Sitting on the side of the road again. Bought this A4 Quattro last week in Texas. Drove home to LA and the car decelerates and stops. Noticed the battery light on and check the battery. It was almost 4 years old. Got towed to autozone and bought a battery. They checked the alternator and stated it was good. That was 6 days ago. Same thing happen today, got towed to Walmart and bought a battery drove roughly 20 miles and again it happen. Currently waiting on the tow driver who I am paying 250.00 to bring me the 71 miles to my house. Do any of you know if this is a problem in other A4s and could it be something other than the alternator? Thanks

 

If your car is running normally and your battery goes kaputt, it will stay running. If your car's alternator is bad, your car will only run until the battery is drained completely and then it will die (with no alternator the car is using the power of the battery to run-if the alternator is working properly, you could start the car, disconnect the battery and your car would continue to run).

Check your battery when the car has died with a voltmeter. If it is completely dead, no voltage on it, I'm taking a guess here that your alternator is bad.....

IF, however, your battery still has some charge on it, I'd say you have a loose wire somewhere, or a bad/loose ground....

To check your alternator without many tools, with a FULLY charged battery, start the car, disconnect your battery, if it stays running, chances are your alternator is good-if it dies as soon as you disconnect the battery (use a good, fully charged battery)...alternator could be bad....