Hi everybody, I apologize if this issue has been resolved here before but I cannot find anything on the topic. I recently totaled a 2001 A6 (first Audi, bought it 2 months ago, but thankfully was not my fault) and am about to buy another '01 A6. This particular one had after market brake lights installed and now says the brake lights are out (and beeps once on start) in the digital display between the tach and the speedometer (not the brake warning or ABS light in the speedometer) and was wondering if there was a way to resolve this or even if I am mistaken on what this warning is telling me. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Before you buy the car have someone scan it for codes and see what problems the car is having. That way you will not be guessing.

 

Ya what your going to have to do is hook up a vag-com and see the codes spitting out, then i think you can reprogram the car so the car will recognize the aftermarket lights.

 

Keep in mind that a burnt out brake light warning beeps more than just the once on start up. I had a burnt out bulb a few months back that drove me to madness in just 2 days. For me, in my 00, it would beep on start up, beep about every 5 mins there after when I applied the brakes. On my 27 mile commute to work it might beep 5 times, then again 5 on the way home. It pissed me off how much it beeped, but I did replace the bulb in record time.

So if this new car is like mine, plan on getting a prescription to anti anxiety drugs if you choose to leave the brake lights as is. You'll need them.

 

Thanks a lot for the input everybody. The dealer said that the factory brake lights could be put back in if it was a big deal and assured me that the aftermarket lights were the reason for the beep, but on that statement I can really only take his word for it until I hook up the code reader. I will see if he will do that prior to purchasing it. I did test drive it for about 25 minutes and the beep only occurred once on start. If it is just the one beep I can live with that but I figured there might be a way around it. Makav3li, is this a fact that you can reprogram it to recognize the lights? Or can anyone else back that up?

And just to make sure its clear, the lights work just fine. The car just thinks that they are out.

 

I'm not 100% that its a fact that you can do it, but I'd suggest posting you question here,

http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?t=2774891

There is a forum dedicated to the vag-com system, and you can see dana@rosstech is an avid poster there and would deff know the answer to your question, not to advertise other forums but that forum would be more directed to your specific question.

 

The dealer had his mechanic check it out and they have fixed the issue. From what he said it sounded like there needed to be a dummy switch put in to keep the lights from tripping the dead bulb warning or something along those lines.

Thanks for the help!