i took my 2004 A8L to the dealership monday for a number of problems. First my trunk would only open via my key fob, and wouldn't latch. I could push the button on the trunk to close it, but it wouldn't latch. Nor would it latch when i closed it manually. occasionally it would latch but mostly, no. they told me the latch was bad and replaced it. Now i got it back and i can only pop the trunk with the key fob, but the motor does not engage. AND the said that the trunk is bent and they can TRY to fix it for $125.

Next, i had a parking brake warning on the dash, but my parking brake worked perfectly. It engaged and disengaged without any problems consistenly. They told my girlfriend that the brake was fine but there was stuff spilled on the console which is causing the MMI to fail and is also causing the false message of the parking brake. plus, now my powerpoint /cigarette lighter on the console in the rear is not providing power.

They also said that the battery is dying and that is causing electrical glitches.

so i guess my questions here are, did they break the trunk while fixing it? did they forget to reconnect something for the rear powerpoint? are they BS'ing about the parking brake and MMI relationship? are they saying the battery line to set up a scape goat for the rest not working?

I will be calling later today to confront them on all of this. i'm just looking for a voice of reason in case i get to narrow minded.

Thanks for reading.

 

Their response to this is that the battery is in STAGE 5 of shutdown and they can't diagnos what works unless there is a new battery in the car. Is this true, does this happen? the car turning off features to preserve the life of the battery. Or are they going to install a new battery and then reconnect all the loose cables? any insight?

 

Yes mate I have read that the car shuts down items to ensure enough power to start vehicle,so it does sound logical what they are saying keep us updated.

 

Well just over a month later and heres where we stand. They accidentally fixed the bent trunk for free, that was nice that they realized that we didn't ask to have that done and didn't charge us. We got the battery repalced. We had the MMI replaced. The rear powerpoint never started working again. Everything else was good, they even swapped some tires around to accomodate the cracked and dented rims.

Now, just 2 days ago the parking brake warning came back on. So again i have to ask, is there a relationship between the MMI and the parking brake? Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

Are the brake pads low at all? Sometimes this will trigger the parking brake malfunction.

 

Rear brakes are worn out most likely, doesn't have anything to do with the MMI, its not tied into the system.

 

This conversation sounds similar to my 2004 A8l acting up. Trunk hinge bent (I think it tried to close with ice in the groove) New brakes 3000 miles ago.. now red brake light flashing and a symbol shows brakes with line through it and what looks like lightning bolts on both sides.... for years now about every 20th start it doesn't... it chunks like a dead battery buy the next try starts well.

 

^^^ I erased your phone number from your post, you should NEVER give info like that in an open forum. The trunk hinges are a common known problem (see sticky at the top of the A8 section)
The warning light is either a problem with the parking brake or the rear brakes are worn.

 

went to the dealership monday. they looked at the parking brake and said that something wasn't communicating correctly with the computer and that it would cost 123.00 to diagnose it, i said no. however, when i got it back the parking brake symbol was gone. i'm guessing that it throws x amount of codes, light comes on, the clear code logs or whatever, light goes away until x amount of codes come back? anyways, if it comes back and the parking brake still works i'll just live with it.

 

how do I get to the A-8 section to see the sticky?