I have a 2003 A6 3.0 Avant Quattro that I got about 9 months ago. Since the keyless entry remote seems to drain batteries within a few days for some reason, I've always just manually locked it with the key. Never had a problem with this until a few days ago when I noticed that they key seemed to be having trouble turning in the driver's side lock. It still turned, but there was a lot more resistance than normal.

The next time I locked it, it was smooth again... no resistance. The next day, it suddenly would not turn in the lock at all. Not even a little. So for the last couple days I've had to leave it unlocked whenever I go somewhere, which obviously concerns me. Then today I tried to lock it and it was perfectly smooth again! So I left it locked for a few minutes, then when I went to unlock it, it was stuck again and wouldn't turn. It took about 10 tries before it randomly worked again.

What could be causing this?! I guess I need to take it to the dealer to get checked, but I just thought I'd do a little more investigating first.

(My apologies in advance if this is some obvious kind of problem... I'm not a "car person" but I did do a lot of googling and searching this forum trying to find an answer!)

Thanks,
Sara

 

I had a similar issue a few years back on my 00 Avant. My lock cylinder in the drivers door basically broke and would sometimes work and others would get stuck or just spin. Might not be the same issue you're having but I think so. I didn't bother to fix mine as my remote works just fine. Actually my batteries are at least 4 years old now and still work.

You should be able to lock/unlock the car from the hatch using the key. It might be cheaper to just buy a new remote that does not drain its battery or find out why your current one does instead of paying the dealer to diagnose and fix your door cylinder.

I think I paid $50.00 for a new one a long time ago from a fellow audiforums.com member. But you could buy a new/used fob off ebay. But you need to either get the exact one *the only relevant #'s you need to match is the P/N*. The CAN/FCC #'s are irrelevant for your needs. Call your dealer and they can tell you which p/n's will work with your car as in many cases more than 1 part # is compatible. YOU MUST MATCH P/Ns if you want the remote to work.

You have an immobilizer chip in your key fob, I do not know how that effects anything. I don't know if it is part of the key portion of the remote or part of the electrical part of the remote. Find out before you buy a remote.