Hi all

I have 2019 Q8. Some times when the misses is taking it out, or I am taking it when we press the start button the engine fails to start up. 

It happens on a random basis, sometimes it might happen a few times- other times nothing for a week or so. 

Today this problem occurred again, in that the engine didn’t start and I could hear a clicking kind of sound when pressing the start button. 
Every time this happens, I get a boat load of error messages. Engine fault, steering wheel fault etc. Assume this is because the engine hasn’t started and so it can’t run diagnostics. Then when it starts up fine- there are no error messages.  

We called out a green flag guy once when this happened and he couldn’t find any faults! And the car started up as normal when he was there- typical! 

I called up a few local Audi dealerships to get booked in for investigation. They say they have to hold it for a few days and can’t promise they will get to the bottom of the fault if there are no fault codes coming up. Also they can’t fit me in for over a month. 

Had any one experienced something similar? 

thanks 

Hi Sach. 

Sorry to hear about your start up problems. You don't mention whether you car is a TDI or a TFSI.

I have had my  55 TFSI Q8 for 30 months now. Bought new and I haven't had a start up problem at all. The only stuff I have had is some minor stuff where the bottom screen stays blank on start up. This is happened 3 times in 30 months and all it needs is a re-boot and the problem clears.

I'm nothing like an engineer so I may be talking nonsense here but my car before the Q8 was a VW Phaeton. In fact I had 2 bought new over 14 years. It was a very complex car as is the Q8. It heavily relied on 2 batteries because of all the electronics. One was just for the start up procedure and the secondary battery supported all the systems. You could switch the batteries if one wasn't up to the job.

On both I had intermittent problems, not with start up but with the other faults you mentioned....engine fault, steering wheel fault etc. These occured after both cars were 4/5 years old and with mileages of 60/70000 miles.  And on both cars the problem was the age of the batteries and a not sufficient charge. The problems were rectified by installing new batteries.

I notice your car is a 2019 so into its fourth year. Perhapes you could check the state of the battery.

Apart from that I cannot help I'm afraid. Hope you get it sorted as they really are magnificent cars aren't they.

Frank 

Thanks for coming back to me Frank. 
 

it is debadged, I know I should know  I think TDI rings a bell  

 

They are lovely cars, mine has some nice body kit on it- I do like it, but this sporadic start up issues is definitely preventing me from getting full enjoyment from it  

one dealership said if there are no fault codes, not much they can do to fix it  all they can do is charge me for “investigation”.. which means they keep it for 2 days and see if they can recreate the error  

i Will take a look at the battery  appreciate the suggestion!