Hey guys.
I was starting my 2003 A6 recently, and its winter time here, and the other day it was -30 degrees celcius, which is about -20 farenheit. when i was starting my car, i turned the key the whole way, and the battery turned on, as in all the light in the car came on fine, and it looked like a regular start.

But the Starter never started. It didnt even start cranking, its like it wasnt there. I tried a few times, and just in case had a boost. Even with the boost same thing.

I tried 3 or 4 times with nothing. and then tried once more, and it turned on perfectly. The starter didnt crank, I didnt have to pump gas or anything.

Any idea whats the problem here. Is it to do with the cold you think?

thanks for any help

 

Could be a sign of a dying starter... but with cold like that you can't be very surprised.

Now, you didn't lose all electrical power when you tried to start it... right? Interior lights never dimmed or went out?

 

When starter doesn't turn - bang it with a hammer - if you could .

Do you live in humid area?

 

In brutal cold like that the engine oil really thickens up, making it tougher for the battery to spin the starter. Suggest a low viscosity synthetic (e..g, 0W-40) if you're not using it already.

It could be a weak battery, a dying starter, or simply the battery cables need to be cleaned or tightened. Autozone can test the former for free.

 

Its not the battery, because I just recently replaced it, like a couple weeks ago. and yes the lights were on as if the car was starting just fine.

and No i dont live in a overly humid area

@ppgoal
Thanks for the advice but the starter didnt even start to turn, which to me doesnt imply a dying starter, its as if it was not there at all. And then it started perfectly

 

Hmmmm.....a starter in good functioning order (or stil "alive") shouldn't at least provide cranking noise?
Even when the battery doesn't have enough juice, the starter's motor still attempts to turn and you should be able to hear a cranking noise.
I hope I'm wrong and your starter is fine.

 

Hi

On Monday the 15th, it was like 25 degrees here, and my car didn't do that, but when I turned it on, everything was fine, but when I put the car in reverse, the light came on that looks like a little battery.....I thought okay, this will go off, because it has before......every since I had the car (which was check out thoroughly).

As I proceeded to drive down the street on ice, where it shows the radio station and etc. on the dashboard, the same battery icon showed up there....which freaked me out. I finally pulled over, and read the hand book, and it stated that it was my V-Belt. I decided to drive home, called Audi got high quotes.............within and hour or two I decided to try the drive again, and it hasn't happened anymore.

This was actually my first cold day with this car, so I'm not sure if it was freaked out or etc.....based on other forums Audi's aren't the best during cold weather even though they originated in Germany....

I know that this didn't help......I just found it coincidental that the almost same thing happened to me.

Good Luck with the issue...

 

A friend at work has an audi a4 and the same thing happened to him today. -30 celsius out and car would not start.