Hello everyone.

I have a 1999 A4 1.8T Quattro 5-Speed Manual (~138K miles).

As I attempted to start up my car this morning, I ran into a problem: the car won't start and it made this sound that went along the lines of "TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA", the sound resembled that of those compressed air lug-nut drills mechanics use, just not nearly as loud. The issue started last night, I attempted to start the car and it seemed like the battery was out of charge, the car attempted to start but the startup sound was in "slow-motion" until it just didn't make any sound; however, I jumped the battery and the car ran fine... 'Til this morning, that is.

I have proudly and happily owned my Audi for around 3 months now and this is the first thing to go off. I have never been an enthusiast of cars and mechanics but I'm so inlove with this Audi that I now have a deep interest in doing all the work myself and I want to get to intimately know this engineering marvel.

Please advise me on how to go about diagnosing this problem (or what the straight-up solution is if you've already been through this) and the parts and tools needed to do the repairs myself.

I really appreciate the help, this forum has taught me a lot.

 

What... is it that you want instruction on?

How old is the battery? Batteries do go bad. It could be as simple as replacing the battery. Or you could run down to the local parts store and pick up a battery terminal cleaner, and clean the posts on the battery as well as the cable ends. They can become corroded to the point where you have a situation like you have mentioned. My mother's Jeep would not charge the battery, and didn't have enough charge to start the engine. She wanted to take the Jeep to someone to have them look at it. So I drove over to see her. I cleaned the terminals and then, no more problems.

Clean the battery connections first. Then move onto replacing the battery. Worst case scenario it might be the alternator. Worry about that later......

 

Well, I want instruction on how to go about diagnosing and fixing this problem.

Thank you for the information, I'll try cleaning up the battery this evening and see what happens, hope that fixes it.

By any chance, you don't think it might have anything to do with the starter motor do you?

 

No yet..... and probably not....

 

It sounds like you have a dead cell in your battery. If you take it out and go to Advanced Auto or Autozone or any parts store like that and ask them to ( load ) test it. You will find out real quickly if your battery is bad. There are other things you could test if the car is running and you have a multi meter. But thats another story, Test your battery first.

Good Luck...

 

I knew it was a battery right after I read the first sentence.

I'm that good

 

it isn't the battery if u r getting tick.... test the alternator with a volt meter you should read around12-14 volts at the alt. if you do it is probably the starter

 

A weak battery will cause the starter to tick as it fails in attempt to crank the flywheel. It's a classic symptom. If the car starts with a jump, it's most def the battery.

 

you should have 12.6 volts at the battery with no load on it. hook up a miltimeter and watch the voltage when you turn the key. after 10 seconds of cranking the engine with a good battery, the battery should never fall below 10 volts. if you turn the key and the car doesnt even crank over and the volts are below 10, your battery is toast.

 

Thank you all for your assistance. I am rather glad to find the consensus leaning towards a battery problem (though I was sort of looking forward into getting dirty under the hood lol). I will have the battery checked out at the local Auto Parts tomorrow evening. Again, thanks all.