Hi everyone,

This is my first time here. I have Audi A4 1.8 L Turbo Q – year 2000. It started giving me service signal on the panel 3 months ago. I went to the local mechanic and did the service and oil change as required. The Service reminder did not go. The whole odometer panel went blank for couple of days and again it came back to normal. This happened 2 times. At one time I would lock the car and inside lights wouldn’t go off. That also became normal within 1 day. So I thought it could be reminder of Service. Now I have new battery installed about 3-4 months ago and today the car wouldn’t start…. Its new battery and when I try to turn the ignition on …. Nothing happens nor the odometer light turns on … its just blank like the car without any battery…. Is it normal? Is it just a service reminder and everything would be ok in a day ? did it happen to somebody? Please advise and give some guidance… Thanks …

 

could be a alternator going bad. They can cause spooky things to happen when they are dying.

 

If its not alternator maybe its a cable? My car did some of those things but not all and that's all that was wrong. $14 fix if it is.

 

Best way to check is to get a DVOM and check voltage and amperage. Battery should be at 12.6v not running and alternator should be at 14v running. Could also be something with a swiching ground which is a result of a bad wire.

 

Service reminder wont go off unless it is manually reset.

Sounds like either a bad battery, bad alternator, or a bad ground connection somewhere.

 

Thanks everyone for your kind response. It took me little longer to reply. So here are the details. I checked the battery power on voltage meter. It was less than 4 volts. So I tried to start the car with jump start and it started. I left the car on for 5 minutes and it started showing voltage on audi odometer near to 14 volts. I turned the car off 3 times and I could easily start the car without jump start. I drove for about 20 minutes and the car was just like before. Well… still the remote keyless entry was not working but after 5 minutes I don’t know what happened and the security lights on window door inside and the keyless remote entry started working just as before…. Please give your expertise; what could be wrong ? The battery is relatively new…I replaced the battery in December 2005 so its only 9-10 months old. Is it cable, alternator, ground switch or something else….Thank you for all your help and could you tell me what would be the cost for such repair….

 

Most likely is a poor ground connection somewhere. If you had any audio equipment installed, try checking those wires to make sure none are interfering. Poor ground on wiring and poor choice of hardwire location has caused some problems similar to yours at my job. If there's no audio equipment, could be the alternator, or still just a poor ground. Good luck.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply. I didn't install any audio equipment. I have audi symphony that came with it from company. what does poor ground connection and ground switch mean? do you mean that its just draining the battery out? Sorry for stupid questions but I dont have much of knowledge in cars. Could anyone tell me how much would it cost to fix alternator or poor ground connection....Thanks

 

a bad ground means a bad earth ( I doubt its the alternator overvolting ) because there are obvious signs to this like fuses burning out I would think more like a lose connection behind the dash

 

Thank you for your quick reply. The problem occurred just over night. And I checked with voltage meter it showed very low volt but after jump start everything is just as before. What could have made battery drained just in one night ? I didn’t get any single problem before that and at the moment its just fine… on volt meter without starting the car, its showing 12.2 V and with car running it shows 14.4 V . Do you think I should just drive couple of days and see what happens… ? What are the signs and diagnostics to figure out if the alternator is bad ? Thank you very much.