I have a 97 A4 2.3L with 125K miles. I go to dinner last night and my car was running great. After dinner i start the car and when i turn on the lights only the running and tail lights would come on not the head lights. In addition, the fan for the heater would not come on, and the blinkers would not work. I was able to hold in the blinker lever and the brights came on (as long as i kept it held in), so i was able to make it home. I get home and turn off the car, when the ignition went from the on to the acc position the lights came on, blinkers started working, and the heater fan came back on. So i tried to start the car to see if everything would work when running and the car wouldnt start. It does not sound like the starter is trying to run. All the dash lights come on, plenty of juice in the battery but no starter sound, not even any clicking (nothing). I will pulg in my OBDII tester tonight to see if there are any codes, i just wanted to get this out to see if it is a common problem or something strange. What could possibly be wrong, fuses, ECU?

J[>:]

 

I would check all the fuses but it sounds more like a bad ignition switch.

 

Thanks for the info it was the ignition switch. No way for me to change so had to take in for replacement. Just seems like a lot of wierd issues for a ignition switch.

J

 

Thats actually what led me to the ignition switch. Almost everything is powered thru the switch so when alot of stuff starts acting up there is most likely a bad switch or a bad ground.

 

FYI,

When i started the car and the ignition switch broke i was unaware that the starter continued to run on the 15 min drive home and ended up burning up. Had to change that too. So if anyone else ever has a similar problem just shut your car off and have it checked out it might save you some cash.

J