jammacdo

During a recent snowy journey I had to remove the snow chains and whilst doing so I had to get in and out the car to reposition the wheels. Wet salty snow from my gloves dripped onto the Parking Brake switch and from that day it has reported the Parking Brake as faulty. It works fine apart from the fault reporting on the dash.

At the same time all the MMI display failed to go on but that fixed itself the next day. Do you think I need a new Parking Brake switch? Audi say that the diagnostics are reporting "no communication" but I suspect the issue must be with the switch itself. Any ideas welcome before I instruct an auto electrician to replace the switch. Thanks.

BlueSander

Ask someone with VAGcom to clear the error and run it for a couple weeks. If it doesn't turn back on, your luck is still there. If there is nobody around for it, try to disconnect the battery off your car to see if that does the trick. If the error comes right back up after clearing the code, your switch is definitely fried due to water.

jammacdo

Thanks for the reply, I presume the stealer will have cleared any codes last week when it was in but it didn't seem to help. I'm getting the switch replaced next week (not at the Audi stealer) since I can't ignore the fact that it stopped working IMMEDIATELY after being covered in snow. Audi stealer were mentioning the control unit but that's probably because they always say that in these circumstances.

BlueSander

No, Audi dealers are known to not clear any codes. They do that so normal customers would freak out and have them go ahead replacing whatever was "seemed to be at fault". It's also know for Audi and Bentley to throw random codes even when the machine is still functioning okay aka. software clitches.

jujuC6

I cannot believe that I went through my 1st two years with my car with no problems and in the past 4 months everything is happing to it. I now got a P1653 (check DTC memory of: ABS ECU) Tuesday. I got to see this happen on rare occasions a couple of months back 2 or 3 times total but it went away on its own, now 90% of the time it stays. I will try checking the connections in the control module per the TBS instructions and go from there. Anything else I should try?

jujuC6

Ok, so this past weekend I looked around at the ABS module connections and did not see anything loose or out of place. There was not much I could do as I don't have enough understanding of that system for me to determine anything. Tomorrow I am taking her in for the P1653 (DTC memory of ABS ECU) error code. Parking Brake functions fine. I hope that the ABS module just needs a reset or something simple and not replacement. Anything I should consider before I bring her in?

jujuC6

I took her in this past Friday 4/1 and the dealer came back with bad break light swith, bad ABS Module and bad ABS Pump. They hit me with a $3,254 repair quote, I said this is an April fools joke right? With a serious face they replied, Nope! So I went and tackled the Brake Light Switch myself since the part is $14 and some what relatively easy to do. The new switch is in and I was hoping that the dealer was wrong about the ABS module but they were not My next move is to have the module rebuilt. I spoke with Module Master which specialize on C5 ABS modules but they assured me that even though they have not seen many C6 modules come their way, they can repair mines and warranty it for 5yrs. I figure I give it a try specially at under $400 for everything minus remove/install. I will update later.

avirex421

You can add me to the list, my began to get this parking brake malfunction last week and it comes on after 10 minutes of driving. FML. I will be taking it to the stealer on Saturday because I cant take the constant beeping and the fact that it turns off abs. I know this repair is going to cost more than my mortgage.

timocide

OK....i had this exact same problem with my 05 A6 4.2.... it came back to be a bad ABS control unit. Part from AUDI was $1650, with labor to replace it came up to Approx $2000. I usually get my work done at this place that deals with imports but is not the dealership. My mech told me that he could have gotten a used ABS control unit for $950, but apparently they only have a couple of those around in the states and they would have to ship it in. If the part was faulty, they could get it refunded but labor would still count, which is why i eventually went with the new part although it could have possibly saved me $600. Technically speaking, he also saying that those units don't break that often on the A6 but were apparently a dime a doz on the A4s. So, if anyone has a tight budget, you might want to check that route out.

Cheers,
Tim

r1racer

Same thing just happened today. I was breaking and felt a thump. Initially I thought I ran over something but there was nothing in the road. The esp, abs and parking malfunction light all came on. The parking break works, however. Turned the car off and back on and it went away. Hopefully I dont have to make my third trip to the dealer for this **** but we will see. Gonna pull the codes see what they say and erase. Hopefully they dont come back.