SS_RTR

My 2008 A8 may be sitting up for a month or more due to surgery on my right heel / achilles tendon scheduled in a couple weeks. Does anyone recommend steps I should take for the A8 other than enabling transport mode in VCDS? No one else will be driving the vehicle during this time.

MP4.2+6.0

For a month, nothing particularly special. You have VCDS and even know the transport mode idea. Trickle charger is another option if near an outlet. Aside from that, just the really generic stuff like dry location, one off rodent calamities, etc. If it's outside with rain and you have ever had any hint of issues, recheck the sunroof and plenum drains to be sure they are open. Not long enough to start to worry about gas deterioration, tire flat spotting, etc.

nathanwind

What is this Transport Mode of which you speak? What does it actually "do"?

halik

Pump up the tires and that's it?

haggisuk

For 4 - 6 weeks? Assuming your battery is not dying I wouldn't bother even enabling transport mode, mine regularly gets left for a month or more and fires up without complaint.

JRmd

I will be leaving the car for 9 weeks and have been told to use a trickle charger.
If you hook up a trickle charger on a 2009 A8, how do you plug it into the wall. What I am getting at is that the battery is in the trunk. How do you pass the wire outside the car to be plugged into the wall. Do you leave the trunk lid open, do you close it on the wire and then get a permanent crease on the weather stripping.

mjfloyd1

There should be a positive terminal under the hood near the motor. Usually it has a red plastic cap over it. Remove the cap and attach the red clip to the metal underneath it. You can use any other piece of bare unpainted metal as a negative to attach the black clip to.

haggisuk

You certainly can trickle charge the battery, if you have a garage to store it in the i would leave the boot lid open if your flex is to thick to close the bootlid on.

on the d3 there is no jump terminal in the engine compartment so the boot is your only option.

You could also just disconnect the battery and leave the boot lid open if thats an option.

But all that said, if it were me, i would make sure the mechanical lock on the boot can be operated by the key, if all is good there then just leave the car as normal, the battery management module will shut the car down after a set period and sleep, also if the battery is weak it will also turn off extras.

One thing that may be worth doing before leaving it is put the car in jacking mode to prevent it waking up and topping up the air suspension further draining the battery.

JRmd

Hi Thanks for the reply.
In the above quote, do you mean NOT to trickle charge? Unfortunately, there is no keyed lock on the doors or the boot in this car. When the boot lid is left open, there are 2 lights that will also be left on, Do you think that would be a problem?

1Wasserwerks

You could just get the trickle charger plugged onto the battery and give the wire some slack. The rubber seal has some give and the wiring coming out of the trunk shouldn't be an issue. Close the lid right on it no problem. I would go that route.
Your trunk lights (you don't have 3?) should shut off after 10 or 15 minutes after leaving the trunk open. You should have a lock just above your license plate, opposite location of RVC.
Also, get low enough and lift drivers handle and look up into that area....lock tumbler there also.