Dennis Thomas

Hello, this is my first post here. About 5 months ago i purchased an 04 audi a4 quattro with 141,000 miles but with service records to go with it all. Been a great car but yesterday the power shut off to it all together and came back in about 30 seconds to a minute...then the head lights wouldn't turn on automatically, I had to turn the fog lights on and then the head lights came on...when the car shut off the date and time reset of course. So when im on my way home i goto arm the alarm it has an aftermarket avital alarm which i did not put in...anyway the remote start works and when you do the remote start the doors unlock automatically...when i try to lock the car with the alarm it will lock it but when you goto just unlock the car with the alarm it wont unlock...no sound...but the lights flash

any ideas? the car has been working fine since i got it..now this happened yesterday

John535is

If all was fine prior start with the ecu box under the rain tray. Weird electrical faults are often water damage related.
Pull the cover for the battery and the rain cover all the way across under the windscreen. There are drain holes under the battery and the Ecu box etc. grab a flashlight and check all around under there. You can get leaves and gunk clog the drains, then the electrical problems start. Unscrew the cover off the Ecu box and check for foreign debri, unplug the connectors, check for corrosion.
Next see if you can trace the aftermarket wiring for the alarm, check for damaged wiring and loose connections.
Next check the battery terminals are tight and not corroded, trace the negative and make sure the ground is tight and a good connection.
After that it's really a case of diagnosing what is working and what is not.