Last month I bought a 2004 S4 Cabriolet. Beautiful car that I am having the time of my life driving!

A few days ago, I called XM radio to activate a new account with them. Problems were encountered from the start.

One: The car's hear unit is not displaying the XM receiver's ID number. What is displayed is, "Unknown ID".

Two: All that the head unit is able to tune when the SAT button has been pressed is XM channel 0 and 1. O being the ID display and 1 being I have no idea what as nothing happens on this channel either, while displaying "Failure".

Basically, the head unit and XM receiver seem to not be comunicating at all. It is as if there is not a receiver present in the car. Now to this, I confirmed in a conversation with the previous owner that he had a working account with XM up until 3 days before my picking the car up. Even XM was able to find the receiver's ID number by accessing his old account information. So it is there and worked about a month ago.

Lastly, the day before I picked up the vehicle up, the previous owner had a final service done at his local Audi dealer in Atlanta (I am in DC), under his CPO warranty. At this time the dealer advised that the car could use a new battery and one was installed at this time.

So, the time line goes: 1) working XM service terminated by previous owner, 2) battery changed out two days later, 3) I pick up car the next day, 4) 1 month later, I try to activate XM and here I am.

XM says call an Audi dealer. Two dealers, here in the DC area, state they have no idea what could be wrong and have not encountered this problem before. Yes, this is almost a verbatim quote.

Sorry for the long post but I am trying to answer as many questions as possible in advance.

Hopefully someone has a good idea or three.

 

Never heard of that before either to tell the truth. If it was previously installed it has to already have the connectors swapped over for XM. So it still has the same XM module in the trunk? Did you pull out the XM module to check if there is any connector problems?

 

Well, I haven't actaully visually confirmed that the receiver is in the car or if there are any potential wiring issues but the previous owner is a good guy. I have more detailed information regarding how the car was cared for than anyone could ever hope for. Including the original window sticker and the CPO documentation, both showing the XM receiver installed by Audi from new. He's even taken a couple of calls from me since the sale and has always been great about answering questions.

Bottom line, all he did was call XM a few days before I picked up the car and canceled his subscription. And XM confirmed his account was indeed active and was canceled when he told me it was.

So, I can pull the trunk trim to confirm but it seems a bit silly to do so. I can't help but think the battery replacement must have caused an issue. It is the only thing that has been done to the car since the subsription was canceled.

If I pull the passenger side seat kick plate and un-plug/re-plug up the CAN-BUS wire, any chance this helps the apparent communication issue?

Are there any "reset" codes? Either through VAG-COM or at the head unit itself? The XM tech mentioned I would have to have Audi "do a reset". Though of course he might have no idea what he was talking about.

 

Well its easy to get at the XM module, pull the door open on the left side trunk panel, then use a flat head screwdriver and pop open that little plastic covering and its sitting right there. Its a silver module that says XM on it. Check the serial number on the module and make sure its the same one you have on your paper.
If its all good have the dealership diagnose the module, yes there is a re-set for the system. Since your an audi owner now i would highly recommend investing in a vag com www.ross-tech.com which is a software system that you can download to your lap top so you can diagnose your car. Its basically a reversed engineered version of the VAS 5052 scan tool the dealer uses so the vag com is worth its weight in gold. You just need to buy the cable.

 

Well, unfortunately there is no little door. I have the "navigation" DVD unit mounted in the left side trunk panel with no access to the XM module mounted above it. I'll have to remove the panel and whatever else to get at it. No worries.

I'll get in there. Disconnect/re-connect the wiring and note all the numbers on the unit. Maybe that will do it. But I have my doubts...

Thanks for the heads up on the diagnostic program. With downloaded software and correct cable, will I be able to do this "re-set" or just be able to diagnose the issue? Not this that is a bad thing. If I end up at a dealer I would certainly like to know in advance what needs be done.

 

No, you do have it, it just doesn't look like a door. Its a flat panel but there is a little slot under the bottom of it, pry it open and slide it forward. You can take apart the trunk if you want to, i was just trying to save you some time. The module bolts to this panel that you are prying open.

With a vag com you can diagnose, erase codes, activate modules, motors, fans, lights, settings, turn off the seatbelt chime, code modules, adapt anything you can think of, lower the windows with the key using different codes blah blah blah, the list goes on forever. You basically get a $5,000 scanner for $250 bucks.

 

I am experiencing the same problem. I just purchased a 2006 Audi S4 quattro. It came from a one car owner, who also had XM radio. I know because, when I went to order it this weekend, he was still registered and they were still charging him!!! So those of you who sell your cars, remember to cancel your subscription, or they'll keep charging you!
Anyway, I gave them the code (tune to 0, get the id #, tune to 1, leave the radio on AT LEAST 1/2 HOUR, and the signal is good for 3 hours. Believe me, I know the routine! I did this probably 5 or 6 times this weekend!!! The car is so fun to drive though, that it really wasn't too hard to do. However, getting the same problem again and again "Failure", after seeing "Loading" on the radio for probably 8 to 10 minutes, gets a little annoying. So far, I have gone to only one dealer, who like you said, doesn't have experience with this problem. But thank God for the internet. I figured someone else out there probably had the same experience. In fact, the second day I owned my vehicle, the light failure warning came on, saying 'left dipped headlight'; so I went to the internet and got an education on that! So, if anyone out there can help us, I think we'd be most grateful.

I do love this car! Thanks.












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Thanks for your help. I did slide out the panel. Very easy. After getting the screwdrive under the two slots, it just pulls out like a drawer. I checked the connections. The most two obvious ones were a small brown and a small green connectors, both hooked up and seem to be ok. The other larger connectors also looked ok. The module seemed to be seating against the drawer slide mechanism, and the id # was the one that is referenced for xm in my records. I wonder if the module is bad? When I talked to my dealer about this problem, he said he didn't have any experience with this before: but that, labor is 56 dollars an hour. Given how easy and accesible the module is to access, I can only think that their analysis would be pretty easy to run?

Another thought: if this module is bad, I am thinking I should just get a Sirrus hookup instead, since it's all the same company now. Your thoughts?










QUOTE=auditech79;1066637]No, you do have it, it just doesn't look like a door. Its a flat panel but there is a little slot under the bottom of it, pry it open and slide it forward. You can take apart the trunk if you want to, i was just trying to save you some time. The module bolts to this panel that you are prying open.

With a vag com you can diagnose, erase codes, activate modules, motors, fans, lights, settings, turn off the seatbelt chime, code modules, adapt anything you can think of, lower the windows with the key using different codes blah blah blah, the list goes on forever. You basically get a $5,000 scanner for $250 bucks.[/QUOTE]