For those who had this problem and have seen the car safely recover - did you end up having to replace the battery? I just had the same problem with my '02 A5 1.8T; the car didn't start and was acting as though it had an almost dead battery, but after waiting for 45 min, the car started fine, save for the incorrect date, time, and fuel warnings. the car has now started and driven fine twice, with the fuel gauge still about a needle's width below where it should be with a fully tank. also, at first, the ESP light was remaining on after starting the car, until i drove for 5 min, it finally went off.

i'm wondering what could have caused the car to fault in the first place - why would it not start at all? could it have something to do with engine sludge by any chance?

ideas?

 

Mine came back like a champ, and yes, any time my battery is disconnected (or if it is low and clicks on start, though that hasn't happened since I put in my Interstate battery), the ESP light stays on. My 03 A4 1.8T, it lasted bout 30 seconds or so, but after driving it cleared.

The funny part is the stupid dealership doesn't understand what happens. They gave me **** the other day about reading my crappy review of them here, and I laughed and asked them what they thought of my three week hell. Any way, dealerships will be of no help to you, as mine was broken by the dealership and they still didn't know what happened. After the three weeks they had the car. I now drive over 100 miles to another dealer to get my car worked on by a VW dealership. Wade Walker is one of the greatest guys I know, and it has nothing to do with his VDub dealership, but as a person.

I did have to replace my battery, but because the dealer let it run dry, so it was cooked. but it happens if its cold or the battery gets low (lights on or something) and you try to start it. Something about the clicking starter, acts like a short and a disconnect maybe? Once the battery gets charged again its fine. Good Luck!

 

In my case I pushed the battery into the "too weak to start" condition with just about two hours of a 4.5 A load. So I presumed the 6-year old OEM battery needed replacement. The handheld battery tester at the battery place agreed, and I did not hesitate. I doubt very much I would have made it through this winter without a more awkward incident. My garage is warmer than the great outdoors, so most likely I'd have had to ask for a jump start some cold night.
I doubt sludge. If it normally has plenty of power to crank, and this time it did not, you mostly likely left on an unusual power drain and put the battery in a low state. Most folks do this with a light. There are a few other ways.

The question of how close your battery is to needing replacement based on this one incident crucially depends on how big the drain was, and how long it lasted (mine was about 9 AHr, a healthy battery would not have even noticed). I think if you take the car to almost anywhere that sells batteries they'll have a tester. Some will do it for free, some will want a charge of maybe $20, which they'll waive if you buy a battery from them.

If yours is 6-year-old OEM, my guess is you are due.

 

I had the same problem, my battery died and I jump started my car using one of those portable jump starters. After the car started I noticed the fuel light was on and the gauge reads empty and miles to empty os also 0.

I have a 2003 A4 (B6). Is there a fuse or something that could have burned out? ANy help will be greatly appreciated.

Oh yeah, one other thing, the ABS light also came on when i jump started the car but that went off once I started to drive the car. I also noticed that everything on the instrument cluster was reset (date, time, etc) and even the radio was reset. This probably happened because of the battery going dead however I dont see why it would kill the gas gauge.

Is it possible that cranking the car (trying to start it) with a semi-dead battery will fry the sending unit for the fuel gauge or maybe the gauge itself?

****** UPDATE *********
Earlier today I went for lunch. The fuel gauge still didnt work and when i tried to adjust the date and time on the dash (pressing mode button) the two small windows which display date/time and odometer went crazy and then went blank. Does this mean my dashboard is toast?

 

archae -

Same thing happened to my 2002 A4 1.8T (B6) today. Left the lights on all day at work and battery died. After the jump gas gauge reads zero (it should be at least half full). Great piece of mind knowing it should come back to normal soon!

thanks again

 

not to hijack or anything while changing batteries in some gm models we use to plug a 12 volt power supply into the cigarette lighter to preserve all computer settings would this work for audi also just a thought.

 

Yeah I have the same issue, again. Let the car sit for a couple months while neglecting to start it now and again (my formal excuse is waiting to fix it, my real reason is winter in Vermont, I will walk to work before risking my baby. Plus, any money spent on good winter tires is money *not* spent on modding it).

Thanks to kinney motors of rutland vermont, the best place to do the best damage to your car and be lied to about it, I found out once before what a dead battery does to your car. They also let it sit for 3 weeks, jumped it and handed me the keys, and wanted to charge me to fix the fuel gauge, among other things they did to me with no lube

Great service staff, inadequate service, and downright theft.

Driving a car incredibly illegally 100 miles each way to get it fixed is a bummer, but that's what fiance's are for right? Driving 100 miles without a fuel gauge sucks even more when you are low on cash though. Thankfully the folks up at Lewis Motors in South Burlington are bending over backwards to work with me and get it fixed. I wish I bought from them in the first place, and I haven't even stepped foot in the dealership there yet =D

 

- 2002 A4 v6 quattro 133km, Low Fuel light and gas guage showed really empty and no miles to go after battery drained at dealer. I was checking this situation out before giving my wallet to dealer as I was concerned that there was a serious problem.. I put in some gas close to dealer and still no indication on guage. My service guy told me that there are two tanks in my A4 and some fancy balancing of gas goes on between the two tanksand that I should be patient. (can anyone verify?) I drove a couple of km and 7 litres filled the tank. after a few minutes guage started to move and show correct full tank. It took several minutes to complete process. Guage did not move immediately after I filled gas tank but took several minutes while sitting in a parking lot with engine running. I drove less than 10km. Having the ignition 'on' may be all that I neede to do.