Instanced

Hello. I recently purchased a 2004 Audi A8L 4.2L. LOVE IT...
HOWEVER there are some things wrong with it... I've slowly started making a list and addressing them.
Biggest one (meaning most annoying) is the freaking car alarm keeps going off when I lock the car... I'd love to know where the fuse is to shut it up (and still be able to lock the car) until I figure out which sensor is taking a dump. I am pretty sure the older A6's and A8's had a fuse... but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know where I should look? (NEED HELP HERE)
Also the car hit 100k... Not sure exactly what maintenance items need to be taken care of... pretty sure something on the engine involving the chains is in order... (NEED HELP HERE)

Other things I found wrong (so far):
-Driver side window switch won't one touch one of the windows, and won't open/close rear pass window at all
-AC was FULL... I had to drain about half a gallon out of it... front carpets a little waterlogged (more so on the driver side then passenger side)... currently the front carpets are out of the car... found duct tape down there which leads me to believe this isn't the first time this has happened. Wonder if there's anything sitting on the floors down there that could cause the alarm issue and window switch issues if they got wet?

Last Saturday (when i bought the car) the window switched worked fine, and the alarm worked fine... so I dunno... I love the car though. Input anyone?

mishar

Welcome!

You need to get Ross-Tech VCDS and any laptop. Scan will tell you what's wrong. Without it even very experienced owner/mechanic can't diagnose most problems.

Bentley Manual is also very good to have so you don't have to ask about everything.

This forum will be of a great help too. And you will need it.

Just as a first aid, alarm horn is in the right rear corner of the engine bay, just under the windshield. Unplugging it will shut it down but will trigger a faulty code.

TSHong

Welcome, I would look at the a/c drain issue since there are lots of sensitive electronics under the floor mat. Wet modules can do funny things to electronics.

Do a search and I think there are some write ups for cleaning the a/c drains.

Mister Bally

If you park on a slope, the tilt/tow detector may be activating. Bypass switch is located on the driver's door jamb.

snagitseven

Water on the carpets could indicate the sunroof drains are clogged by debris. Happened once on my allroad and is not uncommon. Google "Audi sunroof drain clogged".

Jan_PL_S6

The sunroof drains being clogged would drip down onto your mmi disabling some functions but I would try unclogging those as well. Sounds like to me that you are getting some drainage issues which can cause some of the electrical problems. Check all your drains and make sure they're draining properly, that should be priority number one because if they stay clogged you'll be getting more problems.

As for the one touch on one of your windows I had the same problem. It would go down fine but the one touch up didn't work. Not sure if its because the switch gets stuck or something but I just pulled on it pretty strongly (not to break it obviously) and it worked after that.

aTOMic

Welcome to the forum, Instanced.

You can see the ac drains openings under the car, if you drained them you probably already fixed (unclogged) that. There's a very expensive module ("KESSY" module) under the passenger side floorboard that might need drying out that could be connected to the alarm issue, right guys? The alarm problem could also be from the door switch; mine has started this new thing where it says "door open" even when it's closed, driver door switch is going.. (joy)
The sunroof drains could also be blocked you cannot see the (4) discharge points because they dump onto the top (inner side) of the fender liners, strange but true. Also the tubes could come off the drain tray from over zealous cleaning, then you get the H2O coming from the headliner.
If you search this forum you'll get lots of info.
Tom

PS Don't the windows have to be "Synchronized" after the battery is d/c'd? I think it's in the manual or the SSP you put them up by holding the switch up then when it gets up, continue holding for 3 (?) seconds. Could be the phaeton though I read that manual too... I've been up since 4AM so cut me some slack if I am mistaken on anything.

Instanced

Wow... surprised at the responses! Usually don't get that many people responding.

So currently the front carpets are out of the car completely sitting in my garage with a fan blowing on them. the driverside was waterlogged but I think that was my fault when I pull the hvac drain on the driverside without realizing what was coming. I got a bit of water down there... the Alarm module I think is on the driverside under the seat (back pretty far and not directly on the floor)... Passenger side wasn't nearly as wet but I still pulled it out because I wanted to make sure it was 100% dry before going back in. I haven't checked the sunroof drains yet, but will do so tomorrow (Sunday = work on car day). I had a friend run a vag-com diagnostic on the car and we found the tilt sensor under the back seat to be pretty badly corroded and all around nasty... I cleaned the board with alcohol but i'm not sure if anything is shorted. luckily I've found a couple ones on Ebay for under $100 so those will be my fallback if my cleanup didn't work.
I tried the pushing/pulling the buttons harder but that didn't work... oh well.. I can control 3 out of 4 so not the end of the world.
One thing I forgot to mention about the HVAC drainage... when I did the passenger side... and small clip thing came out... I believe its a part of the system that opens/closes vents for the passenger side... I'll have to start taking pictures to post. having the Bentley would probably help me at least identify what piece I found.

aTOMic

Filling in your profile would help US help you ID parts since they vary by region... just put in the profile page your location and car year, etc (in "garage").

pretty sure alarm module is in the horn itself (in cowl) or under pass side seat. Also the reset of the windows is not dependent on pulling switch HARDER but holding it up after the window shuts, for 3 seconds.

jblindy

Good morning audiworld. I am seriously thinking about buying an A8 and just have a question or two. I currently have two BMW's, a 740i and a 530i. I perform all the maintenace work myself, which, for the most part, is simple and straight forward. How hard is it to work on the A8 for the simple garage mechanic? The BMW forums would lead me to believe that the Audi is a bear to work on because the components are so tightly packed into the engine bay. So I would like to hear it directly from the Audi enthusiasts. Are these cars hard to work on?