Various electrical gremlins........

ValiantSaint

ValiantSaint

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Hello, me again! Well my 'lovely' A4 is having a hissy fit for the tenth time this week! I now have three different electrical problems, that I could do with a little help diagnosing them, if possible.

The first one, only happens when it's cold and normally once a week. When I turn the car on, I get this icon on the display (See picture) Now, I've topped up the brake fluid and my friend has looked at the pads, and they're very good. So it's a sensor, right? Are they easy to get to? And how do you drive the damp out of them?

The second fault, has only started today. I'm getting a failed NSF indicator bulb icon flash, but only intermittently, as the bulb starts working, from time to time! So again, it must be a dodgy connection etc. How hard are the front light to take out? I have a 'T80' bit, that fits the bolts on the lights, but no 'step down' socket to fit it to. Are they hard to get hold of? And do you have to be careful with alignment of the light when refitting?

I'd like to upgrade the main beam bulbs as well, are there any decently priced HID bulb kits around at the moment?

And the third one, is the RHS speakers shutting off all the time, unless I turn the volume up, or open and close the door! Is it down to the headunit, or the wiring?

Many thanks in advance :)

EDIT: And the powered boot handle sometimes sticks, and I have to wait for it to release, then the boot will shut.
 

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If the brake warning sign is coming up while cranking than you may well find it's actually caused by a failing battery. When the battery gets old and the cranking power drops, especially in the cold, they often throw up that brake warning.
 
Hi frankc - I forgot to put in my original post that my mechanic friend did indeed check my battery's CCA output.......bang on the recommended output! Odd?!
 
audi upgrades
An update on the intermittent indicator - it was a dodgy contact. After a quick clean up, as good as new :)
 
And, here's another one for you; my alarm has started going off and the display is telling me that the boot is open? I did have a few problems with the rear wash wipe, which has now been fixed (pipe had split and was leaking down the RHS (if facing) channel of the boot and down through the floor.

I have read that it can be down to the rear boot lock being crudded up (which mine is really badly!) What else could be causing it? Many thanks :)
 
As for the speaker wiring to the doors, the factory wires tend to break up over time.. I just went full aftermarket stereo and ran new wires, a lot of work but well worth it
 
It's not impossible to fix yourself, but it would be a PITA, the speaker wire will be degraded inside the rubber sleeve where the door hinges.. you can just replace the speaker wire that's degraded but it would be far easier to replace the door loom.. how are your soldering skills?
 
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Solderding? Non-existent! This car of mine really is turning into a money pit.........
 
ValiantSaint said:
Solderding? Non-existent! This car of mine really is turning into a money pit.........
Click to expand...

Well, they are lovely cars but they do have their fun and unique problems.. B6s are pretty old now! I've fixed what I can on mine and thrown money at what I couldn't.. Save money by familiarising yourself with a good socket set and YouTube, and of course the good folks here at Audi-sport :). How many miles on your car?
 
My car's done 133k - FSH, though. It looked really tidy from the outside. Shame it's riddled with electrical problems, and struggles to get 37 MPG with me crawling around! What socket set do you suggest? And can you get hold of the RHS wiring looms 2nd hand (not worth it?)

EDIT: Does anyone have problems with the radio station reception varying wildly from day to day?
 

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Non Quattro 1.9 tdi?

I tend to use Halfords advanced tools, they're not silly money and carry a lifetime guarantee. You could take a punt on a second hand door loom, if it's cheap enough! But with no way to verify the wear it's had it could have the same problem you're having..
 
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germanwhip81 said:
Non Quattro 1.9 tdi?

I tend to use Halfords advanced tools, they're not silly money and carry a lifetime guarantee. You could take a punt on a second hand door loom, if it's cheap enough! But with no way to verify the wear it's had it could have the same problem you're having..
Click to expand...

