks, cant seem to see how the clocks would become water damaged, unless its condensation, it has been in minus figures here for a few weeks,
next step i suppose is remove the clocks and inspect then hunt down the CCM and inspect that, i do have VCDS on an old laptop somewhere and a cheap Maxwell code reader, originally when the car would start and die the code came back as lost communication with instrument panel, now it shows no codes,

and thanks @Troubs12 , i am starting to think you may be right

 

[Troubs12]

i had the battery box out today, cant see any damage / corrosion on the wires, apparently this is a common fault, also other posts i have read are water damage to the CCM in the boot and water damage to the clocks, cant seem to see how the clocks would become water damaged, unless its condensation, it has been in minus figures here for a few weeks,
next step i suppose is remove the clocks and inspect then hunt down the CCM and inspect that, i do have VCDS on an old laptop somewhere and a cheap Maxwell code reader, originally when the car would start and die the code came back as lost communication with instrument panel, now it shows no codes,

and thanks @Troubs12 , i am starting to think you may be right

Unfortunately I’m sorry to say I think I am. The only way water would get in would be via capillary action but I doubt that’s the case. Also I’d expect the dash to log intermittent communication faults ie can’t talk to gateway, engine, abs etc which points more towards a dash dying.

I can potentially look at it for you if you like but it would require sending it over to me. I’ve got a test bench set up for stuff like this but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to fix it but I should be able to grab the immobiliser data for you. Pm me if you want to talk further about that but I won’t be offended if not haha.


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[Troubs12]

Or I can highly recommend a company called Cartronics if you google them they will 100% be able to sort you out and lifetime warranty etc


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[peter poppleton]

So today went to remove the clocks for inspection, put the key in and now everything works again !!, what is going on, is this cold related ??

 

[Falk]

Hey guys,
I can see that you were lucky enough for this issue to resolve itself Peter, but this morning I started my car and now I have the exact same issue on a 2009 Audi A3 with the same instrument cluster... The engine is running and everything works fine, but the dash is dead, besides the below few warning lights. Any ideas what I could do? (I've checked the fuses etc and they're fine)

Your advice would be much appreciated