Hi. New to the forums (been reading as a guest on and off). I just ran into a problem this afternoon and wanted some opinions before calling around for assistance.

My car is a 2001 A6 2.7T quattro w/ auto. I bought it in '04 from dealer with the certified used program, including 7yr/100k warranty. Car has 86k miles.

I should also qualify this by saying I know very little about cars, save for how to change the oil (which I haven't done on this car b/c they do it at the scheduled maintenance visits). I replaced the brakes on my old Cutlass Supreme years ago, but I had a retired mechanice standing over me the whole time. I'm also an apartment dweller. In other words, I have no means to get under my car and wouldn't know what to do when I got there.

Last week I noticed unusual wear on the inside of my driver's tire and had the tires replaced (they were nearing ready anyhow). I took it to a local respected foreign car specialist Friday for an alignment. They called to say the front tie rods were frozen and they couldn't perform the alignment. $550 later, they replaced four rods and aligned it. Saturday I noticed the car had a hard time turning over when I started it after not driving for a few hours. The lights/radio etc seemed fine (no dimming, etc). I planned on getting a new battery this morning (Sunday). The car was again very slow to turn over. When it did start, I notice the ABS light will not go off, nor the tringle/circle/! light (for the electronic stability?). I put the car in drive and still the lights stay on. I don't want to go very far, so I haven't left my parking lot yet.

My questions are:

1) When replacing the tie rods, would the mechanic be close enough to the ABS system to disengage it, either on purpose or accident?

2) Would a low battery cause the ABS system light to come on?

3) Does the battery warning light (for high or low aps, according to the manual) ever come on? Mine hasn't.

I'm assuming the warranty covers the ABS system, so I'd like to take it to the dealership. However, if the local mechanic caused the problem, I'd like to go back to ask them to fix it. Either way, it looks like this is going to cost me a day of work tomorrow, and I can little afford to miss work this week!

I appreciate in advance anyone's advice/opinions, and I look forward to contributing where I can here. Thanks!

 

The wheel speed sensor could have been dislodged or damaged during the tie rod end work. Not too sure about the other questions. You might want to take the car back to the mechanic that did the work and have them take a look.

 

I don't think this is a wheel speed sensor issue because you would feel the ABS kick in when coming to a normal stop if the sensor was loose or inoperative.

First things first, replace your battery so that you're sure a lack of current is not the problem. If, after replacing the battery, the ABS light is still lit, then I would suspect that your Bosch 5.3 ABS computer is fried which is (unfortunately) a common problem. You'll want to check out eBay or www.modulemaster.com for a rebuilt unit (roughly $200 - $250) and it's a DIY replacement by removing the left front wheel and liner to access the computer.

 

the breaks were ok before the tie rods were fitted?? the ESP/ABS lights came on and stay on ( its normal for the ABS light to come on if the car was jacked up but should go off after its been driven ), take it back to that fitter and make him sort it otherwise you could say you will be taking it to Audi and they will bill him ( somebody damaged a speed sensor or wiring while doing the job ) its not the ABS ECU the ABS light would flash

 

First things first. Check for fault codes in the abs control module. Perfomring an aligment with the steering wheel not centered can cause the steering angle sensor to read incorrectly which will throw a code. Low battery voltage will do the same thing. Driving the vehicle will cause the sensor to relearn itself and the light to go out in the latter case.

 

First off, my apologies for not replying sooner. I missed the email that said I had replies to my post.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions! I am humbled when it comes to these four-wheeled critters!

Turns out the ABS light no longer came on when I went back to the car the next day, so I drove up to NTB for a battery check. The thing was just low. Unfortunately, I had to wait another day b/c they were out of stock and the other nearby NTB had no tools that day b/c mechanic never came in (!).

So I'm guessing avant80 was right and perhaps I just hadn't driven it enough after picking it up from the garage, so the light hadn't gone out yet. Either way, I learned a tremendous amount about my Audi that week. (Like sell it before the warranty is up!)

Can't wait to get a house so I can work on my own car a little. I look forward to all sorts of ideas from these forums on how to keep this puppy running! Once I have kids, I'm sure it'll be back to junkers for me! :-)