need help on flashing lights and beeping from car...

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

Hello everyone. I have a b6/b7 S4. The car is a TIP. Its basically stock. I have only done a few things to the car. My build log is here: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth…-s-s4-timeline
(i’m on both sites…please dont judge me lol…most of my stuff isn’t good enough to bother people here at audirevolution, so i save it for audizine)

The only major electrical things i have done with the car have been LED conversion for the interior and the license plate lights, and i have installed a 1/0 gauge wire from the alternator to the battery and upgraded the ground wire (big 3 for stereo that isn’t installed yet) Car has a brand new battery (2 months old)

So basically today i was driving and a firetruck was coming down the road, so i turned to get off the main street. right after i turned (didnt get on it TOO hard) all the lights on the dash, the actual display on the dash, the Navigation, etc. started flashing and beeping. i pulled over and right before i did it went away (there was about a 30 second delay from when it started to when it stopped and i was able to safely pull over). The clock has been reset and it acts like i did a battery d/c. My first place of action will be to inspect the battery cables and battery terminals. One thing i noticed was the brake light was flashing (seemed out of time with the rest of the stuff flashing. (Not sure about the ABS light)
I bring the brake light flashing up because i had a code for the ABS a while back. i reset the code and haven’t scanned again since. (i’m going to dig up the ross tech log) I have read that a faulty ABS module can cause something like this, but i don’t think it would cause the entire car to short out and have ALL the dash lights to flash on and off) The car kept running the entire time(took my foot off the gas so i don’t know about power loss or delivery, and as soon as it came it went, but has anyone else experienced something like this? I’m at work now and will be digging into it tonight to run some checks, but i’m pretty unable to do any scans and checks until tonight. just looking for any information and/or a direction to go. i have new battery terminals to install (will do tonight)
Any ideas?
thanks

#2

Its always great to see any build no matter now big or small. Even if you do a cut and paste it will always be helpful for seeing pictures and being able to follow the progress of the car.

As you might know your car can run without the battery and without the alternator. It wont be for super long but its possible

Sounds like a dash board interuption. Its not a blown fuse or battery because it wouldnt have come back on. If the battery was dissconnected you would have gotten a battery light and maybe an ABS fault. Codes will tell you more but it sounds like something that you almost have to wait to see if it happens again.

I dont know just now helpful that was. If you think I missed something let me know

#3

I really appreciate the response. My build is currently small, but I plan on doing many many smaller things to the car as I go. Maybe even some large stuff like a motor tear down). So yeah, the car will run without a battery or alternator, and I’m pretty sure that’s what was going on there for that short period of time. I scanned the car last night and I did get two fault codes for the ABS control module. I will post the log sometime today if I can. Upon inspection, I noticed the positive battery terminal was pretty corroded. I am assuming when I was bleeding the cooling system, that some Coolant got onto the positive terminal and could be shorting out the battery. Or at least causing a open to be technical. I have no way of validating this without it happening again, as you said, but I had already bought new battery terminals so I threw them on the last night. The battery is pretty much brand new as I put it in when I bought the car so the corrosion is very recent. I work for an electronics repair shop and I see firsthand what water can do in a electric circuit. I will keep poking around to see if anything stands out other than that. I did notice the factory battery positive cable looked a little old and the copper started to look a little dark. I might go ahead and change those while I’m doing all this as well if I measure them on a DVOM and they’re out of spec.

When the dash was flashing on and off, the one thing that stuck out was when I looked at the dash, I swear the brake and possibly battery or ABS light or flashing out of sync with the rest of the lights. It happened so fast and I was trying to pay attention to the road I was on so I didn’t hit anybody, so I’m not 100% sure. I would figure if it would be a large problem, there would be a stored code for it. But like I said the only code that stuck out to me, was the ABS control module code. I had previously cleared this code to see if it would come back, and it did, along with the engine mount solenoid code
.
I wanted to post my build log on this website, but I didn’t want to have the same build log on two different forms. This site is pretty technical and I don’t like to buddy up good technical information with my little build log haha

#4

ok so here is the scan i did last night. I’m still not 100% on reading the scans. could someone help me understand it a little better? The engine mount solenoid mount…that one always comes right back after a clearing of the DTC’s. Is there a way to test the solenoid or does that code mean i just need a new solenoid? and the same with the ABS… the anti-lock brakes work fine the last i checked… THANKS!!
vinny

Mileage: 157100km-97617miles

Address 01: Engine Labels: 079-910-560-BBK.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 910 560 M HW: 4E0 907 560

