Just thought I would share something that happened while driving my A6 from LA to San Diego this past weekend. On Friday my wife and I loaded up the Schnauzer and headed to a friend's house to drop him off for the weekend. I was almost in HB when my red battery light on the dash came on. I was not exactly sure how serious that was, but as a precaution, I left my car running while dropping off my dog. We got going again toward our next scheduled stop in San Clemente when another battery light came on- the one in the main display. Soon after, the ABS light, followed by the head lights, followed by the stability control... yeah at this point I'm a little concerned. I then notice that the volt meter is slowly dropping. Houston, we have a problem!

My wife is already letting me have it since I just got my car back from the shop for the regular oil change and replacement of the valve cover gaskets. "Didn't Bob (my Audi trained indy mechanic) check you battery?" Sure he did, I was thinking to myself. With my mechanical abilities ranking only slightly higher than a Prius owner, I deducted that my alternator may be going. I turned off the AC and the stereo and told R2-D2 to program the GPS to find the nearest dealer (gasp!). Before exiting the freeway to get to Audi of Mission Viejo, my steering started to go (time to change the underwear).

We ended up making it to the dealer, and thankfully they took it in and got right to it. They put in a new battery and were going to check the alternator next. It was no matter, since our friends in San Clemente picked us up and took us to San Diego for our scheduled weekend brewery tours (Stone, Lost Abbey and Ballast Point in case you were wondering).

The dealer called me later on that Friday and told me I needed a new alternator, but they wouldn't have one until Tuesday. Had he said they could do it over the weekend, I was prepared to eat the dealer repair cost and go for it. I called Bob at Precision Motorsports in Hermosa and he thought I should be able to make it back to his shop as long as I kept all of the electronics off; namely lights, stereo, and AC. I tried to upgrade my AAA Card to Plus (gets you 100 miles tow instead of seven) before picking up my car, but it wouldn't kick in for seven days after they received my payment for the upgrade. It was worth a shot.

So I picked up my car on Sunday and was ready to give the new battery a run for the money. We drove back from with the sunroof on tilt and took the toll to avoid traffic. We made it back with no issues at all. Bob saved me about $1000 on what the dealer wanted for the alternator and recommended front brake job.

Before I submit this, I just wanted to add that my 2002 A6 has just over 90,000 miles and is almost entirely stock (710N DVs and an Achtuning Silicone TBB). I bought it in 2007 with roughly 55,000 miles and am the third owner. I do a lot of preventative maintenance (Bob does), but the alternator is tough to predict. The A6 has been great to own for me.