TrundleFly Posted May 17, 2011 Report Share Posted May 17, 2011 Hello all I'm having some issues with my battery and hoping if I provide the symptoms people might have some ideas what is wrong. It's a 2005 3.0 TDCI If I leave the car for around 2 days then I find that my keyless entry doesn't work, which is a sympton of the car starting to shut things off. However, if I open with the fob button I can then start the car fine. AMI says the battery is less than 10%. When I drive the car the battery charges fine and keyless entry all works OK for around a day so seems it takes around 2 days for the battery to discharge to the point where it swicthes this off. I'm told this is one of the first things to get switched off so am just using it as an example. When I start the car though all the electrics work fine. It doesn't shut anything down when the car is running. I have left it for about 2 weeks before and at that point the low battery warning came on when I started it but haven't seen that since. So I'm not sure if there's a problem with the battery or if there is a drain somewhere. Are there any easy ways to check this or common suspects as I don't want to spend a fortune having Audi try to diagnose it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardW Posted May 17, 2011 Report Share Posted May 17, 2011 Sounds as though your battery is on its last legs - not unusual after 6 years (assuming that it is the original battery). If you decide to replace the battery do not forget that you have to recode with vagcom/vcds. That said, my 2003 4.0 TDi is still on the original battery and is fine so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrundleFly Posted May 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 That's what I thought but the chap I spoke to at Audi seemed to think it sounded more like a drain than a problem with the battery. Any ways I can check for this myself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchet Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 Sounds like a new battery to me. 5 years is pretty much their lifespan. I had exactly the same symptoms with my 2005 3.0TDi last Dec, which resulted in Audi having my car for 3 days to run diagnostics / overnight charging etc. The battery level meter (for what it's worth!) would be 10% in the mornings, charge to around 60% after my 12 mile commute to work, but then sometimes (not always), be back to 10% the following morning. The battery level meter wasn't up to much, and Audi later disabled in newer MMI versions. Bear in mind the A8, with all its electronic toys, does have a constant drain on the battery. Total bill was around £270 (£50 diagnostics/labour, and £190+VAT for the battery if IIRC). Next time, I'd save myself £50 and just go for a new battery!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cockney Boy Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 You can see how much current the car is drawing with a volt meter. If you are getting more than 400 ma then its something within the car that's not going into sleep mode. But as everyone else has said it looks like you have some dead cells in the battery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2_Russ Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I had something similar (5-year old S8) and the stealers said I needed a new battery. However, faced with a £290 (!!!) bill, I sought a second opinion from a battery centre. They said that it just needed a really good charge... ...so at least 24 hours on Fast charge later, and I have had no problems for months thereafter. 1) Don't trust dealers 2) Don't assume a battery's duff at 5 years of age 3) Battery centres know their batteries Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrundleFly Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Thanks for all the replies guys, that gives me a good few options to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rompario Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 I had the exact same problem. From my experience its either: a) power management problem, at the power management unit/regulator b) power drain c) battery needs changing In my case it was (b), but it took at least 3 visits to dealer for them to find it. In my case it was an issue with the MMI, and they installed new software that fixed the drain. Option (b) would also be the cheapest solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulianHicks Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Just in case anyone's searching for issues like this; I've had similar problems with my Nov 2004 [MY2005] 3.0TDI for almost all the time I've had the car [5 years]. The battery is the original Nov 2004 Varta which seems OK for most of the time. Occasionally I get DIS 'Battery Management' alerts and more often, the 'Battery Level' display is at 10% or 60%. [Funnily, it never seems to be anything than this, other than 100%, obviously]! But the car has never failed to start, although the car has occasionally turned off a lot of the electrical 'stuff'. However, it's happened half a dozen times over Xmas so I've had enough. I've been back to my friendly [Non Audi] service agents and they've found there is a Battery Energy Management [bEM] ECU Firmware upgrade for my car. Note: this is not an MMI Upgrade - mine's been at 5570 for some time. This is an ECU firmware upgrade that apparently has to be installed directly by a VAS using an Audi firmware CD. The fix covers various issues including "10% Battery Level on the MMI display". The A8 version upgrades the ECU code to 0510, in my case to replace the 0390 version that I presume has been on the car since new. CD 'part' number for A8s is 4E0 906 961G [yes, it's very similar, but not the same as 'MMI upgrade' CD numbers]. There's a separate CD part number for the same issue on A6s to take them up to 0490, but Hey, this is an A8 forum My upgrade's due for later in the week; will add to this later once I've seen the results. Julian BTW, forgot to say the battery was tested and is apprently still within spec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrundleFly Posted January 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Interesting, thanks. Let us know how it goes. I still haven't done anything with mine as it never fails to start and