jdragon

Hi guys,

Is there a way to turn off the 'air bag on beep' in a 2013 A6? 

Hi guys,

A friend owns a 2013 A6 and finds it incredibly frustrating that he cannot get out of the car without the engine switching off. Is there a way of deactivating this feature using VCDS?

The short answer is yes, this will work for any battery even if the manufacturer is not listed in the VCDS menu. You can simply change the last digit if the serial number currently logged to your car for it to recognise the new battery. I did this when fitting mine and it worked - the system is not that intelligent.

The long answer:

From my research I concluded the coding is extra Audi fluff to prevent people with cars under warranty from swapping their batteries with a mates duff one, to get a free replacement. When you scan the QR on an Audi original battery you get something that looks like this:

205# 8K0 915 105 F
#1#315472985#170712 *205
MLA1C7HBAF%*=

If you take the MLA plus the last 5 before "*=" and then drop the last symbol you have: MLA HBAF

Then reverse the pairs between # and *205 to give 120717 (the date when battery was manufactured likely)

The code you will have is MLA120717HBAF

This is the unique BEM that is printed on the battery and is precisely how Audi can reverse code to know if it has been changed.

I cannot remember the source of the above info but I applied the method to my own battery (as did others in the post) and it works.

Interestingly, I removed my original battery to fully charge it and when I fitted it again it was recognised in the MMI and showed it had been charged. So why did it not instantly recognise my new battery? My assumption here is charging alone will not reduce the resistance (Ohms) of an old/aging battery and this is probably the only thing the ECU/battery element of the system will recognise as changed (original battery was 7.0 mOhms, new was 4.2 mOhms).

I hope this helps.

Quick update: I went for the Varta G3 Blue Dynamic 12V 95Ah 800A in the end delivered for £98.94

I didn't bother with connecting a backup power source, so there was about 10 minutes or so with no power in the system which didn't cause any issues later. Once the battery was connected, I checked the power meter in the MMI but it was greyed out; curiosity go the better of me so I started the car and still greyed out.

I had borrowed my mates VCDS setup and coded as follows:

[19 - CAN-Gateway]
[Long Adaptation-0A]
[Channel] 004
[Read]

VCDS populated the instructions in a pop up window with the formatting:

For my car, I did the following:

Part number remained the same

Changed the manufacturer code to VA0

Entered the date and last 4 digits of the number etched into the battery

8K0915105E  VA0 YYMMDDSSSS

[Test]
[Save]
[Done, Go Back]
[Close Controller, Go Back - 06] 

Started the car and the MMI battery state was at 100%

I Checked measuring blocks 018, 019 & 020 showed the battery SOC was 86% and the MMI was displaying 100% (original battery was something like SOC 25%, MMI 40%)

Lots of people had success with just changing the last digit of the serial number but I thought it was a bit cleaner to add the date, which is the format of the original BEM.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/audi.partsdirect

On 3/22/2020 at 7:45 PM, Magnet said:

Hello Peter,

Sorry, not sure about a link for actually doing the cambelt.

Although the cambelt has just been done on the A3, I have been ‘banned’ from carrying out such jobs! - a few miles on the clock now, having passed my test in 1961, so it’s down to a neighbour free lance mechanic, with me being responsible for getting the parts. 

My source of genuine parts at discount:- Discount Audi Parts -Cardiff . Part of Mon Motors, who are actually Cardiff Audi.

Contact is Phil ( very helpful). If have recently posted the contact details against another post. It’s glass of wine time for the vulnerable now, but just let me know is you fail to find them. They do mail order, and you can pay via. Paypal. Don’t be put off by their website just listing accessories - e mail Phil with your requirements. 

Good luck and kind regards,

Gareth. 

I found these guys by accident (on eBay) when looking to buy Quantum 5w30 LL in place of Castrol for my last oil change 🙂

Hi all,

I hope everyone is keeping safe during these challenging times.

Unfortunately a period of not driving my car has expedited the demise of the battery in my A4.

It's currently fitted with the original Moll 8k0 915 105 E

12V 450A 95Ah DIN (760A EN/SAE)

I have (currently) selected a Bosch S4013 12V 95Ah (800A EN/SAE) at a reasonable(?) price of £99.99

The car does not have stop-start functionality, so presumably the original battery is LA? Although I appreciate the improvements of moving to AGM I'll have the car no longer than 3 years, so paying the extra £2x/3x seems unnecessary?

A bit of research has led me to understand the replacement needs to be programmed to the car with a BEM code:

Part Number (10 Digits)
Vendor Code (3 Digits)
Battery Serial Number (10 Digits)

Talking to the supplier, the Bosch battery does not have this info. I have read that in instances like this, I can simply increment the battery serial number and leave everything else the same in VCDS. Does anyone have experience doing this?

Interesting thinking back to this now - a risky strategy but it paid of in this instance.

My next query is one I probably won't be so brave with 😄

It's that time again; having clocked ~16k the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 are almost ready to replace.

Has anyone got experience with the Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2? They are the same price as the GYEF1 but according to tyrereviews.co.uk they have a better wear rating :)

I ran the Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance until the wear indicator and got ~15k out of them.

After a little research and advice from the manager at my local F1 Auto Centre my choices for replacement were either: Michelin Pilot Sport 4 @ £125 ea., Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 @ £113 ea. or Cooper Zeon CS Sport @ £110 ea. Timing was such that I had the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3.

