Alternator Dead?
 

Hello All! I've been lurking for years but do not post much on this board. I have what is probably a quick problem to confirm:

2000 A6 4.2 had the battery indicator come on and the volt meter drop to full discharge tonight. The trip odometer says 'FUSE'. The car made it home but I turned off the ventilation, radio and left headlights off where I could to save juice. I suspect the alternator is just dead (150k miles so no apologies).

Yes, the belt is fine as the steering and brakes are working fine. The clock an calendar did reset when I started the car to come home but the radio did NOT go into safe mode (checked right before I shut it off).

Before I go through the trouble of yanking the alternator out, does the 'FUSE' message on the trip odometer suggest something simple... like a fuse? :rolleyes: Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
-hyde

I had a similar problem with my 02 2.7T. Definitely the alternator with mine. Having done a lot of research on the problem it seems the OEM alternators have some kind of diode problem that rears its ugly head when the weather gets warm/hot. It seems reasonable to me because of the symptoms I was experiencing. If it was about 60 degrees F or less, everything worked perfectly. As the outside air temp started to climb above 60, I would notice the dash voltmeter start to drop. Somewhere in the 70's the alternator had trouble putting out enough to charge the battery. At about 85 to 90degrees the alternator wouldn't put out enough juice to keep the car running properly and stuff started shutting down (ESP, TCM, etc).

New alternator solved everything. Haven't taken the old one in for a rebuild yet but I am interested to see what they find out when I do.

Charge the battery and go to Autozone or someplace like that and have them check the charging system. They can quickly tell you if it is the alternator or battery.

Thanks for the feedback guys. The car ran fine all the way home which puzzled me (i.e. turn signals didn't slow down, dash lights stayed bright, etc.). I put a meter on the battery just now and it is purring along at 14.2v with the car running. I googled 'audi trip odometer says fuse' and it brought me to my own thread :D but I'm sure there is another issue at work here.

To clarify, the 'battery light' that is lit is not the red one in the speedometer - it's the yellow battery in the center cluster. Right now it is alternating between the battery and low fuel (I can fix that problem :p ). I have not hooked a scanner up to it but the CEL is off. My FLAPS has a shiny rebuilt for $290 but I don't think it is the alternator on this one. Has anyone had their trip odometer read 'FUSE'? Thanks!
-h

Update: I fixed the low fuel warning with 19 gallons of premium :rolleyes:. I called the Audi dealer and they thought they could certainly figure out what the problem is... if I bring the car in... :mad: I'll go through the fuses one-by-one when I get a chance but in the meantime, the car seems to be running fine. Are there any fuses besides in the dash inside the driver's door? Any suggestions are still appreciated. ;)
-h