Greetings to all, 97 A6 wagon w/ 60K having electrical issue and I'm not mechanically inclined--will try to explain briefly.

Hearing a intermittent electric cackle or clicking sound coming from under the steering wheel on left side(driver door). The clicking has had a duration of anywhere from mili-seconds to non stop when I got on the highway 1 day for couple hours. When the clicking occurs several things have followed:

-nothing at all

-some clicks will dim all interior illumination(radio, climate control, dash), headlights, and battery gauge will slip back for mili-seconds....until clicking stops and lighting/gauge returns to normal.

-occasional click will follow with radiator fans kicking on and battery gauge needle drawing back about 1/8 of the range. Next click will turn off radiator fans--sometimes in 1-2 seconds, other times 10-20seconds, other times it won't click again and fans remain stuck on both when idling in park or when driving down the road when they should be turning off.

For example...idling in driveway today the mystery clicking kicked on the radiator fans, then clicking stopped but fans remained on for 15 mins. So I drove the car for 20 mins down the road and back, but fans would not shut off entire time, nor would clicking re-engage. Came home and turned car off....went back out 1 hour later....cranked it over and heard tons of rapid fire clicking with interior illumination fluctuating and radiator fans immediately kicking on. And again same thing an hour after that.

My mechanic couldn't get the clicking sound to happen when I brought it in few days ago, but he replaced some relay switch in the area I described the clicking and thought that would fix it--it hasn't. Also had a coolant temp sensor replaced because the gauge was malfunctioning last few months. But that didn't work and now he thinks it's something to with re-wiring a harness. No idea if problems are interrelated

I've owned 3 A6, 3 100cs, 2 URS6, couple 5000+200....never had a problem even remotely like this with any of them.

Anybody have any idea what's going on?

 

Has the ignition switch ever been replaced? That switch for the C4 A6 is a known failure component that can cause lots of weird electrical problems. The part is not very expensive, and is an easy DIY job to R&R. I would suggest checking that switch first and see if the case is broken/cracked from the trosion spring.

 

Not to my knowledge, and my mechanic made a side note on bill that ignition switch may have to be replaced. But he also told me to mess around with the ignition when the car was acting up. I jostled the key every way I could and that didn't have any impact on the symptoms.

Don't suppose you have link to DIY fix?