starting problem 2003 S4 avant

Learner Car: S4 Avany Joined: 27 Feb 2010 Posts: 6

Ok before I start I would like to say I have read a lot of good stuff on the site about all sorts of problems thanks to everyone for shearing there experiences.

To save time these are the basics. The car will often not start after along trip the day before or cold mornings. The key is recognised on the dash as the green OK comes on. There is no sound (this could be because of the superior build quality) of the fuel pump or the starter moving ie . No solenoid clicking or starter motor spinning without engaging. All the fans and lights come on. The fuel gauge rises.

I received some good advice (free! ) from Audi Derby about checking the battery. This I had high hopes of because when I topped the battery up in my car it took just over 1 ˝ bottles of distilled Water. Unfortunately this dose not seems to have been the problem. I even gave her a jump start from our micra (done in the dark so no one could see) but this did not help .

The problems I have read about seem to fall into a couple of groups.
Key Issues, Ignition Switch fault and some scary stuff about Starter Motors failing v8 A8’s ŁŁŁ and fuel pressure switch issues.

I am getting to the point of taking the car into a main dealer but as the fault can go away for a couple of days at time I don’t want to do this as odds on it wont happen for them!

So the questions are:-
How easy is it to change the ignition switch? Is it a DIY job will the keys need re coding part numeber?
Is there a fuel pressure switch on the v8 s4 fuel pump?
How easy is a starter motor change on a v8 s4?
Would a fault reader show up any of the faults above?

Apologies for the lengthy of my posting. Any help or comments on the above would be greatly appreciated.

Veteran Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 5347

does your key rattle?
have you tried a spare key?

vagcom would be a good start to read fault codes.

when it does start are any symptoms present? (rough running, hesistant to start, etc)

Learner Car: S4 Avany Joined: 27 Feb 2010 Posts: 6

Thanks for replying

Both keys are fine and it makes no difference which key I try.

When she starts it is almost instant with no churning of the starter or odd noises and she runs fine with no hesitations and full power on the odd occasion the road is not coved in snow or HGV traffic. (A52-A54- A515 good to see the peak district leaving by lorry every day, soon it will look like Norfolk )

I might try and borrow a code reader?

Learner Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

Those symptoms are *exactly* what I have read about before, and they guy responded a week later saying it was the starter motor.

Any way good luck.

Learner Car: S4 Avany Joined: 27 Feb 2010 Posts: 6

Thanks for this. I am hoping it is not the starter ŁŁŁŁŁŁŁŁŁŁŁŁŁ!

I put a new battery on this week and still no joy. I have had some advise about checking the earth and feed to the starter motor so I will be diving under the car this week end if it dose not rain!

Funky 22

Learner Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

Starter motors are easy to replace mate, don't know specifically bout the v8, but generally a few long bolts thru the gearbox bell housing and a couple of thick gauge cages is whats involved. Surely the starter itself can't be that expensive, even if it has got to move 8 cylinders, what Ł200-300 ?

Learner Car: S4 Avany Joined: 27 Feb 2010 Posts: 6

Hi

I now know exactly the cause this, as the starter motor gave up last week!

This is not as bad as it sounds as a replacement is under Ł150 but it looks inaccessible for someone like me without a ramp. So over to the boys at Sport Tech Ilkestone.

They have confirmed a pet theory of mine that the temperature sensor has also gone south, as I had seen the temperature needle drop and come back up a couple of time on my drive to work.

They also found a coolant leak which they think is coming from one of the radiators and apparently a fault on both fans!!

I am hoping the replaced temperature sensor will clear the fan fault and the radiator is a lose hose (fingers crossed) All in all an expensive winter and it is not over yet.

I will provide feed back on Sport Tech as this is the first time the car has been outside the main stealership network. Audi Derby could not look at the car for almost three weeks. Just how many Audis go wrong given almost all Audi cars are now on 20k mile servicing?? Or have the let all there staff go?