I have a 2002 A6 2.7t. Auto

The esp light comes on at various times. When the car is first started, I drive and when i accelerate between 1st and 2nd sometimes i hear metal clicking and slight hesitation.

Other times, I am making a right turn at very slow speed and when i hit the brake, it feels like the abs is kicking in...again metal clanging.

It also sometimes comes on when I am slightly taking a curve, or when I hit a bump at mid to higher speeds.

Now recently, the brake light light comes on and when I turn on my head lights another light comes on that looks like a light bulb with an x over it.

I am going to take it in to the dealer this week but wanted to go there not feeling so hopeless having no knowledge.

I am also having an issue with the exhaust and am not sure if it is related. When I start my car after it sitting for more than 5 hours, the first minute i drive, the muffler makes a loud noise, like there is a leak. Then it sucks the noise in and then is normal sounding.

Any thoughts?

 

It could all be realted to a faulty brake light switch, or it could be a collection of different things.
The exhaust noise could be the SAP (secondary air pump) pump, or a leak in the system.

 

I have the same problems. The brake light thing should be that your low on brake fluid or the float is stuck. The light with the X in it means a head light was out. That's what it ment for me I don't know if it has an additional meaning. But the ESP I haven't figured out yet. If you get any information from the dealer on that let me know.

 

You can check the brake light switch data with the vag com to check its operation through data block 1 or 2 i think. There is two detents that have to activate in cascading order. If they engage at the same time while slowly pushing down on the brake pedal the brake light switch is bad, if the second detent triggers before the first one that also tells you the brake light switch is bad. The brake light switch can cause all sorts of problems from creating an ESP light all the way up to making the ABS go off with light pressure on the brake pedal.

 

Hmm...my brake light just started tripping when I got the lines flushed about 2 weeks ago. But the ESP light has been there doing it's thing for awhile. Although I've known the brake lines needed to be flushed since the beginning but couldn't afford to do it for the first couple months. I'll get with one of my friends who have a VAG and see what pops up.

 

Thanks for the help.

I have now had time to test some things to hopefully narrow it down.


When i start the car and disable the esp, i have no problems when accelerating at all like before.

The brake light light and headlight light is still on.

The only issue i have when the esp is disabled is the abs kicking in when i am slowing down to a crawl and turning. I read that even if you disable esp, when you brake it is always active. This happens maybe once or twice every 2 or 3 weeks. Without disabling ESP, my clicking and flashing of the light happens every time i accelerate after starting the car.

So, it seems to me that ESP is the main problem.

Does that narrow it down for you guys to hopefully be able to accurately guess what could be wrong and how much it should cost me?

Thanks again for your time.