They feel good and are possibly a bit quieter that the EF (and I will hopefully be able to do few k more mileage too).

I used to get ~25k out of Kumho Ecsta Le Sport KU39 fitted to the rear of my Merc (driven on the exact some route), so as far as I'm concerned 12k is bad.

Going to go for the Kumho again seems logical but I thought it might be worth asking the question here first.

If the motorbike comment was a joke, I don't get it :)

Which brand of tyre are you buying at the moment? I fitted a full set of Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance back in June last year and the fronts aren't looking especially meaty after only 12k miles. My commute to work is ~35 miles of mainly A roads

No, but only because I don't like to the same thing twice if I can avoid.

I've risked it and bought a two plug wing mirror, which arrived today, and it folds manually so at worst I'll have a lose plug behind my door card. I'm going to fit it Saturday morning so I'll report back either way ;)

In my A4 B8 the tool kit and spare wheel are in the boot, covering and surrounding the battery :)

I think James it right re the relay because I had exactly the same problem with a MkIII Golf many years ago. The engine would die, but you could hear the fuel pump when trying to restart. After taking it to a number of specialists, one of which replaced the fuel pump, and disconnecting the immobiliser it was still happening. I joined the AA as a last resort and when it broke down, luckily for me the guy knew exactly what it was; a faulty relay. He popped the cover off and wrapped an elastic band around it and it fired up straight away. I think the relay was only about £10 from VW in the end too.

I would not be happy if this happened to me!

When I had my Mercedes I was running late and couldn't find a space but the valet guy didn't look busy, the car was filthy so I thought two birds etc. After a quick negotiation we agreed a price to include a quick hand polish. On my return, as soon as I saw the car I knew it hadn't been polished! After his "look at how great my work is" tour I didn't mention it until I had my key back at which point he proceeded to shout in my face claiming he had polished it. I asked to see the cloth he used, and after a stand-off he probably realised his little con wasn't going to work this time and being faced with half the money we agreed or nothing, he took the half.

It makes me wonder how many people these boys rip off, and cars they damage in a week!

You did well to get any kind of compensation B)

Don't worry, it's probably just a vent flap. Have a read here:

http://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-s8-d2-platform-discussion-8/clicking-noise-dash-area-1757672/

http://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-s8-d2-platform-discussion-8/squeaking-steering-wheel-fixed-clicking-gone-too-1757094/#post15600347

My car does exactly the same thing, no pattern to it. It's not annoying me enough to pull the dash apart just yet, especially as I'm 99% it's nothing serious B)

Unfortunately it's not that simple. The driver's side wing mirror unit is bigger too. I've copied an image using my phone so I'm not sure how good the quality will be, but it shows the difference in the set I have.

I've purchased the Dolphin kit for my wife's car, which I'm expecting to be here tomorrow but I'll probably not have time to fit them for a couple of weeks.

As for my Audi, I will be purchasing the Cobra flush fit R0394 in the next few days and get them colour coded in a couple of weeks. If I remember, I'll take some photographs and post an overview of the installation B)

What would that mean in terms of the plugs?

I'll explain my situation: the car has the wide view driver's side wing mirror upgrade and so it looks different from the passenger's side, which doesn't sit well with me.

Not wanting to spend a £100's on a new wing mirror to match the passenger's side, I'll be taking a punt on a used item. My mirrors are heated and have the integrated indicator but they aren't (I think?) power folding.

My questions are, if my mirror has one plug but the replacement comes with two, will the heat and indicator still work? And if the second plug is for the power fold (which my car does probably does not have) will I still be able to fold it manually?

Me neither! It does make me question how it has been wired in! I've got it booked in with Quatro-Tech for a full service so I might ask them to have a quick look at it for me.

In any case, that car has been fine since, and my phone connects so the update worked :)

Can anyone please tell me why some wing mirrors have one plug, while others have two (photo attached)? Would it be one for electric, and two for both electric and heated?

Does anyone know if the Cobra flush fit R0394 can be installed in my Audi A4 B8?

I decided to buy the cable and do the update myself.

After pulling out the stereo etc. I traced the wires back to the box which had been installed between the glove box and fuse box - there was plenty of room and the installation looked neat with inline fuses and proper connectors so it was a good start.

I had a few goes at connecting and finally got to the flash programming stage where it stalled, so I unplugged it all, rebooted my laptop but the same happened again. It turns out the device properties need to be the same as the com speed

During one of the attempts I made to connect, I tried it with the engine running when something a little odd happened. The parrot box had all the cables plugged in, and was connected to my laptop via the update cable but when the connection failed I unplugged the USB end of the update cable from my laptop leaving the other end in the parrot box and pressed the key and removed it to kill the engine but it kept running! So I pushed the key in again with my foot on the clutch but there was just a weird clicking noise coming from the front of the car, but the engine kept running so I tried a couple more times with no joy. It wasn't until I pulled the update cable (which was still not connected at the USB end) from the parrot box did the engine stop running..........does anyone know why this happened?

I've decided on a set of cobra sensors for my car (£60) which will be painted when I have a little scuff repaired, and a set of Dolphin (£50) for the wife's car because they come painted to colour. They are both the buzzer only type so I'm going to have a go at installing them myself in a few weeks time  :D