cmgood

I have a 2001 2.8 Quattro. Last night when I started the car and shifted in to drive the battery indicator came on, the volt meter showed 0, the clock and date were reset to 1:00 1/1/1999, and the trip odometer showed FUSE.

Any ideas what the failure is here?

Zaphodb17

Sounds like your alternator/voltage regulator/brush-pack has packed it in. Maybe a fuse or ground somewhere in the charging system or dash, since your voltmeter should be registering some voltage. First thing to do is get a DVOM and check battery voltage and alternator current output and go from there. Good luck and keep us updated. How many miles does it have on it?

cmgood

So, I feel stupid now for posting that without doing even the very basic things first. Can I use the ridiculously cold temperatures as an excuse for not digging around a little bit first?

Fuse 14 was blown which is one of the instrument cluster fuses. Seemed like a pretty drastic warning for such a simple issue but there it is. Replaced it and everything is back to normal.

The car is just over 100k.

Zaphodb17

Don't feel bad. Once, I replaced the cylinder head gasket on a crappy Awful Marina (de-tuned MGB engine) on a Christmas Day because someone else diagnosed it as such. Turned out it had a bad plug wire, not a blown gasket between two cylinders. It was at that point, I decided; don't take someone else's word for FINAL diagnosis and check the simple stuff first. You did just that, by asking questions here first and it's great that it worked out for you.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

LOL...too bad it didn't reset the odometer to zero!!!

allessence

Did your fuse replacement fix the problem?

I recently had the same problem and the alternator is new the voltage is spec 13.8-14.5V. Grounds and stuff are in good order yet the fuse still continues to blow.

this same fuse from what I can tell also controls something with the A/C system.

Anybody else have any ideas.

jcman

dEF is about the only service error mentioned in the trip-od display.

allessence

Thanks but must not be because mine definetly says..

FUSE

If I replace the fuse it does not blow right away. it takes about 10-15 seconds so something has to be either closing a relay of some sort.

jcman

Because ebahn has no mention of this FUSE error in the cluster trip-od even in pre 2000 models, hope someone chimes in.

allessence

Thanks. I believe it's a later 2000 up error.