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I'm new here. I just recently purchased a 2004 audi a4 3.0 quattro. When I bought the car the owner warned me about a light being out. Because the cluster displays the warning. He said it wouldn't cost much to replace it. So I wasn't worried. My cluster displays the light with an exclamation mark on it and then says brake light and when i put the car in reverse it says centre brake light warning and shows it periodically. I took it to a mechanic and he tested the lights on the car and he said no light is out. And the third brake light works fine also. I read that it could be the fog light but they work. I also read it could be the the sensor thing near the tire. (I haven't looked there yet) I checked the fuses but they are fine. I ended up taking it to the audi dealership and the nice guy there said the headlight assembly probably has gone bad because the headlights move with the car? He didn't actually take it apart or anything because it'd cost $200 to look at it. He said it if it was the headlight assembly it would cost $1300 to replace it.
I don't want to pay $1300 for headlights when I also need to replace the timing belt. I don't know much about cars. Is it possible to replace the headlight assembly with an aftermarket headlight? Will it pull up an error in the cluster since its not a stock audi headlight? Do aftermarket headlights move with the car also? And this may be stupid but how do I know if I have xenon headlights or halogen?
The one mechanic checked the lights for me (or so he says) but I'll recheck all the lights again myself tomorrow. And it has almost 103,000 miles and I paid $5800 for the car.
I would suggest that you find a good mechanic that is familiar with Audis and have him spend an hour with the car. It will cost you a hundred or so, but might keep you from going off the deep end here. You're already looking at over $1500 for the timing beltbelt, water pump, and associated things. Add in a few other things like leaking differentials, hoses, valve cover gaskets, ignites, tires, etc etc, and you could be looking at being into the car for $10,000+, which is not a good place to be (I estimate it to be worth $4k as it sits). So a good look and repair estimate could save you from an unpleasant situation becoming worse.
I find it infuriating that dealer service techs automatically jump to expensive module and part swapping with little to no explanation. I suppose that's why sites like this exist. Firstly, don't panic and don't start spending big money unless someone can prove it will fix the problem. It sounds like you have 2 or more issues. I assume the warning you are getting is a dynamic headlight range control warning?. Get your manual out and confirm which alarm you have, then you can start to search fault finding on specific problems. The second sounds like a rear light fault. Now that can be a bulb issue, check you have the correct size bulbs and check they are either genuine or at least quality bulbs, not some cheap supermarket bulb or aftermarket led bulbs. These can set off the error codes. The other thing to look for is breaks in the cabling. Try to chase the wiring around the back seat up to the centre light (assuming you error code is the centre light). The boot lining all comes out relatively easily then you can see the cabling. The cabling can get damaged around the rear seat & window area. Also checking for aftermarket splicing of cables for rear speakers, I have seen people try to splice power for subwoofers by breaking into the wiring looms in the boot area. You may not have the speakers but you are looking for cuts, breaks or joins. Now the headlight levelling controller is in the boot so you may start to trace the wiring loom and the connectors. Make sure the connectors are plugged in tight, and are not water damaged or corroded. The way it works is there is a sensor that connects the suspension arms on the front. Get down under the front, you will see behind the front wheels a little plastic arm ( blue one side, white the other) strapped to the bottom suspension arm up to a small black actuator. This measures how high the suspension is sitting and adjusts the headlight angle slightly to cater for weight changes in the car (passengers etc). None of this will cost you any money, just an afternoon, take your time, get a flashlight and calmly trace all this out. Good luck and report back.
Just a correction, the headlight levelling sensor, on yours there is one on the front and one on the rear, I forgot my allroad has two front and two rear, the a4 one. Apologies for the confusion.
Thanks guys. I took pictures so I could show you what i'm seeing. And I know it's cliche but as a woman I really don't know much about cars lol. I can change my tires on my old mazda and thats about it...
I should also clear this up. I first took my car to the audi dealership. They didn't run any codes. But they said that light probably meant is was the headlight assembly. $200 just to look at it.. So I then took it to one mechanic in my hometown that works on bmw, audis, and mercedes. He only charged $75 to go over my car. He said my timing belt is "okay for now" but should be replaced very soon. And also my front control arms are worn out and should be replaced asap. He said he also checked each of the bulbs and they all worked. (Not sure if he pulled them out and checked or just did a visual) Also he said my engine did have a tiny spot where it looked like oil was coming out but he said it was such a small amount not to worry about it. (The carfax shows my car has had an engine valve cover replaced before.) Total cost to fix all that without even worrying about the lights $2679..
I'd leave the lights alone if that beeping didn't drive me insane.
John I did go to my local NAPA store to go ahead and get new bulbs to see about replacing the rear bulb fault you mentioned. I opened my trunk and popped that little cover off but some idiot stripped the screws holding the taillights in :/ And I spoke with my dad and he said later this week he'd try to get the lights out. And check the wires. I told him everything from these posts and he said he'd take the tires off also to check the sensor.
This warning comes on once the car is out of park. It switches to displaying the next two warnings but then once the car beeps it shows this again.
Stripped screw
And these are the bulbs Napa said would fit my car.
Do you know anything about the maintenance history of the car? The timing belt is what keeps things in the motor synchronized. If it breaks, or slips on a pulley because the tensioner lets it get too loose, the motor (and thence the car) is totalled. If it has been changed, it was probably in the 70-90k mile range.
Unless you know that the belt has been changed, you need to do it ASAP.
For the leveling sensor you (or dad) are looking for a sensor that looks like the one in the image below. This one was on my allroad, but they are all the similar (minus the white tape on mine as I pulled it apart). There is a little tab on each side of the electrical connector, push them in and you can disconnect the wiring. It would be interesting to unplug them, make sure they are not corroded in the plug. It would also be interesting to leave it unplugged and check what alarm you get. Mine started doing the continual beeping when it was starting to fail. Once it failed altogether (unplugged) it beeped on start up then no more beeps. If you were to do this front then rear you may be able to work out if its just one of these sensors. Unfortunately they are not repairable (I tried) but you can get second hand ones cheaply. You can also swap the black actuator component front to rear that part is common. The reason they have different part numbers is the item comes complete with brackets etc and they are different, not the actuator itself.
06-03-2016, 06:14 PM
Replacing my headlights?
