Paul JA

Hi everyone, I'm getting my rather non-functioning A7 taken by tow truck to an auto electrician to try and get it working in a few days. my problem is that as part of all the electrical issues I cant get the electromechanical handbrake to release (I have plugged in seat belt and did the normal release procedures but to no avail). Does anybody know of a manual bypass?, I've seen one video on youtube showing some compartment on an S6 or S8 under driver side floor carpet which releases, but I cant see this on the A7. Thanks, Paul.

thanks for your help, it is appreciated, Yeah I'm just trying to bottom out as much as I can before getting a specialist in (not that I know of one locally yet). I don't know why the vcds isn't working, that's another issue in itself. I still need to keep an open mind that it could be something alternator related or something to do with the battery charging, but the car has been fine when it was running, I think VCDS was also ok when the car engine was running. There is an answer out there somewhere, I'm still keeping an open mind about the battery not being right. I know voltage is fine, but there are other elements to a modern battery which I don't know how to check, is it possible the battery has decent voltage, but still lacks the power to start the engine? how would I check this?. It is my second "new" battery though and the old battery is holding charge but maybe it is failing in some other way also. Does this make sense to anyone?

Thanks, I've tried all the methods on google I can see, none work unfortunately, or at least not for me.

Hi thanks for these suggestions. Gareth, once or twice I've thought the car was going to start did start turning over but then the gearbox malfunction message cuts in and stops it, its as if something blocks the command to start the engine, its keyless so it's difficult to repeatedly turn the car over like with a normal key in ignition. I would say the starter is good its just prevented from working. Jdragon, that sounds like a good idea, it cant do any harm to reset, how would i go about doing this? Many thanks, Paul.

Hello everyone, I'm starting a fresh thread here because I have dabbled in a few existing threads which are not 100% relevant to my issue(s). I have a 2012 A7 3.0TDI 242bhp So where do I start, well here; 1 ACC and start/stop error message flagged up some mornings, I could stop and restart the car no problem and message would go away. Assumed battery on the way out, so got a new battery. 2. more serious error messages started flagging up and battery voltage would drop over night, so fitted new battery. This didn't work and even new battery was still draining. When the engine was running (before total failure) voltage was a decent 14.5v or so with engine running so thinking was alternator ok. 3.Assumed power losses were due to not coding new battery and the energy management system was draining it, so bought VCDS to code battery in. Did this but this still didn't solve problems. 4. Even attaching jump leads car wont start at all now, gearbox malfunction message prevalent, took new battery out again to recharge, thinking low voltage could still be an issue, reinstalled with healthy voltage but all error messages still showing, now even more error message showing up tmps, garbox malfunction, stability program, etc etc. 5. VCDS will not communicate with car now, VIN not recognised by software. 6. Charged up old battery as a matter of interest and found out it has been holding 12.73v for 5 days now so it was never at fault.. So what is the problem?? 7. Assuming now not a battery fault, (now that I cant get car started battery doesn't seem to go flat) I looked again at various forums and issues. Looked at central gateway module under back seat sprayed contact cleaner on circuit board in the hope that that might be the issue, have no way of checking if a fault here as VCDS doesn't work, but still same errors everywhere and car doesnt start, so not the issue (does anyone know if the gateway module which appears to have two plugs on it unplugs? one plug is easy the other I couldn't unplug and I really didn't want to break anything (more)). Now thinking it could be the gearbox sensor that I've heard about. so this is where I'm at.. Has anyone else had this sequence of issues? if so how was it fixed? Thanks everyone.. Paul.

Thanks for that Steve, i just checked the alternator at the jump start points under the bonnet (battery is buried under spare wheel in boot). From what you're saying could it be that the battery hasn't successfully recoded then? Even if it hasn't recoded properly it still should start and run etc for at least a while shouldn't it? One of the error messages i get now at ignition switch on is gearbox malfunction (but its the red one to put car into park not the infamous yellow error which is associated with coolant corrosion into plug) what i am wondering though is if the relay that causes the red message is faulty? Possibly caused by the battery issue? Dont know if that's realistic. But either way im sure the fix is something simple, its only after a few battery swaps that the red malfunction stays, it initially flagged when new battery went in but went away after a few ignition on and offs and car would then start fine, but this doesn't work any more, have i fried something during battery changes?

I am still struggling to get my A7 working. So when I said I'd "recoded" for the battery what I did was simply change the last digit of the serial number of the original Varta on vcds, as the replacement battery is an identical spec Bosch, my understanding is that the code doesn't really matter, the onboard computer accepts the different number regardless of what it is and adjusts itself accordingly (ie adjusts it management for a new battery). Is this a correct? and if so is there anything else I need to do through vcds? Are there any other pitfalls I need to avoid because I've already done the above and the 2nd new battery didn't hold its charge so I took it out to recharge, its now fully charged and holding a steady 13.01v all day but just dropped to 13.00v whilst not connected to anything, is that an acceptable drop?. I carried out a parasitic check on as many fuses as I could (except for a strip of about 5 in the boot which were inaccessable, but relate to the handbrake, rear boot and a few other circuits), and found no issues. So I'm scratching my head now trying to work out what is going on? When the engine is running there's around 14.5v showing, so this indicates alternator is fine. Would there be any benefit to disconnecting the battery completely for 30mins or so to clear any lingering electrical gremlins? Any input at all would be greatly appreciated as I'm losing the will to live here 😕 Thanks, Paul.

Hi Gareth, no i haven't i just purchased a vcds yesterday, is this an "easy" check to do? I posted on another similar topic on this forum saying I'd put a new battery in and coded it, but overnight its drained again, so i dont think it's a battery issue now.. i did check voltage with engine running and it was showing 14.5v or there abouts so I don't think alternator is the issue.. I've jump started the car 3 times today already.. on one occasion it wouldn't start even with starter pack attached, but started on its own when i disconnected it/switched it off, so its getting stranger and stranger, think i might call my car Christene...

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and Audi ownership so hello.. Assuming all Audis are much of a muchness electrics wise; I am at this same stage I think with my A7. I replaced the original Varta Battery with an identical spec Bosch (which I believe is even made in the same factory) I bought battery from eurocar parts after error messages regarding failed stopstart and Adaptive cruise not working this was initially intermittent only on cold wet mornings, I'd stop the car and restart and all would be fine. Well this progressively got worse until sometimes the car wouldn't start at all and I'd need to jump start it. This didn't fit in with my lifestyle and so I got a new battery pretty convinced that was what the issue was. Put new battery in and after a few errors messages and restarts it seemed fine, well until the next morning, it just drained overnight to 12.3v, took it back thinking I'd got a dodgy battery, got another new bosch, but checked before installing this time it was fully charged, it was showing a healthy 12.9v and fitted it today eventually, but recoded using VCDS. I'm now keeping a close eye on voltage. MY theory is that because I didn't recode the first replacement battery the energy management system spat the dummy and drained it, well that's what I'm hoping because I've just shelled out £500 in total for what might not be the problem.. Any thoughts on this from anyone?

Appreciate this was some time ago that you posted this, did you ever get to the bottom the issue? I have a similar issue with battery draining, I'm assuming my battery is dead and needs replacing as it wont hold a charge, bought a £300+ battery but early indications are that it too is not holding a charge, I'm hoping recoding will do the trick.