It's a 1.9 Tdi Quattro. I'll have a look at the Halfords tools. Do the wiring looms ever turn up cheap? Is it worth buying a 2nd hand one, and then getting it refurbished? Thanks again
 
Quattros do use a bit more fuel but your figures seem low to me, as for the door loom I'd keep an eye on fleabay.
 
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Thanks, GW. Any suggestions on how I can get better MPG out of it? I understand that it's done a few miles, so it won't be great. I really struggle to know what gear the Quattro likes to be in (Six speed, you see)

And should I look on Ebay new, or 2nd hand looms? (Do cheaper new ones come on often?)
 
Having never had to look for a door loom I honestly couldn't tell you, I'm sure they would, people are breaking these cars all the time.

There are many things that could be the cause of low mpg, is the car getting up to temp? I'm no expert but I've done a lot to my car, which is on similar miles to yours and gets pretty good mpg, I've done so much I couldn't tell you what's made improvements!
 
Quick one on door wiring looms, i bought one for my cab when one of my wires snapped in the door rubber bellows. thought it was an easy swap out but i found there was a different pin count on the door lock connectior. in the end i just used it for a donor wire instead. So watch out for variations in looms...
 
Thanks, Cabbyfan. I was a little bit sly and phoned the local Audi dealership to ask for the part code for the loom - 8E1971029N. Would that be the right one for my car? Can anyone double check for me? (Feeling a bit anxious, now!)
 
Sorry to double post, but another problem I'm having, is the temp. gauge on the dash not getting any higher than 70 degrees at any time. The heater/A/C work fine, though. I have read that changing the thermostat can cure this problem? My friend ran a code check on my car and nothing came up. If the temp sensor was duff, would it throw up a code? Many thanks :)

EDIT: What thermostat should I buy? I've heard horror stories of the 3rd party ones being rubbish. My car's an 03 reg 1.9tdi Quattro Avant with an AVF engine.
 
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Temp only getting to 70 is possibly a coolant temperature sensor. They are a common fault. Not expensive and easy to fix yourself. Thermostat is about £40 if I recall for a genuine one.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
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Many thanks for the reply, Ralph. How hard is it to fit a new temp sensor? Does anyone have a video? (I'm rubbish at following written instructions!)

On another note, my NSF indicator is playing up again. I must have had the light out about three times in the last week, to clean the connections and the bulb (which normally sees it working again for a few days) However, after the last strip down, I noticed that the bulb holder is very sensitive to where it is turned in the light assembly. If I tighten it back up where it should be, the indicator doesn't work, but if I rotate it back towards the left again (undo it) the light works again! Is the bulb holder past its best? Or will I need a new headlight? Thanks ;)
 
Temp sensor is located on a pipe to the rear of the engine (1.9tdi) if you google it it will show up on Google images. There are plenty of tutorials on how to replace. New ones have a green bit on the plug. Older ones were white I think. Pull the old one out, coolant will come out for about 30 seconds. Put the new green one in, top up coolant and that's it. Unless the thermostat is faulty. VCDS scan tool should tell you if the sensor is bad or failing. I had a problem with my indicator failing. It was one of the bulb holders metal connections. I bent it out slightly with a screw driver so that it made a firmer connection with the bulb. It's been fine ever since. (12 months). You could try that to see if it works.

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Remember to catch the rubber O ring when you take the old sensor out.

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Thanks, Ralph. My friend has run a full code search on my Avant, and no error codes were found. Would that suggest that the thermostat has seen better days? And on the indicator side of things, I bent out the pin inside the bulb holder, but that did nothing. Would you suggest doing the same to the other pins?
 
Well, it's possible the thermostat is sticking if there are no error codes. Does it ever reach 90c?
It doest cost anything to bend the pins out a little. Maybe spray a little electrical cleaner into the plug. Is the bulb old?

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The car never reaches 70c, let alone 90c!

I've cleaned the bulb holder/light with contact cleaner and replaced the bulb - it has to be the outer pins on the holder......... :)
 
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