I have high hopes for this, my first posting. Here is my problem (late '95 A6 Quattro Wagon, 192Kmi):
HISTORY (to tie in later) is messed up electrical problem in hatch (inoperable wiper; intermittent middle tail light that sometimes lights when braking, sometimes faint-lit when hatch opened or not braking; rear/front fog light switches glow amber when I brake, most times). Tail lights work fine I think.

After 4hrs driving back in "blizzard", was doing 3-pt turn shifting from reverse to drive, and several dash lights go out (Drive selection indicator, heated seat switch lights, and lock rear diffy switch area light), and anti-lock light illuminates. Car is stuck in 2nd gear whether shift stick is in D, 3, 2, or 1. Park and Reverse work.

Audi dealer diagnoses as failed mutifinction switch ($316 part + 4hrs labor), being replaced as I speak. Dealer said several fuses blown (I have to ask which ones specifically)

Thinking I had a transmission failure, I was glad to hear about cheaper part being the problem. But... though just occured to me that my hatch problem could be telling me that I have electrical/shorting problems that may plague me in future with similar (MF switch) or other component failures.

My wife wants to sell but I would like to save car payments if I can keep repair cost to under $1,500/yr. Any advice?? I have "accessed" hatch this summer to fix inoperable exterior hatch handle, and I repaired handle mechanism (a "shaft" was loose, sliding around in the hatch). dare I attempt another "access" to look for chaffed wires??

 

I have a 96 A6 and I can say for a fact that this will be the last Audi that I ever own! I was a Porsche/Audi mechanic in the 80's and the 5000 series was far superior in reliability.

When I purchased my A6 with 79k miles, I expected problems but not things like having the steering rack leak in less than 100k miles; and then discovering that it already had a rebuilt rack! It cost me $135 for the seals and a day to remove, rebuild and reinstall the rack but it would have cost close to $2500 to have a shop do it because they would only install a $1600 rebuilt rack, not rebuild it themselves, and charge me $1000 to R&R the rack.

There are many other problems that I am having including an oil pressure warning when the RPMs go over 1500 even though the oil pressure is fine. I believe it to be an electrical problem with the Autocheck system.

I also had a radiator cooling fan go out which cost $350 just for the part! Audi made sure that there was no way to for people to go out and purchase any kind of aftermarket replacement. Saying that, I am sure that Audi's business model is this; Design to fall apart after warranty! Henry Ford once said that he would give away cars because most of the money to be made was in selling replacement parts. I believe that Audi has gone way beyond that and purposely engineers the cars to be build as fragile as possible so as to just survive the warranty period.

My 20 year old Porsche 928 is MUCH more reliable and cheaper to maintain than the Audi (and more fun to drive) but the Audi is more comfortable to drive for long trips. Audi's are very nice cars when they are working but very expensive to keep that way.

I do my own work on my car, which is nice and paid for, and that is my justification for keeping it. I am concerned that at some point, the automatic transmission might go out and at that point, I'll probably junk it. That was the single most common reason that the 5000/100 series went to the salvage yards; not collision.

Consumer reports lists Audi A6 in the top of their "Cars not to buy" list due to the very high cost of repairs.

Since it sounds like you don't do your own repair work, I think that you should seriously consider selling the car once it is running and purchasing something more reliable.

If you decide to keep the Audi, then I would highly recommend that you do some research to find a good mechanic in your area to keep your car working. I have worked for both dealerships and independent shops and I would NEVER take my car to a dealership! Dealerships make most of their money on car sales so they don't have the motivation to provide good service like independent shops do. And when I say "good service", I mean that there are sometimes techniques that can be used to make a better repair than what a dealership is allowed to do. Take my last 5000CS in which the hydraulic power brake system went out. A friend of mine who owned one of the shops that I used to work at suggested that I replace the hydraulic power brake system with a traditional vacuum power brake system. It worked great and saved me $1500 in parts alone! A dealership would NEVER recommend such a thing; they will only try to sell you more expensive parts replacement parts.

I have worked on just about every kind of car and I would have to say that even though I love German engineering, Toyota (Lexus) blows away anything put out by Germany including Mercedes when it comes to quality and reliability. My next car will definitely be a used Lexus.


David

 

I appreciate your maintennace experience with Audis.