Component: 4.2L V8/5V G 0010

Revision: --H01— Serial number:

Coding: 0007771

Shop #: WSC 06314 000 00000

VCID: 2F6D716ABE08C546C2-807A

2 Faults Found:

17981 - Left Engine Mount Solenoid Valve (N144)

        P1573 - 004 - Open Circuit

18043 - Powertrain Data Bus

        P1635 - 008 - Missing Message from A/C Controller - Intermittent

Readiness: 0000 0000

Address 02: Auto Trans Labels: 09L-927-760.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 910 156 M HW: 09L 927 156

Component: AG6 09L 4.2L5V USA 0060

Revision: --H01— Serial number: ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

Coding: 0000002

Shop #: WSC 00000 000 00000

VCID: 306F7216A336DABEDB-8064

No fault code found.

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 8E0-910-517.clb

Part No SW: 8E0 910 517 C HW: 8E0 614 517 BB

Component: ESP8 quattro H04 0180

Revision: 00000000 Serial number: 00000000000000

Coding: 0004902

Shop #: WSC 06314 000 00000

VCID: 275D994A96F89D060A-8072

1 Fault Found:

01826 - Sensor for Steering Angle (G85); Supply Voltage Terminal 30

        000 -  -  - Intermittent

         Freeze Frame:

                Fault Status: 00100000

                Fault Priority: 3

                Fault Frequency: 4

                Reset counter: 35

                Time Indication: 0



         Freeze Frame:

                Hex Value: 0x0000

                Hex Value: 0x4202

                Hex Value: 0x00FF

                Hex Value: 0xFF97

                Hex Value: 0x00FF

Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 8E0-820-043.lbl

Part No: 8E0 820 043 AM

Component: A4 Klimaautomat 2831

Coding: 00000

Shop #: WSC 00000

VCID: 6CD7A6661C9E7E5EA7-5140

No fault code found.

Address 09: Cent. Elect. Labels: 8E0-907-279-8EC.lbl

Part No: 8E0 907 279 J

Component: int. Lastmodul USA 0503

Coding: 00023

Shop #: WSC 06314

VCID: 39794F32234C1BF66C-4AE8

No fault code found.

Address 0F: Digital Radio Labels: 8E0-035-593-SIR.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 035 593 D HW:

Component: SDAR SIRIUS

Revision: Serial number: AUZ4Z7E3009350

Shop #: WSC 00000 000 00000

VCID: 2A5B607E86EAA06E15-515E

1 Fault Found:

02635 - Tuner Not Enabled/Activated

        000 -  -

Address 15: Airbags Labels: 8E0-959-655-94.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 959 655 H HW: 8E0 959 655 H

Component: Airbag 9.41 H11 3540

Revision: 91H1135 Serial number: 0036N000EEP%

Coding: 0032607

Shop #: WSC 06314 000 00000

VCID: 3C7756267F7E2EDE77-8068

Subsystem 1 - Part No: 8E0 910 339 B

Component: BF-Gewichtsens. 002 0070

Subsystem 2 - Serial number: 025UN

Subsystem 3 - Serial number: 0001.01.000000200000000000ÿ† 63

Subsystem 4 - Serial number: 000000ÿ† 6332DRB4018CCB23Wÿ† 63

Subsystem 5 - Serial number: CCB23Wÿ† 6342DRB4014051263ÿ† 63

Subsystem 6 - Serial number: 051263ÿ† 6352ARB40053199DMÿ† 63

Subsystem 7 - Serial number: 3199DMÿ† 6362ARB4004E8805Mÿ† 63

Subsystem 8 - Serial number: E8805Mÿ† 63729RB4005ED3DD1ÿ† 63

Subsystem 9 - Serial number: ED3DD1ÿ† 63829RB4005ED38C$ÿ

Subsystem 10 - Serial number: ED38C$ÿ

2 Faults Found:

01316 - ABS Control Module

        004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent

         Freeze Frame:

                Fault Status: 00100100

                Fault Priority: 2

                Fault Frequency: 1

                Reset counter: 39

                Time Indication: 0

01316 - ABS Control Module

        008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent

         Freeze Frame:

                Fault Status: 00101000

                Fault Priority: 2

                Fault Frequency: 1

                Reset counter: 39

                Time Indication: 0

Address 16: Steering wheel Labels: 8E0-953-549.lbl

Part No: 8E0 953 549 Q

Component: Lenksáulenmodul 0601

Coding: 02141

Shop #: WSC 06314

VCID: 418927D24B9C433624-4B00

No fault code found.

