Flat battery again

[batwad]

So I go to set off for work this morning and the car won't start, just a pathetic little wheeze That makes it the second time since getting the car a month ago that the battery's gone flat while it's been parked up.

And no, I didn't leave the lights on

So the Audi tech comes out in his Allroad and gives me a jump start after covering up some exposed wiring he spotted down by the clutch housing. The car fired up okay but the cooling fans kicked in straight away while the engine was stone cold. The tech did some rummaging, tried swapping the temp sensor for another one but the fans kept on going.

He thought there might be an intermittent fault in the "fan control unit" which was causing the fans to stay on constantly, hence the flat batteries. We agreed the best course of action was to take it to the Audi dealer nearest where I work, cos if I parked up there'd be no guarantee I'd be able to get moving again

Apparently the roadside folks are sorting me a replacement car while mine's being looked at by the dealer. Here's hoping for a new S3 or maybe an RS4

Has anyone here had similar problems with their cooling fans?

 

[batwad]

Well after being subjected to a 1.8LX Mondeo for a week I'm sooooooo glad to be back in my Audi. Apparently there was a short somewhere in the wiring loom that was causing the fans to stay on and, get this, it took them 12.5 hours to find it

That's a labour bill of about a grand

Thankfully, although wiring faults aren't covered by the extended warranty (which I thought was a load of bull), Hatifeld Audi managed to get Audi Customer Services agreed to cover the cost of the work so I simply picked up the keys and drove.

So hats off to Hatfield Audi for spending the time hanging on the phone and saving me a small fortune! Just a shame you couldn't have given me a nice car for a week

 

[Pete69zx]

Glad to hear u didnt have to foot the bill & that u have your car back once again

 

[jojo]

Tell me they told you where the fault was, cos that would save us 12.5 hours looking in the event of the same happening... thinking about it though, was it near the cooling fan loom, just under the battery?

 

[batwad]

Sorry jojo, they couldn't tell me anything other than "in the engine bay" It was dark when I picked the car up so I couldn't check for any signs of work, but it's a nice day out there so I'll let you know if I can see any obvious signs of work when I've had a look later.