JimS8 Posted January 28, 2006 Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 I found the battery on my 2001 S8 dead tonight so have taken it out to charge it overnight. But now I have found I can't lock the car. The ignition key fits the driver's door but when I turn it in either direction nothing happens. It's the same if I press the button down from inside the car and then try to unlock it from outside using the key. I haven't managed to find anything in the manual about it. Does anyone know the answer please? Also, when taking the battery out I noticed a small gauge brown wire, separate from the main negative lead, which looked as though it was meant to be connected to the negative terminal but the connector was broken. Does anyone know what this is for? Any thoughts appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakyMcC Posted January 28, 2006 Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 Have you tried asking PaulW at www.audipages.com and asking on www.audiworld.com ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crasher Posted January 28, 2006 Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 Central locking pumps need power to operate, so i'm assuming the entire locking system will be dead until power is restored. Interestingly, when i had an issue with my total power loss overnight I could not unlock the car using the remote, and had to use the key to manually unlock it. As for the small gauge brown wire, not sure, but mine is most definitely connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve2 Posted January 28, 2006 Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 [ QUOTE ] I found the battery on my 2001 S8 dead tonight so have taken it out to charge it overnight. But now I have found I can't lock the car. The ignition key fits the driver's door but when I turn it in either direction nothing happens. It's the same if I press the button down from inside the car and then try to unlock it from outside using the key. I haven't managed to find anything in the manual about it. Does anyone know the answer please? Also, when taking the battery out I noticed a small gauge brown wire, separate from the main negative lead, which looked as though it was meant to be connected to the negative terminal but the connector was broken. Does anyone know what this is for? Any thoughts appreciated. [/ QUOTE ] Jim, has your battery been a bit dodgy lately?, just wondering if the brown wire is something to do with the alternator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS8 Posted January 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 Thanks Crasher but my problem is that I can't manually lock or unlock it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS8 Posted January 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 Steve, I found out what the brown wire was for when putting the battery back. It had broken off the underside of the cover. Presumably it's to earth it so as to prevent any spark in case gas is given off from the cells. Something isn't right. I'm not sure whether it's the battery or something else. After charging overnight it would hardly turn the engine over to begin with. then for no apparent reason it sprang into life when I tried it later. It's a bit difficult to tell because I don't use the car much during the week and so it doesn't get much charging during this cold weather. I'll see how it is tomorrow, but I have the feeling I'm going to have to stump up for a new battery. I'm not looking forward to installing it though. It's a pig of a job to put it in without getting the cables and connectors stuck down the sides. I eventually managed it by tying the positive connector back with a piece of rope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ska Posted January 28, 2006 Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 Lock the car with the battery connected then use the key to open the boot; disconnect remove the battery then lock the boot with the key. I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakyMcC Posted January 28, 2006 Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 Opening the boot with the key will unlock all the doors via the central locking. Just lock the car as usual with the boot fully open. Every thaing will lock, the boot too normally. But take the batt out before shutting the boot. Buuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttt, with the batt removed do you think the key will work to open the car again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronalds8 Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 mhhh... I just had the same thing with my car.... I removed the battery... locked 3 doors manually inside and then locked driver door with the ignition key. not much help ... I know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ska Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 Isn't there an isolator switch somewhere for the boot; use to have one on the granny cossie? NO, No ... I just remembered; Open the boot wide open, then lock the doors with the key/remote(the alrm will not sound), then remove the battery and then close the boot Thats it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS8 Posted January 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 That's exactly what I tried to do but for some reason I couldn't lock the driver's door with the ignition key. When I turned it nothing happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakyMcC Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Isn't there an isolator switch somewhere for the boot; use to have one on the granny cossie? NO, No ... I just remembered; Open the boot wide open, then lock the doors with the key/remote(the alrm will not sound), then remove the battery and then close the boot Thats it [/ QUOTE ] Ugh? What a stupid suggestion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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