Anyone have any suugestions regarding the electrical problem. Here's the update:
I pick up car this past Friday. Dealer says new multifunction switch installed. Dealer also says I have electrical problems and they replaced a couple fuses, and I say I know I do, with hatch area for sure. everything seems okay. I replace front pads and discs myself on Saturday in friend's garage. Sunday (on way to church ironically) my temper is tested when I shift from reverse to drive, hear click or something, and same problem in my initial posting. I pop fuse panel, and find a 30amp fuse in position #14 (I think) blown (definitely bottom fuse of middle row). Panel label says should be a 15amp fuse there. I put in new 30amp fuse and all lights come on normal (except drive indicator light on dash is entirely lit, PRND321), I am hopeful and drive car, but is stuck in 2nd gear.

Doug

 

I don't have a wiring diagram in front of me but since these cars have a P/N (Part/Neutral) lock, which prevents the shifter from moving if you don't have the brake pedal pressed, it might have something to do with that. My car is a 96 A6 2wd and the fuse that you mention sounds like the same one in my car which powers the Back-up lights, cruise control, multiple sensor (multi-function switch?), heated washing nozzle, intensive cleaning, P/N lock, A4-automatic, bulb monitor, diff. lock.

You said that the fuse popped when you shifted from reverse to drive; that tells me that the fuse problem is one of the following:

1. The Part/Neutral lock solenoid that 'unlocks' the shifter when you press the brake has an intermittent short
2. Reverse light switch is shorted (this might be a part of the multi-function switch)
3. There is an exposed wire or electrical connector that is being grounded by some moving part of the shifter

If the fuse chart calls for a 15 amp fuse, then that is what needs to go there. If there is a short that goes through the Multifunction switch and you have a higher amperage fuse, that could be the cause of the Multifunction switch going bad because too much current is going through it before the fuse blows. That makes me think that the short is going through that switch. If the power that activates the P/N lock goes through the multifunction switch, I would highly suspect the P/N lock solenoid or something in that circuit.

Without looking at my wiring diagram, which is at home, the way that the P/N lock circuit PROBABLY works is by supplying power to one side of the solenoid whenever the shifter is in Park or Neutral (so that it doesn't click each time you press the brake while driving) and the other side of the solenoid is connected to a switch on the brake peddle that is grounded whenever you press the brake. If the solenoid, which is just coil with a steel rod inside, has an intermittent short, then when the shifter is in Park or Neutral, that is when the fuse would blow. I have seen solenoids in other machines, where the steel rod that slides in and out of the coil, has worn through the plastic sleeve that separates the moving rod and the coil resulting in an intermittent short. Sometimes it shorts; sometimes not.

I don't have any wiring diagram in front of me and don't even know what this P/N lock looks like but I would highly suspect it.

The way that I would troubleshoot this is by using a test light connected between the two contacts for the fuse and then shifting from reverse to drive several times to see if the light gets brighter (or comes on) at certain positions. The P/N lock might not work with the test light acting as a fuse so this might not work.

A helpful tool is to get a clip lead (a wire with clips on each end available at Radio Shack), cut it in half, and crimp on a MALE spade connector on each half so that you can plug the spade connector into each side of where the fuse goes and connect the clips to the test light so that your hands are free. DO NOT CONNECT THEM TOGETHER WHICH IS THE SAME AS NOT USING A FUSE! If you really want to get fancy, you can also purchase an inline fuse holder and some 12v fuses which you can place in between the clip and the spade connector. Personally, I purchased a bag of clips and some wire and made my own test leads which were about 5' long and had an inline fuse. I also made a special test light using an old dome light with two long wires with spade connectors (no fuse). The dome light is nice because I can turn it off without unplugging the spade connectors.

I'll look at my wiring diagram when I get home and see what I can find.

David

 

David,

Thanks for your detailed thoughts. The 30amp fuse in my car is the position for the same functions you mentioned on your A6. I talked to dealer today. They have not replaced MF switch yet. I questioned them on putting 30amp fuse when 15amp is called for. They said they have been practicing that to avoid people operating without windshield wiper function, as example of what has happened with "only" 15amp fuse. I mentioned that 30amp fuse could allow damage to other parts (I implied they may have additional responsibilities in addition to the MF switch). They did not respond and we'll talk tomorrow. I may ask them to replace switch and take car home to troubleshoot as you described. Tough to do with late work nights this week.

-Doug

 

I have a 97 Audi A4...with similar problems....fuse 14 keeps blowing....I am most recently having problems with my automatic transmission in limp mode...car drives forward but no reverse....this did start when i got the car wet at a car wash....I was focused on washing the brakes and suspension not realizing the multifunction switch /connector are located there. Not a good spot for that I,ll say.

Just wondering if the two Fuse14 and Multifunction are related.

Seems like post ends before resolve...strange???

Heeelp!

Adrian.