For about 2 months now I have been having a strange problem and any advice would be great. I'm guessing it has to do with bad wires?

The Problem:

This only happens sometimes, as far as I can tell it is completely random.
When I turn on the car the lights, a/c / heater blowers, blinkers, and windshield wipers don't work. The parking lights do however still work, and the brights, if I hold them on.
The only way to fix this problem is to turn the car off and then back on again. Usually by the 4th or 5th time everything works normally (sometimes I have to wait like 30 min.)
There is also a second variation of the problem and that is, everything works normal except the air blowers kind of do. What kind of means is that they only blow out of the defrost vents (even though it is set on normal).
I was just dealing with the problem because it is only an ordeal at night, and I can usually fix it by restarting the car several times. But I'm looking to sell the Audi now :'( and I need to fix this before anyone will buy it.

About 8 months ago the lights stopped working the same exact way (parking and brights still worked) and I had the ?relay box? (located in the steering wheel) replaced and that fixed the problem. I don't think this is the problem again, because this time the wipers and a/c / heat blowers are affected. any thoughts / suggestions would be great.

I did look at all of the fuses and they appear to all be working.

I'm driving a 98 2.8L V6 a4 quattro with 150,000 miles

Thanks is advance.

 

My first inclination is to say the lighting and HVAC control issues are separate issues, in which case I would suggest checking your multifunction column switch as well as individually diagnosing the HVAC system.

If you feel they are related, there is a fuse panel below the dash board on the driver's side. If water leaks into or below the "water box" where the ECU is housed in the front cowl, it can create issues in the harness and fuse panel. Start by pulling the cowl cover and inspectein the water box, ECU, and the panel just below that for water entry. Then pull the driver's kick panel and check the harness and fuse panel under there for water entry or signs of rust.

Let me know what you find.

 

As you can probably tell based on my initial post, I am not that experienced with cars. Is the multifunction column switch located inside of the steering wheel? If so I'm pretty sure that that was replaced, that being said, it could definitely be malfunctioning again.

I really think the problems are related somehow, because they are almost always acting up at the same time, or working at the same time.

If water has leaked in and rusted things, how would I go about fixing them? Or would it have to be replaced?

I will try and find the water box and check for rust in the fuse box (just so I'm 100% sure, this is a different box than the one accessed when you open the driver side door right?)

Thanks and I will let you know asap

 

Yes, the multifuntion swith is the one on the column for the lights and wipers.

The fuse box I'm talking about is above the driver's kick panel. It is not visible unless the panel under the steering wheel is removed.

If you do have water damage, you'll need some electrical experience with these cars as well as a wiring diagram. The panel is plastic, but the connectors are metal. First step is usually cleaning and resistance-checking the circuits.

 

Actually it's a relay under the dash. I had the exact same thing go wrong. I sent it to a shop cuz I gave up looking and after many many many hours later it was found to be just a $75 relay under the dash. There is a line of them against the firewall under the driver side panel. I'm not sure exactly which one it was but it you have a volt meter you can test them.