After a cold spell here in the Northeast, my car wouldn't start today. The battery seems to have a little juice, but not enough to turn over the engine, so I'm dead. The car and the battery are four years old.... so I'm assuming its time to replace the battery.

I called the dealer and they said it could take a couple of hours for them to replace the battery, partly because the techs need to reset the electronics. I'm not sure if this is necessary.

If I can manage get to the battery (its by the windshield under a plastic shroud, which looks a little daunting!) can I just replace the battery myself? Or will I encounter an electronic nightmare as a result?

Any help, guidance, or advice would surely be appreciated.

If you have not replace your battery before, please do not try to remove the battery cables by yourself.

It happened to my 98 A6 Q before. Some non-Audi tech disconnect the battery's ground cable trying to clear the Air-Bag warning code and caused my car almost cannot drive. The idle went to almost ZERO and stalled many times. The car can relearn itself back to normal, took about one day, but enough to scare you to death ( the car stopped in front of the traffic light ).


Just my 2 cents.

Well I did it!

Despite what some other posters suggested here and elsewhere, and against the advice of my friendly neigborhood Audi dealer, I replaced the battery myself. The dealer told me that a) they're so backed up they wouldn't be able to get to my car for two days and b) that the battery swap out would take a few hours for them to do (once they could get me scheduled in) because after you replace the battery all the electronics needed to be reset by a tech. Liars!

I got my battery from the Audi parts department for about $120. I easily figured out how the plastic covering over the battery compartment came out (not as difficult as I originally thought.... and no tools required.... the rubber molding just pulls off and the plastic piece slips right out.) Replaced the battery very quickly (so as not to deprive the electronics of juice for too long). Then, at the advice of others, I turned the key to the second position for three minutes -- this, I'm told, resets the electronics. (Maybe there's something in the manual about this, but I didn't even bother to look!) It worked perfectly. Everything is working fine -- even the radio kept its pre-set stations! The only thing I lost was clock and date settings... which is the easiest thing in the world to reset.

The whole job took less than 6 minutes.... and that includes 3 mintues of reset time, and fixing the time on the clock!

-- Christina

2001 A6 2.8 Quattro - the green dream machine
1994 90CS - my pearl white darling