Hello,

I just purchased an '05 2.7T from a used car lot, only to find that they didn't include the owner's manual! So until I can order a new one from a dealership, I'm a bit puzzled as to how to work the lights. I understand that to the left of the steering wheel there's the 3-position dial for the lights; off, low yellow lights, and main headlights. What I don't understand is whether there's an automatic setting for the lights like my '02 BMW 330ci has, where you just set it to one setting and it turns on automatically, and more importantly, turns OFF when the car's turned off and locked. I turned the light setting all the way to the right in the Audi last night, turned off the engine, got out, locked it, and saw that the low yellow lights were still on. No biggie, I thought, they'll turn off in a few seconds. Nope. I wait a minute. Yellow lights still on. I go inside the house, set a timer for 10 minutes, come back out after 10 minutes, and the yellow lights are STILL on. So I unlocked the car and turned the lights back to the left in the off position.

Am I missing something here? Am I really going to have to manually turn on the lights and remember to manually turn them back off every time when I park like it's 1990?

Before anyone gets too annoyed and types "search", I searched the forum for this basic question and couldn't find anything, as they all pertained to headlight replacement and maintenance, not simple operation. If only I had the manual......

 

If it had "auto" lights, there would be an position on the switch between "off" and "park". It was an option and still is optional on some models. The headlamps only come on when the key is on, otherwise it's just park/tail lamps. After a while it'll just be habit to turn the lights off. Should be a reminder chime also if you leave them on and open the door, provided the door latch switch is functioning. If the dome lamps come on, the switch is fine.

 

Thanks for the reply. Would it hurt the battery to just keep the lights in the on position all the time, and have the park/tail lamps running while the car is off? Was it designed to be used that way, or should I turn the switch all the way to off every time?

 

Doing that will run the battery dead after a few hours. Plus, with the lights on, it keeps other modules "awake" and drawing power. A lot of the car "goes to sleep" after a certain amount of time with no inputs such as opening a door, turning on the lights, turning on the key, etc., to reduce the draw on the battery when the car is not being used. (Meaning a lot of the modules power down and basically turn off).