Address 17: Instruments Labels: 8E0-920-9xx-8EC.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 920 981 Q HW: 8E0 920 981 Q

Component: KOMBI+WFS 4 H12 0040

Revision: 0040 Serial number: 00000000000000

Coding: 0023201

Shop #: WSC 12438 002 104857

VCID: 3B75553A797029E67E-5124

No fault code found.

Address 25: Immobilizer Labels: 8E0-920-9xx-8EC.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 920 981 Q HW: 8E0 920 981 Q

Component: KOMBI+WFS 4 H12 0040

Revision: 0040 Serial number: 00000000000000

Coding: 0023201

Shop #: WSC 12438 002 104857

VCID: 3B75553A797029E67E-5140

No fault code found.

Address 37: Navigation Labels: 8E0-035-192-RNSE.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 035 192 E HW: 8E0 035 192 E

Component: RNS-E US H54 0260

Revision: 03S Serial number: AUZBZ7E1501582

Coding: 0109177

Shop #: WSC 26130 444 54814

VCID: 2643944E92F2840E31-515E

1 Fault Found:

00858 - Connection; Radio Intermediate Frequency (IF) Output to Antenna Amplifier

        011 - Open Circuit - Intermittent

         Freeze Frame:

                Fault Status: 00101011

                Fault Priority: 5

                Fault Frequency: 216

                Reset counter: 173

                Time Indication: 0

                Date: 2004.12.08

                Time: 12:45:24



         Freeze Frame:

                Mileage: 655350 km

                Count: 612

                Clock: 02:59

Address 46: Central Conv. Labels: 8E0-959-433-MAX.lbl

Part No: 8E0 959 433 BT

Component: Komfortgerát T7B 3232

Coding: 11836

Shop #: WSC 06314

VCID: 0407EEC6140E961E4F-4B1A

Subsystem 1 - Part No: 8E1959801F

Component: Tõrsteuer.FS BRM 1315

Subsystem 2 - Part No: 8E1959802E

Component: Tõrsteuer.BF BRM 0205

Subsystem 3 - Part No: 8E0959801A

Component: Tõrsteuer.HL BRM 0205

Subsystem 4 - Part No: 8E0959802A

Component: Tõrsteuer.HR BRM 0205

No fault code found.

Address 55: Headlight Range Labels: 8P0-907-357.lbl

Part No: 8P0 907 357 B

Component: Dynamische LWR H01 0020

Revision: 00000001 Serial number:

Coding: 0000005

Shop #: WSC 06314 000 00000

VCID: 39794F32704C1BF66C-806C

No fault code found.

Address 56: Radio Labels: 8E0-035-192-RNSE.lbl

Part No SW: 8E0 035 192 E HW: 8E0 035 192 E

Component: RNS-E US H54 0260

Revision: 03S Serial number: AUZBZ7E1501582

Coding: 0109177

Shop #: WSC 26130 444 54814

VCID: 2643944E92F2840E31-517C

1 Fault Found:

00858 - Connection; Radio Intermediate Frequency (IF) Output to Antenna Amplifier

        011 - Open Circuit - Intermittent

         Freeze Frame:

                Fault Status: 00101011

                Fault Priority: 5

                Fault Frequency: 216

                Reset counter: 173

                Time Indication: 0

                Date: 2004.12.08

                Time: 12:45:24



         Freeze Frame:

                Mileage: 655350 km

                Count: 612

                Clock: 02:59
#5

an open circuit code almost always means death to the electronic part the code goes with. If you clear the codes and it comes back it is dead.

For the motor mount its not the end of the world you can keep driving on a motor mount that has a dead code. Most people like to replace them.

The ABS module seems to have a few com codes. You might want to look into that. What you can do is to clear the codes for that module and check every day to see if they came back or if they didnt. Check the temps on the days they did come back and also make sure to remember what kind of driving you did and how much you used the brakes. Chances are its a module going bad. Usually when they start to go bad its temp sensitive. So keep an eye on that

#6

awesome. thanks for at least giving me a place to start looking. I don’t want to dump a bunch of unnecessary money into a car. I like to take a systematic diagnostic approach instead of just throwing parts at a car to see what fixes it. that’s both expensive and a dumb way of doing things. lol. ill keep you posted on what i find.,
Vinny

#7

Sure man. Just let me know what you find and we will work to get this fixed.