Hey guys,

I have several problems with my 2000 a8l that are not critical but frustrating and i am not sure where to go with them.

1. the trunk latches and functions properly but the light on the dash stay flashing like the sensor is not registering that the trunk is closed. i have looked at the wiring in the trunk and all seems to be connected fine. there are wires that connect to the latch mechanism, i assume these are for the latch sensor?

2. the odometer is sporadic in its readout, sometimes i can read the millage, just fine other times some of the numbers are "out". is this just a little bulb behind the dash or something else?

3. the car does not "beep" when i use the remote to lock or unlock the car. i thought that it might just be the coding so i checked it with VagCom and it was set to the standard setting (i don't remember the number sequence right off my head) so i changed it to the coding so the windows function as well with the remote, plus the beep but i still have no beep. Any ideas?

I know it is a long post but hopefully someone has some ideas. I have been doing alot of maintenance on this car and just want to take care of some of these minor things now that i have the major maintenance done -- T-belt, tranny flush and filter, valve cover gaskets and a motor mount. It has been a little more than i thought i would have to do but oh well now it should be a great car for us for a awhile.

Cheers

 

Yes, your trunk sensor isn't properly aligned. You can either spend the time, energy and rework to make it right, or simply push down on the trunk lid after you've closed it. This is also why your alarm won't signal when you lock your car. Try it and report back.

Sorry, but I can't help you w/ your speedo item.

 

or you have been running the heat for awhile.

My car does the same thing, once those displays get warm they slowly fade out.

There is no fix that i know of other than a new instrument cluster.

 

For the trunk it was the sensor. pushing down on the trunk didn't do it, but i removed the latch and took it apart and found that when the trunk latches it pushes up on a tiny little arm that then pushes in the tiny pin on the sensor. It seems that the arm wasn't quite connecting so i just bent the arm a very small amount so that it would contact sooner and that took care of the problem. now it senses just fine and works great. also it did take care of the beep with the remote so that is great. Thanks guys.

2. the Gages. you may have something with the heat Mark'sA8L affecting the odometer readout. first thing this morning when i looked at it there were more numbers displayed but now that it has warmed up in the day it is back to almost no numbers displayed. However what i did notice is that when i was setting the clock (which also has the same problem) that as the numbers flashed during the setting procedure that it caused the problem to get better and worse in sequence to the flashing clock --- I also remember that when the battery was low earlier on that the problem was worse. This leads me to believe that the problem is caused by low voltage to those two displays. They simply don't have enough electricity to light up fully. I don't know how to test this theory and/or remedy it but it seems to be caused by voltage.

Cheers.

 

Possibly just a bad or corroded connector.

 

I have looked at all the connectors and i don't see anything that stands out. There are a lot of circuits in there and i am not an electrical guy so there could be something that i am just not seeing.

 

get a remanned from the dealer for about $1,200. It'll get worse over time and eventually the clock and/odo will be illegible. It's not the connectors or anything simple. It's where the the ribbon cable connects to the display inside the cluster itself.

I replaced the one in my wife's car and fortunately the one I just bought had it replaced already.

Bob

 

I was just doing some research on the A4 forum and there was a thread where they were discussing their cluster issues and it was mentioned that www.BBA-REMAN.com could do the repair. I gave them a call and they said that they could take care of the problem for $350 plus shipping. If it would work that would be alot better than $1200.

Has anyone had experience with them??

 

My Saab 9-5 has the same issue with driver info display. Bad ribbon cable

 

I have a 9-5 also so i hope that it doesn't develop this issue. It would be frustrating if both of the cars did it to me. Cheers