Hello,

I own an 02' a6 2.7tQ with an "automanual" transmission and I just recently got everything fixed on the car, had to fix a gas leak, new brakes, and new tires. Basically I spent all of my hard earned money, and as a recent graduate in these economic times, I need to stress hard earned money....

Finally after about a year of driving with some problems, my beautiful baby was finally problem free. I couldnt have been happier...

That is until some fluke set of events involving mother nature, a clogged "water vent" and a backseat floor inundated in water lead to an array of problem lights being illuminated on my dashboard yesterday morning.

Description of problems:

The check engine light is illuminated
The stability control light is on
The ABS light is on as well
On cluster display, where it would normally show which gear the car is in, all of the gears are illuminated, and the lil foot-on-brake symbol near my shifter blinks sporadically.

The car seems to only drive in one gear now, I am assuming it is fourth, since if I do jam on the gas hard enough it will pick up some speed, which makes me believe I do not have any engine troubles, but mainly Tranny problems...


I called the dealership only to be listlessly told that I will need a new TCM and probably all new wiring on the passenger side....in other words thousands upon thousands of dollars in repair, due to what he said was a clogged water vent probably under my battery.....WHAT? I keep my car very clean, meaning I was and wax regularly, and I never, and I mean never allow leaves or "gunk" to build up anywhere on the car. Yet he assured me this was the problem.


So to try and cut this post shorter....can anyone help me out here? Any type of advice or warnings or anything would be helpful. I'm truly in a rut here and I do not want to get rid of my car!!!

best,
TwinTurboJD

 

".in other words thousands upon thousands of dollars in repair, due to what he said was a clogged water vent probably under my battery.....WHAT? I keep my car very clean, meaning I was and wax regularly, and I never, and I mean never allow leaves or "gunk" to build up anywhere on the car. Yet he assured me this was the problem."

First off, I'm sorry to hear all of this has happened to you!

Your mechanic is likely right; this is one of those hidden gotcha's that our beloved A6's have (well, all of the A-class cars of the late 90's to early 00's). The underhood water drain is indeed under the battery tray. The only way to really clean it out is to take the battery out, unbolt the tray, and get in there with a shop-vac (or your hands). What will happen over time is that little bits of leaves and other crap get stuck in the drain opening (it's a good size drain, about an inch and a half in diameter, but one good oak leaf will clog it up well), and will keep it from flowing any water. The small size of the grates under the hood are supposed to keep the debris size small enough to flow though, but it's far from perfect. The whole drain tray fills up with water after that. There are three things in that tray: the brake booster, the battery, and the cabin air inlet. The battery is up high enough so that the bottom will be submersed, it never gets that close to the terminals (thankfully!) The lip of the air inlet is slightly lower then the top edge of the drain tray, so if you get enough water in there it'll spill over though the inlet into the passenger's side footwell and work its way back to the rear of the car. Despite your keeping the car sparkley clean (which it thanks you for, I'm sure), there's no preventative maintenance, other than directly cleaning the drain out, that will keep this from happening. It's a pain in the *** to see the drain with the battery in the car, too, so it's hard to keep tabs on how clogged it is.

That being said, Audi was a bit stupid in placing the TCM underneath the passenger's footwell, as well as a ton of wiring interconnects on the right-hand side of the footwell down at the rug level. So, sadly, it's possible that with enough water, you can blow both the TCM and a whole bunch of wiring. I (unfortunately) can't tell you how to go forward in diagnosing exactly what to fix, but I'm sure someone on here can.

Good luck, and let us know how things go!
-Red

 

pull out the TCU yourself and let it dry for a day or two... meanwhile, let your car dry as well... carpet and all. then pop the TCU back in... it MAY help as I've heard it work before.

Your ESP & brake light could be another unrelated issue having to due with a faulty ABS module.

 

thanks.