Did lightning ruin my car?!

[meluvaudi]

Hey guys.

So I regularly park my 2015 A3 In my drive way. I live in Miami and lightning strikes are pretty common here. A tree in my yard got struck about 2 weeks ago and I kid you not, ever since then my car has been having crazy electric issues on a regular basis! 1st. All of a sudden my passenger DRL went out, and then the HID followed the next day. Went to a local dealer to get the HID’s changed and the brand new bulb didn’t work at all. He tested some of the wires in the housing and said it wasn’t getting any power. (Plowing ahead). Next, my MMI display just stopped flipping up. Every now & then it’ll pop up on its own, but no sound and can’t control any buttons without a major lag and then it cuts off. Now for today’s surprise, as soon as I turn on the ignition, I get a loud crackling sound from all speakers. The MMI then pops up with a screen that says “competent protection”. It eventually goes away but inevitably returns. I’m now 2 years out of warranty and I’ve scoured the internet and tons of forums to try to resolve the issue. I have no idea where to start and driving on mute is making me crazy! Grateful for your help.

 

[eribaMotters]

1st and cheapest step. Have you checked the battery? Modern car electrics do silly things when voltage drops.

Colin

 

[meluvaudi]

1st and cheapest step. Have you checked the battery? Modern car electrics do silly things when voltage drops.

Colin

Haven’t checked the voltage yet. But I did unplug it for a few mins after the initial incident. Will check the voltage today.

thanks for your help!

 

[shady-ninja]

disconnect the battery for four hours and reconnect and see what happens

 

[meluvaudi]

disconnect the battery for four hours and reconnect and see what happens

Will do. Question, what does the extended period of time while disconnected(4hours) do?

 

[AdamInKent]

Will do. Question, what does the extended period of time while disconnected(4hours) do?

I’ve no idea what it is that supposed to retain charge for four hours, but a hard reset of the electronics by disconnecting the battery momentarily might help (if low voltage isn’t the problem). I lost the hands free calling function in my Golf after a flat battery was replaced. Disconnecting and reconnecting the new battery fixed it.

 

[Craig_s85]

Also worth checking the charging voltage, could be unstable and causing problems.

 

[steverobertsbbc]

Will do. Question, what does the extended period of time while disconnected(4hours) do?

I'll tell you one thing it will do: make all the lights on your dashboard light up, accompanied by myriad warnings about systems being unavailable. At this point, don't panic - just go for a drive and everything will reset.