Wow this car frustrates me to death....

I'm working on it for some friends of mine. Any help is apreciated.

Its a 1997 Audi A4 1.8T nonquattro. The ABS light has been on forever, they never dealt with it. The brake light is now on. I just changed out the brakes but the light it still on. The code in the book doesn't work. The "code" i found on the paper next to the spare doesn't work. Its still in safe mode. The car also ate a battery while its been sitting. I jumped the battery, drove it around, turned it off and the batt is still dead. Its < 1 year old.

Will clearing the codes work for a while and tell me if there is really still a problem. I'll just take it to autozone or somewhere that will do it for free.

Just looking for any help you guys can offer. I regular a Toyota 4x4 forum helping people with those and have over 1k posts. I know what its like to answer questions all day.

Thanks in advance

Josh
Flagstaff, AZ

 

which brake light is on? The red brake light and yellow abs?

It could be a bad abs sensor, or the abs module itself. The abs modules are very prone to failure. Do you have the specific code extracted from an obd scanner?

 

The light wont go out until you make the repair AND clear the codes. So if you have fixed the problem, you still have the codes to clear.

For the radio, are the codes in the book and the codes in the trunk and the codes in the book the same? If not, either the book or the radio isn't original to the car. Did your friend buy the car used or is he the original owner. Instructions for re-setting are in the book. If you make fore than a couple failed attempts, the radio will lock up for one hour and won't accept further codes until then.

 

Thanks for the replies.


Yep, both the yellow and red lights are on. I'm going to take the battery to autozone and see if they can test it. Once the thing will start on its own, I'll take it down there and have them reset the codes.

I pulled the ABS sensors while I was down there replacing the brakes. They were pretty dirty so I wiped them off. Prolly won't do anything but who knows.


The "code" in the trunk is different than the code in the book. I just looked at the paper and found a 4 digit number that looked like it could be it. I have the instructions on how to reset the radio. I'm following the instructions and still nothing. Just flashes "SAFE" I know about the 1 hour thing so thats not causing me any problems. Just kinda frustrating.

I saw a few other posts about the ABS module. Thats pretty sad for such a nice car to have that problem.


If you have any more info, keep it coming.


Josh

 

Do a search for "VAG COM LOCATOR".

 

lemme guess arb, pirate4x4?

 

Could I get a little more info on what the VAG is? I found the locator and I can prolly get ahold of someone in phoenix. Let me guess, I have to find some crazy tool that Autozone doesn't have. I was really hoping is was some common OBD interface that is easily found.


I frequent 4x4wire.com I'm big on the 22r engine.

Josh

 

VW AUDI GROUP = VAG

 

Vag com is a connector and the associated programming that allows you to download engine codes, read measurements from the engine and electronic sensors and change car programming (but not the ECU). See ross-tech.com