Hello all. I have seen several posts on Christmas Tree Dash lights up's but nothing that addresses alternating light patterns on a 2001 A4 Avant 2.8. I had a RR Tail Light that the bulb was not seating properly so the assembly was replaced. I also had Rear Brake work done including replacement of RR Brake Caliper. I've had occasional issue of the Water Temp Guage not working but no other electrical issues.

The primary problem I'm having is the guages that are not LED lights but rather ABS, Check Engine, Brake, ect. are all lighting up in a on off pattern one at a time. The mechanic indicates this may be the primary computer but has never seen this before. Any help or suggestions on this problem would be of great help. My Mechanic also says that replacing the computer is easy but has had issues getting any computer he has replaced in any Audi to reprogram itself. Is this true?
Thanks for all help and suggestions.

 

You should take a video of what the cluster. One, because im not quite sure what you mean, and two if its doing what I think your saying I think it would be interesting to see. If they are literally lighting up one at a time and then going out, it sounds like your cluster is shot (though I cant image in failing this way, sounds like its in some sort of strange mode or error code). If these lights are just on but you have a flashing brake light, then we can talk about troubleshooting everything else but the first step would be to scan for codes via a VAG-COM. And which "computer" is your mechanic talking about, the ECU, the cluster or something else?

 

I will try to get a video taken. The mechanic is thinking it is the ECU. He has ran it for codes but no codes are showing up as per him. It is nothing he has ever seen before. He said he called a friend at Audi in Columbus, OH and they said they have never heard of this before either. Again the the LED lights low oil, MPG, radio display, outside temp, ect are fine a few pixels are out but have been out since I bought the car (3 years ago). The ABS warning, Check Engine, Brake, and various other lights that are individually lite in the dash by the speedometer are what are going on and off one at a time. I did not look good enough to see if there was a pattern or not but they are not lite at the same time. When one goes out another comes on. The engine and transmission runs fine and all appears to be working fine mechanically.

 

The only thing I can think of is a bad cluster, ECU has nothing to do with it. The lights obviously aren't going off from trouble codes, it's some sort of hardware malfunction. If it's in a really steady sequence maybe it's some sort of self-test of all the warning lights that somehow got triggered.

 

How strange, doubt this is a failure of anything other than the cluster (if that), it just seems like your cluster is stuck in a test or is showing an internal code. You should try removing power to the cluster for a while, e.g. you could just disconnect the battery.

 

If that was mine, I'd strip the cluster down till I could out pull the PC board. Take a good look at all the solder points with a big magnifying glass or under a microscope. If anything is cracked or looks the least bit compromised, resolder. Then you can just plug the board in without all the pretty parts and/or it's shell and see if you got it.

 

I doubt it's a a hardware issue, I'm thinking the flash got corrupted to the point where it can't boot. Can you connect to it with vagcom?

 

Found out this is actually what the problem was. Temp Gauge was shorting out the entire board. This board is really brittle and the wire is likely going to come loose again and short out. Can this board be replaced? If so does anyone know a aftermarket supplier?

 

What board? If you want to fix that cluster the only place you'll be able to get parts would be from another cluster. Usually there's no point in fixing it, just get a used cluster and reprogram the mileage to match, you can do that with a cheap vagcom cable and the right software.

 

The board is not an Audi part number. Only place you'll get it is out of another B5 cluster, and you might as well take the entire cluster. Problem is, they changed that cluster several times during the B5 run so you'll have to be careful.