Hi All,
Been very quiet on of late due to work being busy and baby. A while back I posted about having some electrical gremlins on the S4 I had just bought. Well they are all fixed now and this might contain some useful info for anyone who gets similar issues. Certainly as things to check anyway.
So basically the initial issue was parking sensors not working. Then the hand brake decided to randomly not release or go on. Resulting in me often getting stuck in places for up to 30 mins until it decided to release.
So I took it to local Audi specialist in Bristol. They ran a full diagnostic and literally every single electronic system that wasn't engine related came back with malfunction and error codes. When they opened up the compartment in the boot where the handbrake module is they found the problem instantly.
Basically the main loom wires (see pic) were sat in a load of water and had been for ages. Hence the cable wrap being green. My guess is the previous owner got similar issues in winter/rainy season and they went in the summer. The whole area where the wires were was about 1cm deep in water. Now i've seen other people say they get water in the boot but not many people found out where from. So here's what might be useful to check before going to a garage if you have this issue.
Having removed the rear bumper but put the rear light back on. Then I poured water onto the roof rails to watch where it ran. It ran down past the light and straight on to the top of the circled vent on the outside. Now the issue was this vent wasn't properly clipped in at the top or bottom so the water was running onto the top of it, collecting and running round to the bottom, where (because it wasn't clipped in properly) it then just ran straight inside the car and collected under it.... directly where all the wiring was.
So I clipped this back in fully and also checked the petrol cap drain hole (also blocked), unblocked that and hey presto.... no more leak. The vent didn't look like it wasn't in quickly... it was only when i waggled it it became obvious it wasn't in fully.
So that fixed the leak (and we have had a lot of rain since then and car is bone dry). Took it back to the garage and they fixed all the wiring by cutting out around 13 wires and the main multi-function one (all of which were corroded) and put new bits in. Cleared the error codes and everything was fine. All functions back to normal. No modules were needed. So all in it cost £400... which the garage I bought it from agreed to pay as was inside a month of ownership and clearly not caused by me.
So if you ever have water in the boot by the control units or audio system check that vent!
Been very quiet on of late due to work being busy and baby. A while back I posted about having some electrical gremlins on the S4 I had just bought. Well they are all fixed now and this might contain some useful info for anyone who gets similar issues. Certainly as things to check anyway.
So basically the initial issue was parking sensors not working. Then the hand brake decided to randomly not release or go on. Resulting in me often getting stuck in places for up to 30 mins until it decided to release.
So I took it to local Audi specialist in Bristol. They ran a full diagnostic and literally every single electronic system that wasn't engine related came back with malfunction and error codes. When they opened up the compartment in the boot where the handbrake module is they found the problem instantly.
Basically the main loom wires (see pic) were sat in a load of water and had been for ages. Hence the cable wrap being green. My guess is the previous owner got similar issues in winter/rainy season and they went in the summer. The whole area where the wires were was about 1cm deep in water. Now i've seen other people say they get water in the boot but not many people found out where from. So here's what might be useful to check before going to a garage if you have this issue.
Having removed the rear bumper but put the rear light back on. Then I poured water onto the roof rails to watch where it ran. It ran down past the light and straight on to the top of the circled vent on the outside. Now the issue was this vent wasn't properly clipped in at the top or bottom so the water was running onto the top of it, collecting and running round to the bottom, where (because it wasn't clipped in properly) it then just ran straight inside the car and collected under it.... directly where all the wiring was.
So I clipped this back in fully and also checked the petrol cap drain hole (also blocked), unblocked that and hey presto.... no more leak. The vent didn't look like it wasn't in quickly... it was only when i waggled it it became obvious it wasn't in fully.
So that fixed the leak (and we have had a lot of rain since then and car is bone dry). Took it back to the garage and they fixed all the wiring by cutting out around 13 wires and the main multi-function one (all of which were corroded) and put new bits in. Cleared the error codes and everything was fine. All functions back to normal. No modules were needed. So all in it cost £400... which the garage I bought it from agreed to pay as was inside a month of ownership and clearly not caused by me.
So if you ever have water in the boot by the control units or audio system check that vent!
