Me too, all lights on gear selector!

[moltuae]

Originally Posted by Yas

Hi all, thanks again for your replies, however I have an update.

As well as the shifter lights lighting up all at once and the gearbox going into limp mode there have/has been some other strange problems.
I haven't had the car for long and since purchasing it, the parking sensors had a mind of there own and mostly wouldn't work properly. But a few times they did, which I thought was strange. I had the car scanned on VCDS and nothing came up.

Then last weekend my wife and I loaded the kids into the car and push chair in the boot etc, then I tried to start the car and there wasn't enough power to turn the engine over!
Now I don't know how old the battery is (Bosch S4), but as I use the car only at weekends I thought it would be best to just get a new battery and save the messing about.
So I bought a top of the range Exide Premium (1000CCA) and all of a sudden my parking sensors are working all the time without fail and the gearbox isn't going into limp mode anymore which is great, but I don't want to speak too soon!

So my conclusion is that the voltage from the battery wasn't up to scratch and in turn caused some electrical issues.
Has anyone else had a similar problem?

I would check that the battery is getting properly charged. There may be voltage regulation or charging problems.

Never had any similar problem with any of my '8s, but I did experience something similar with a previous car I owned (an XM) that had battery and alternator problems. The battery slowly discharged one day while driving and the car exhibited all sorts of weird faults as the supply voltages to each ECU began to dip and fluctuate. A new battery and alternator fixed it.

[Yas]

Thanks for the heads up, I will also check the output on the alternator just to be sure.

Originally Posted by moltuae

I would check that the battery is getting properly charged. There may be voltage regulation or charging problems.

Never had any similar problem with any of my '8s, but I did experience something similar with a previous car I owned (an XM) that had battery and alternator problems. The battery slowly discharged one day while driving and the car exhibited all sorts of weird faults as the supply voltages to each ECU began to dip and fluctuate. A new battery and alternator fixed it.

[Yas]

Right, just checked the new battery on my cheap multimeter:

Engine off = 12.42 volts
Engine on = 14.47 volts

I would assume that this is normal and that the alternator is fine??

Thanks
Yas

Originally Posted by Yas

Thanks for the heads up, I will also check the output on the alternator just to be sure.

[moltuae]

You can't conclusively test the alternator condition with DC voltage levels alone, but I would say that those are about the voltages I'd expect to see.

Was that under load?

If not, I would meter it again under heavy load; engine running and everything on ... headlights, fogs, rear demister, heated seats, etc.


EDIT: Also, check it with your meter switched to AC too. You should see close to zero volts on AC if voltage regulation is good.

[Yas]

Yeah I did think afterwards that I should've put the AC on etc, but I will check this another time now.

My gut feeling is that this should be ok now. I know the car wasn't used much by the previous two owners as it was a 2nd car like it is for me too and I would say that a combination of age of the battery, cold weather and lack of use on my part has probably contributed to this.

But time will tell!
Thanks again for your help and advice

[Goran]

My previous S8 had similar bugs when the battery was failing. ABS warning, transmission error codes, some other random error codes. When I put a new battery in and cleared the codes all those warnings disappeared and didn't come back.
I hope yours will be sorted by the new battery as well.

[Yas]

Thanks Goran, me too!

I hope you're well?
Yas

Originally Posted by Goran

My previous S8 had similar bugs when the battery was failing. ABS warning, transmission error codes, some other random error codes. When I put a new battery in and cleared the codes all those warnings disappeared and didn't come back.
I hope yours will be sorted by the new battery as well.