I have a 2001 audi a6 and currently am stationed here in south carolina... anyone that lives here knows how hot it gets. But the fact of the matter is that I have an audi that is black on black leather with the paint black. I have a feeling that the car is very hot and is burning inside which causes it to work less properly than if it was in a cooler area. Sometimes when I put the key in the ignition, it automatically lights up, but then when I try to crank it, it just completely goes dead. When that happens, I open the hood and where the negative and positive are connected I hit it lightly with a plastic, and the car works again. Believe me it is not the battery because I changed it like 2 months ago. Does anyone know the problem with this? Is it too hot and the transformer dying, or is the battery loose. Thanks. Daniel.

 

You either have a bad ignition switch or your battery cables are not tight, corroded, or bad*. That is all I can think of.

* I reserve the right to be completely wrong

Jeff

 

Sounds good to me Jeff

Jim C

 

I live in Scottsdale, AZ. Back in 98 I bought the then new styled V6 Passat. I was amazed (being an engineer) how poorly certain items, adhesives et al were performing in such extreme temperatures. I mean I had items literally falling from the roof because the adhesives we're failing. Aside from cost-consciousprogram managers, it appeared that the hot climate was not even considered in that Passat design while spec'ing out of materials. Anyway, fast forward to today and my 2000 4.2L A6 Quattro is holding up (so far, it's only June). I'm hoping Audi fixed those temperature-related issues. My fingers are crossed. In the meantime, I just wish they'd acknowledge that their claims that the tranny fluid is a lifetime fluid, is costing us all tranny rebuild bills. $3k on a car with 68k miles....OUCH! I checked, and even the manufacturer of the fluid isn't making that claim. Follow your hunches and change your tranny fluid! I'm embarrassed I didn't follow mine.

 

its a passat? but they carry the same badge components wise as Audi but Audi are better constructed and that a fact, the lining falling down due to heat should be a recall issue

 

I'm visiting Greenville SC as I write this and while I haven't had any problems, I can see the constant 93-95o temperature being tough on my A6. It doesn't seem to have as much pep as it does in temperatures 20 degrees cooler, like it is used to in Michigan.

The fact that you have to tap your battery cables tells me you have a loose connectioncausing a poor ground. Clean off both the cables and the connectors - use a wire brush or if they are real bad, carefully apply some baking soda/water paste and rinse - and tighten them down well.

 

I live in Charlotte NC and it'd been hot, It gets real hot here too. I have not had these problems but my car runs real weak in the heat! A lot slower than in temperatures under 80-85. In the 90's it is all over! I probably couldn't even taker a 330i!

 

I think your battery terminal may be loose, if it's as tight as you can get it and you can still turn it by hand on the battery post with force you're going to need to get a new terminal end, cut off yours, strip the wire, clamp the new end on it and then tighten it down on your battery. It's like a 5 minute job if you have some wire stripper or a razor knife and a couple of metric sockets.

About the 2.7t's running slower in the heat, the hot air is less dense than the cool air so your engine isn't getting as much air as it does in the cold. The intercoolers also heat soak badly in this heat. Plus if you run your A/C it also puts a drag on the engine because it takes power to turn that pulley when the compressor clutch is engaged.

Where in MI are you from? I'm from St. Joseph originally but right now I'm at Keesler AFB, MS and it's hot as hell here.