In the past couple of days my 06 A4 Quattro battery went kaput! I got to my car, got in, turned the ignition and nothing. Fortunately, the reserve kicked in a second later and the car cranked slowly but it started. I suppose that was fair life expectancy, the car has 39K miles, 4 years and 4 months old.

When I got home I put a multi-meter on it. With engine running it gave me 13.5-13.6 volts, so the charging system seems to be working. With the engine off the voltage drops steadily by 1/10 volts every few seconds. I put the charger on for a few hours, charged it back up to 12.6 volts, but within 6 hours it was down to 10.5 volts again. So either there is a short, or the battery is not holding a charge.

I gambled on the battery and went down to Audi today and bought a new one. $110 plus $12 core charge, $1.50 disposal fee, and taxes...$130. I looked for Sears and Optima batteries, but neither one seems to list a battery for the A4 in their battery search application, that is weird.

Anyway, the local Audi dealer wanted $100 to replace the battery and reprogram everything. The guy at the parts counter actually warned me that I would be back to have them fix or reprogram everything. I laughed and hauled my 40lb new battery out.

Replacing the battery is a breeze. The hardest part was getting an allen key down between the battery and the engine firewall to remove the clamp holding the battery in place. Once I got that out taking the battery out was simple. I put the new one in and hooked up the wires, the air breather tude and put the clamp back on. I also put a little copper grease on the clamp bolt to make it easier if I ever have to remove it again.

Now, the programming; I will point out first that the owner's manual covers all the reprogramming steps under battery maintenance. The steps are pretty easy. But there is one step that is not covered, which is that the remote entry system has to be reprogrammed, and it is not in the owner's manual. So here are the steps I had to follow.

1- Engine Management; simply stick the key in the ignition, turn to on (but don't crank), wait 5 seconds, then start the car.

2- Auto up/down windows; simply put the window down, then pull up and hold to close the window, let go, then pull up again and hold the button up for 2-3 seconds.

3- Clock; press mode, set with +/- buttons. Pressing mode again cycles through the different time/date segments. Very straight forward.

4- Radio lock system; my radio didn't have to be reset, in fact all my programmed XM and FM stations were still programmed, nothing was erased. But if yours gets locked, there is a step by step procedure in the sound system manual (not in the owner's manual).

5- Remote entry; I just followed the steps here: http://www.audittcca.com/help/faq/ho...remote-control, which worked perfectly. Here are those steps in case the link goes away:

How do I reprogram the remote control?

1. Take the valet key, put it into the ignition and turn the key to the "on" position, just prior to starting the car.

2. Roll down the driver's side window (not required, but a good idea in case there's a problem).

3. Exit the car and close the door.

4. With a second key, physically lock the doors (don't use a remote).

5. Take the first remote to be programmed, press one of the buttons and the lights will flash once. Wait 10 seconds and press the unlock button. The doors should unlock. That first transmitter is now programmed.

6. Lock the door again (physically) with the key, (not the remote).

7. Press one of the buttons twice, the lights will flash twice. Wait 10 seconds and press the unlock button. The doors should unlock. The second transmitter is now programmed.

For a third transmitter press the button 3 times and for a fourth press 4 times.

NOTE: if you have multiple remotes, follow all the steps above in sequence to complete the program for all the remotes you have. Do not stop in between to test the remotes or it won't work. After you complete the programming procedure for all the remotes within one session, then remove the valet key from the ignition, and then you can test the remotes.

I hope this is helpful. Enjoy what you drive and drive what you enjoy!

 

It's too late for me, but if anyone has replaced their A4 battery with non Audi battery then please list the make and model and tell us about any fitment issues.

In case you are wondering, the original battery in my car was MOLL 8E0 915 105 J.

The audi replacement part is 000-915-105-DH-D.

 

sweet guide

 

I did not have any of these problems when getting my Jetta's battery replaced. My GLX had all of the bells and whistles that most Audi's have. It even had a few that my Audi doesn't have. When Sears replaced the battery, I made sure they had the little memory saver that you plug into your cigarett lighter to keep the cars memory, preventing all of this. I did not loose my clock, auto up/down windows, seat memory, or key fobs which have to be reprogramed the same as Audi. Last I checked Sears did have a battery for the A4, it was in the book on the display rack. If you were to use that little memory saver in the A4, I'm guessing you would need to place it in the cell charger outlet under the armrest, since the cigarett lighter does not function when the car is shut off.

 

Holy crap--the auto up/down windows lose something when you pull the battery?! Sheesh, Audi.

Nice write-up. I have had to reprogram one of my fobs a few times. If you don't use them for a while, they lose their programming. I remember it being easier and I was pretty sure it was in the manual, but maybe I'm wrong--haven't had to do it in a month or so.

That memory saver sounds like a nice addition to the process.

 

Reprogramming my Jetta's fobs was a bit of a pain. You could follow the book and it still did not always work. Getting the fob to recognize which memory seat positions it was programmed to was even worse. I think I have seen those memory savers at certain stores. The worst was not realizing I had the wrong fob, I had the one programmed to my short sister. I got in the car, and the seat started moving to her programmed position dang near crushing me against the dash and steering wheel. Being new to the car, I couldn't figure out how to stop it.

 

Hahaha. That's pretty a pretty funny story, though.

I don't have memory seats, so for me it's just linking them to the car's system.

 

I wonder if this would work on the A6 as well.

I read something on another forum about powering up the car via a cigarette lighter socket during batter replacement, to avoid this process. It would cause a need to be careful during the replacement process so you did not strike an arc with the positive terminal or a tool.

 

Since my last response to this thread, about my Jetta and programing, My Audi's battery died. I had to get jumped to get the car home. After an hour and half of driving, I started the car to go somewhere else and it was dead again. Well Audi put in a new battery for me, and lo and behold, the fobs did not work. They tried the steps listed above, but it did not work. The car was so scrambled that they had to hook it up to the computer and reprogram it. Fortunately since they installed the battery, they did not charge me for all of the reprograming, otherwise it would not have been cheap.

 

Hello,

I am a new Audi owner. This post was kinda ironic. I bought my 07 Audi last week and a 2 days later the battery went out. Naturally I had the car jumped and drove it back to the dealer. At first they were thinking that they were not going to do anything. I was like ah no... I just bought this car! They went and replaced it. Now my concern is that I know it was not the original replacement battery because they left the "vent" tube unplugged. And with these vehicles being so finicky with voltage I am wondering if I should just get a factory replacement.

As far as the memory is concerned. The only problem I had was the remote would not work but was easy to reprogram. I have been reading and it sounds like these cars can be troublesome if you don't stay up on them.... Thank goodness for the site.

Thanks,