ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Buy a new battery and take it to the dealer and replace it yourself, if it works, drive it home. Why would you take your car to the dealer THEN ask for advice on a forum for people who do things themselves? Does it make sense?

Cheers,

Louis

mishar

If you are paying for this, you are ordering what has to be done. Battery is most likely dead, so ask them to replace it first and program it. Only then you can decide about any further work. If they are paying let them change everything.

MP4.2+6.0

The logical things to do here.

Limoncello

the problem with dealers these days is that they rely heavily on the computer telling them the problem. and the dont really think it through, they also have a tendancy to believe what components tell them even in the face of it making no sense

On my last 2 trips to the dealer ive had to ask them to put the techie on the phone with me and talked it through with him, dont be afraid to tell them they are on the wrong track and need to come up with something else other than change components they have no idea will actually fix the issue, or if they do im not paying for it.

result for me was no charge, after they had the car for 5 days. fortunately it was a good dealer who recognised that they should have come up with the solution not me.

Make sure the techie working on the problem has also been told the full story, rather than a 2 sentence theory from rep. you only know that by talking direct.

Sci-fi_Wasabi

The first TWO dealerships I took my A8 to said the same stuff... they throw around words like "no communication with dash," "component protection" which are all words that probably pop up on a diagnostic printout when the battery is low... ultimately, if the battery does not hold charge, that is probably a primary explanation. Also, once there is a fully charged battery in the car, it needs to be driven around to reset the system... like restarting your PC after putting new software in it... This is what the THIRD dealership did, and it has been just fine since with the original 2009 battery. I guess I would at this point just have them put in a new battery and code it, and then personally go to the dealership and take your car out for a nice 30 mile test drive turning it off and on a couple times during the drive. Don't worry about hurting their feelings... they got plenty of other cars to work on. Let us know what happens

twooldr

My wife informed me the instrument cluster was dead yesterday. VAG said no communication from instrument panel. After reading all the posts here I tested the battery. It was 11.7vdc. I charged the battery and was then 13vdc. Reconnected it and the instrument panel was working perfectly. I bet a lot of instrument clusters get replaced when they don't need it. The instrument panel works directly off the battery and if it's under powered even a little bit it won't display at all. I'll be replacing my old battery soon since it looks like the original from Germany. $180 is better than what a dealer will get you for.Thanks for saving me a bundle.

Sci-fi_Wasabi

That just made my day! I really wanted to write a letter to Audi to discuss the "shortsightedness" of 2 dealerships, which ultimately did charge a few hundred dollars for diagnostics, and gave quotes in the thousands of dollars for replacements of the clusters.... but never got around to it.
Glad to save you the frustrations and $$$$'s

David M. Daniel

Dude thanks for sharing! I have a Q5 and this morning noticed the same thing, instrument cluster was completely dead but everything else was working. Will def look into the battery before anything.

As for the dealerships...lol, they are joke. My brake pad sensor light came on a few weeks ago so intuition would tell you the brake pads may be due for changing. Took it to a local mechanic to look over and he said all 4 pads were fine with plenty of meat still on them, most likely is the sensor (located front driver tire). All I had to do was order the sensor and he would put it in for me. Me being the naive stubborn person I am, thought it was a good idea to get a 2nd opinion, at the Dealership (first mistake). Once there it took them almost a full day to finish their "diagnostics run" and told me the only way to fix the brake light will be to replace the front 2 brake pads which will come with a sensor....keep in mind the brake pads were still in very good shape so why replace something that is in good use? I confronted the manager on this and he said the only way to change the sensor is getting the pad with it for they are attached together....(at that point I was blown away and realized dealerships are there to simply make $$ off you). Long story short, I ordered the brake sensor off amazon for $10 and had the first mechanic install it for $30. Total of that being a fraction of what the diagnostic fee was.