I can live with things like keyless entry not working Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelV8V Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Mine went when the car was just under 3 years old. Got it replaced under warranty, but I'm pretty sure it died because it had been discharged several times when I was doing some work on the car with the key in my pocket. The car uses about 8A just to stay awake, ignition off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascttt Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Hi Guys, my 57 D3 has the same problems I also have the key not in car alarm when driving along. Could this be all three batteries low, main and two fobs? Also, where is the battery level indicator? can't it anywhere :-( I also read somewhere that there are some settings that only Audi have to do when the main battery is changed, or is this stealer talk? Looking in the manual it says to take the key fobs into Audi to have the battery changed and the fob reprgrammed, anyone have any instructions to change and reprogram the key fob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelV8V Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Hi Guys, my 57 D3 has the same problems I also have the key not in car alarm when driving along. Could this be all three batteries low, main and two fobs? Also, where is the battery level indicator? can't it anywhere :-( I also read somewhere that there are some settings that only Audi have to do when the main battery is changed, or is this stealer talk? Looking in the manual it says to take the key fobs into Audi to have the battery changed and the fob reprgrammed, anyone have any instructions to change and reprogram the key fob? I think there's a few unconnected questions here: If you're driving, the alternator will be putting out enough charge to run everything, and charge the car battery, its a very powerful alternator in these cars, so that is definitely not causing the problem of the keys not being recognised. If you are having problems with both key fobs not working, or not being recognised by the car once yu're driving, have you put the fobs in the same pocket as an iPhone? For some reason, iPhones, and maybe other smartphones, seem to interfere with the key and drain its battery. Just putting them in separate pockets fixes the problem, unless you've killed the batteries in your keys. To replace the key battery, just pull off the cover, take out the battery, and put in another, think its a CR2032 from memory, but pull off the cover and have a look. Changing the key batteries doesn't need any reprogramming or anything. I've done mine a few times and never had a problem. The only thing to be wary of is that you shouldn't leave the key without a battery for more than a few minutes, that could cause it to lose its memory of your car. The battery level indicator isn't displayed on later cars, or cars that have had the MMI software updated. It usually needs someone with VCDS to connect to the car, enable the hidden menu, then you can enable the battery level meter from there. I doubt if an Audi dealer would do this for you, as Audi didn't want you to see the battery gauge. I think they disabled it because it wasn't wholly reliable, and worried customers who then pestered dealers. Now customers don't see the meter, they don't complain The main dealer (or someone with VCDS) does have to reset the battery controller when you replace the car battery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limoncello Posted February 25, 2013 Report Share Posted February 25, 2013 I had a similar problem for 2 years until i found the answer, it may not be the answer to everyones problem, but its worth looking at I first took it in to audi as i had seen a tsb somewher which stated that for some of the issues a 5570 mmi firmware was needed, i already had that, but wondered whether not all the updates where done, anyway this didnt help, still had the issue then i found the real answer, a known issue with the Energy manager, the resolution was flashing the energy manager with updated software, and it fixed it straight away, as suspected the energy manager software was giving false readings/calculations to the car causing it to shut things of, in some cases keeping the battery in a weakened state that eventually kills it. also can cause a drain you can check if this is your problem by scanning with vcds and checking the software version in the energy manager, if its above 0240 but below 500 (i think) you need an update at the dealers, proper details of the software version is here Audi-Resource Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Nice find and fix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beemerboy9 Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Car symptoms: 1) Boot would auto-close but not open beyond 3" without manual intervention to help it up. 2) Car would start without a problem but MMI screen would occasionally not flip up. 3) MMI control buttons (NAV, TEL etc) would occasionally not illuminate. Technical Assessment No wiring issues. Significant Battery drain after ignition switched off because systems not going into "sleep mode". Cure: New Battery and re-code. I am not sure I understand why...... Hope this helps rather rather than confuses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beemerboy9 Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 Car symptoms: 1) Boot would auto-close but not open beyond 3" without manual intervention to help it up. 2) Car would start without a problem but MMI screen would occasionally not flip up. 3) MMI control buttons (NAV, TEL etc) would occasionally not illuminate. Technical Assessment No wiring issues. Significant Battery drain after ignition switched off because systems not going into "sleep mode". Cure: New Battery and re-code. I am not sure I understand why...... Hope this helps rather rather than confuses... Now wonder I could not understand why..... the battery was not the only problem. The gas assist struts for the boot also needed replacing as one strut was much weaker than the other. The boot now opens as it should - without the need for a new motor or hinges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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