AudiWorld Forums - Wow. Just wow. (long)

A little over a year ago, around the time my original warranty expired, I installed an RNS-E, Audi Bluetooth TEL interface, and Audi XM radio module in my car. I loved the new functionality but hated what began happening to my car...

First off, it became <a href="http://navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2385" target="_new">difficult</a> to use VAG-COM on the car, as many addresses were intermittent or completely unresponsive. Then, the car began to <a href="http://navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2470" target="_new">drain the battery</a> on a <a href="http://navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2529" target="_new">recurring</a> basis. And, then the XM module began <a href="http://navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2850" target="_new">failing</a>. It was clear that the RNS-E's commands to tell other devices to shutoff were <a href="http://navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=820" target="_new">not getting heard</a>. So, I checked, re-checked, and re-rechecked my harness' connections.

I brought the car to Advanced Audi in San Francisco, eventually, and after three hours of diagnostics, they found a connection (Alarm Ground) that they didn't like the integrity of, so they re-soldered that. Unfortunately, less than a week later, the car was killing the battery again.

(Going-forward, every time I say I brought the car to the dealer, I presented it with the original Symphony II installed and all added electronics disconnected.)

Not long afterwards, the TPMS module appeared to fail. This time, I brought it to my Audi dealer in Burlingame, CA, and after almost 3 days in the shop, they finally replaced the TPMS module. It appeared that repair worked...

In the meantime, I moved cross-country from CA to Missouri. Not long after we got here, the TPMS appeared to fail again. So, I brought it to the Audi dealer here in Kirkwood, MO, along with a <a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/197503.phtml" target="_new">CEL</a>. They found that the car wasn't coded for TPMS any more and did some sort of master reset wherein some part of the car performed a module discovery. This fixed the TPMS problem and I went on my way. (I should also mention, at this point, that the CEL led to dropping my <a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/197483.phtml" target="_new">fueltank</a> for cleaning.)

So, the first time I put the car in reverse, the familiar <a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/198075.phtml" target="_new">Parktronic</a> beep didn't sound. So, early the next week, I brought the car back to the dealer for what I thought would be a 15 minute period during which they found an un-reattached connector or something... Well, 15 minutes turned into 3½ hours and finally an invitation to bring my car back the next day. During that visit, the service manager showed me a VAG 1552 report indicating that the car had no: radio, TPMS, Parktronic, and a few other modules. The kicker: this report was pulled at the time of the first time they "repaired" the TPMS!

So, there were definitely strange things going on!

So, after the car was in the shop for 6 days (including the weekend), the service manager calls me and tells me they've figured out the problem. (At this point they have 16 hours (@ $130/hour) of diagnostics in the car AND have had to involve Audi Engineering Support!) He tells me that my Instrument Cluster has failed! And to prove it, he tells me they stuck another cluster in the car, and instantly TPMS, Parktronic, and a whole bunch of other modules were suddenly visible to the VAG! He also is pretty sure that the cluster was responsible for muddying the CAN so badly that it's the reason that entertainment devices weren't getting shutoff notices, thus leading to battery drain.

In 2002, the CAN Gateway had not yet made it's debut in the allroad, so that functionality lived in the Instrument Cluster. Can you believe that one module so completely was messing with my car?

So, the new module is $700, and the dealer is willing to discount the >$3000 bill to $2500 because I'd just paid him $1600 for the fueltank imbroglio. This is before I asked him if he'd checked with the people who manage my Audi Protection Plus Platinum aftermarket warranty... So as I type this, I await the results of the investigation by a warranty company's inspector in order to see what the final price is. But, this totally will make me fall in love with my 2002 allroad 6spd with 37000 miles all over again.