hi there, I have a 2002 A4 quattro with 1.8t engine and manual transmision, my problem started with the starter ,when I turned the ignition key over the relay did the clicking noise but the starter did not move.Since i had to use the car I pushstarted and drove 60 65 km when the battery sign came up follwed by almost every light on the dashboard (esp ,flashing handbrake etc) and the engine died . I tried to pushstart it but did not work ,I got a boost for 5 -6 minutes and I managed to pushtart the car, drove home (35 km) with problem no ligths on the dashboard. I removed the starter from the engine benchtested it and works fine, put it back to the car and does nothing. As I turn the ignition key over the battery sign only comes up for a second or two and goes off, and also noticed continous high pitch noise from the alternator area ...

 

i did work on the car yesterday and most probably have a faulty starter or cable harness or just a loose ground wire somewhere. I bought the service manual for the model so tomorrow I will check all the ground wires and than connect my battery directly to the starter and see if its going to work .Yesterday I push started the car and after that the starter worked 5-6 times in the row than stoped ....so it is intermittent .But its still interesting how I lost all the battery power while I was driving the car...( see previous post) anyway If you have any toughts let me know.....

 

Break out your DVOM and measure the volt drop from the hot wire at the starter and the other end of the hot wire at the batter + terminal. It shouldn't have more than .50 volt drop, if its more than that its the cable to the starter. Also check the ignition switch wire at the starter while someone else cranks it, if you don't get 12V's there you either have a bad starter relay or faulty ignition switch.

Of course check the battery ground and alternator cable and output wires as well.

 

I started the car without any problem today twice than I had to pushstart it again, I bought a DVOM, chaked the battery with the engine not runnig and it was showing 12.06 with the engine runnig 11.40 .Cheked continuity between the body and the negative post ...good and between positive post and body and it was indicating continuity ,so there must be short somewhere ,in the meantime i draind the battery again as the engine was running ( the battery sign came up followed by the others on the dashboard ) and the engine quit the fuel pump couldnt deliver enough gas. I will check the cables and the starter with the new DVOM as im charging the batery...
Its a great hobby to own this car, good that i still have my bicycle

 

WTF? You did absolutely nothing to diagnose this car. Diagnose the ignition circuit, not continuity from power to the body. CHECK THE VOLT DROP FROM THE BATTERY TO THE POWER WIRE ON THE STARTER. CHECK THE VOLTAGE AT THE STARTER FROM THE SIGNAL WIRE WHEN CRANKING.
What makes you think the fuel pump went out? Do you even know the fuel pump system has absolutely nothing to do with the ignition circuit!? Do you have a bentley manual? I have a feeling you don't have enough experience to follow this through by yourself, you may need to hire some help.

 

Found the problem!

My diode bridge was faulty on the alternator and that caused the intermittent starter.
Thank you again for the help!