I drive a 97 Audi A4 1.8T that just hit 100k. The other day my ignition switch went out. I called the local Audi Dealership (Sunset Audi - Beaverton, OR) they said that the switch was a recall from Audi and said the repair would be free... ALWAYS NICE!!!

I took it in the next day... they fixed it in a couple hours and I went to pick it up. When I left I noticed a new problem that I never had before.

When I would come to a stop at a traffic light or stop sign... the car struggles to stay running. If I have the A/C on when I come to a stop... it doesnt struggle to stay running, it just dies. I called the shop back right away and the advisor tracked down a mechanic to ask what the problem might be. The mechanic said thata lot of the times when a Audi's battery is disconnected (wich they did) the cars computer has to re-calibrate itself. Which could take driving the car for about 50 miles for everything to re-sync up, including the throttle/idle.

I need the car tomorrow and cant have it in the shop... but if the problem is still there Friday I'm taking it back to the shop.

But I was curious to see if what the mechanic said could be true. Or if anyone has had a similar problem... and did you do to fix it?

Thank you in advance for any help!!!


Geoff

 

its called a drive cycle and required when the battery has been disconnected they should have done that before giving you the car back so their fault

 

It could be your ecu needs time to resync after fifty miles. If you receive a check engine light go by advance and get a code and post it here. Someone with vag-com will point ou to the problem. It could be your throttle body needs to be put back to manufacturers settings...

 

its sad that the Audi dealer didn't reset it with the correct diagnostic tool which they should have and that would eliminate the need for the drive cycle and I would agree there could be another fault and just happened so fault code check is a good idea

 

I noticed that is quite a bit better today on my way to work. How many miles does this "Drive Cycle" usually take? Its only about 15-20 miles from job to shop to home for me.

If this is all better tomorrow I'm going to call the shop and thank them for doing what they were suppose to do. (sarcasim)

Thank you again!