For an Audi Specific Problem – is a great place to find a solution, but you must know how to search for your problem.
If you own 2008+ Audis, you can access in case of emergency if you don’t have one in the car, you need a VIN# to use.
***Never jump start on any Audi by connecting jumper cables directly on the battery terminals – This will kill the ECU – Always Positive (RED) to the + of the battery and the Negative (BLACK) to a body chassis (GROUND) – Normally Audi cars should have a Negative POST next to the battery (A8) or jumper posts in the engine bay (A6 & Q7) – Make sure the service people know when they come to rescue your car stranded anywhere.***
A8 D3 Fuse Box (passenger side)
2013-03-02 For A8 D3 (04-10), there is no jump post in the engine bay, it’s in the trunk. In case of dead battery with key stuck in the ignition, trunk doesn’t open (since we can jump start through the engine bay), read this post.
To jump or charge the battery on the A8 D3 (2004-2010), never hook up the negative end directly to the battery negative post, only on the car negative pole just like the picture below.
Serpentine or Ribbed belt
One good thing/bad thing about Audi cars is most of them only have 1 drive belt for everything beside the Timing belt. This belt will drive alternator, power steering pump, etc… Sometimes when the belt broke, we should know how to replace the belt on our car. It’s a good habit to have a spare in the trunk on a long trip. Since the belt drives so many pulleys, it’s good to know the diagram of the belt mounted and rotation. All serpentine belts have the belt tensioners need to be released to remove the belts.
Remove and install serpentine belt for Q7 3.6 L FSI.
Remove and install serpentine belt for 2006 A8L 4.2L.
Remove and install serpentine belt for 2004 A4 V6 3.0L.
Audi A6 V6 2.8L Ribbed Belts
Audi transmission is in Safe (Limp) Mode: Operates in 3rd gear only.
Sometimes, in case of emergency like needing a jump on battery or tow, we or our spouse may not know where all these important stuff are. These are the little things we should/must know about Audi cars.
* If we have a Quattro (All Wheel Drive) Audi, we need a flatbed to tow our cars. When we take the car to get smog check, most or all of the time, the tech should know we don’t need to test on rollers because it’s AWD. * Most of Audis have batteries placed any where but front engine bay, except our 04 A4 Cabriolet, so when we need a jump from another car when the battery is dead or low, we need to locate the jump posts in front or battery itself if it’s in the trunk.
* Power steering fluids are mineral (green oil), the safe one is Pentosin 11s, so don’t just put any power steering fluid in it. The best is to get one of these cans on line because we may need it sometimes, especially if the car is over 100k miles.
* Locate the fuse box on Audis cars: A4, A6 is on the left of the dashboards, A8 is on the passenger footwell right (there is a screw knob), and Q7 are on both left and right of the dash board just like the A6
* We have 4 cars that have all batteries placed in all Audi possible locations, so they can be a great examples for Audi’s owners.
2004 B6 A4 Cabriolet
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A6 battery under the seat
96 A6-The battery is under the rear passenger bench seat, therefore, it has the jumper cable posts in the engine bay. If we need to replace the battery, we just have to remove 2 screws holding the seat to the floors and lift the seat up.
The most important thing when putting jumper cables on the car, RED (+ positive) and BLACK (- negative) on both cars while making a jump. Lift the black plastic cover, we should see a metal terminal where we can clip the RED positive cable on to it.
98 A8 D2 battery is placed in the trunk on the right handside. Since the battery is easily accessible, there’s no engine jump terminals that we know of, so when we need a jump for our battery, we use the battery location for jumper cables.
Again, most terminal post should have a plastic cover to avoid accidental short from metal objects to the ground (negative) terminals. The Ground (Negative) terminal is exposed, this is where the black jumper cable should clamp on to in case of battery jumping.
Positive Terminal is where the RED clamp should be on.
We need to locate all the fluids indicators and stick to check. The coolant is red (we use prestone red coolant instead of the dealer’s), power steering is green (pentosin 11s), and the engine oil dipstick is orange (our little ring broke off).
Again, Our Q7 battery is placed under the seat. Since the battery is NOT easily accessible, there are engine jump terminals for jumper cables.
Q7 coolant reservoir is on the passenger side and the cap needs to be removed to check for the level. The coolant has to go up to the max mark.
Again, most positive terminal posts should have a plastic cover to avoid accidental short from metal objects to the ground (negative) terminals. The Ground (Negative) terminal is exposed, this is where the black jumper cable should clamp on to in case of battery jumping.
We should know about our cars even though we may not need to use these emergency services ever… 🙂 idog
19 Comments
i HAVE AN AUDI a8 1999 QUATTRO. i HAD A NEW INTERSTATE BATTERY INSTALLED.
i LEFT THE CAR OVER THE WINTER WITH OUT DETACHING THE BATTERY CABLES. iN THE SPRING IT WAS ZERO DEAD. i BOUGHT THE SHUMAKER 103 W WHICH IS DESIGNED TO CHARGE ZERO BATTERYS. i HOOKE UP THE CHARGER RED CABLE TO THE BATTERYS POST WHICH IS ONE CABLE AND SHEATHED IN YELLOW. AND THE BLACK BATTERY WIRE TO THE POST WHICH WAS CONNECTED TO A BLACK CABLE WITH TWO CABLE WIRE TERMINATING IN THE CABLE CLAMP.
THE CHARGER LED SAID THE BATTERY WAS NOT CONNECTED SO i REVERSED THEN. BLACK CHARGER TO SINGLE CABLE YELLOW SHEATHED AND RED BATTERY WIRE TO TO BATTERY POST WHICH HAS THE BLACK TWO WIRE CABLE TO THE BATTERY.
tHE CHARGER THEN SAID “CONNECTED”
i LOOKED AT THE BATTERY POST AND FOUND THE POSITIVE SIDEOF BATTERY WAS CONNECTED BEFORE (CHARGING )TO THE NEGATIVE BLACK TWO WIRE CLAMP THAT i WAS SURE WAS NEGATIVE.
THEREFORE THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERY WAS CONNECTED TO THE SINGLE CABLE SHEATHED IN YELLOW. THAT APPEARS A COMPLETE REVERSAL OR THE BATTERY WAS PLACED IN REVERSE. hOW COULD i HAVE DRIVEN THE CAR HOME FROM THE BATTERY SHOP WITH THE BATTERY IN REVERSE.
THE ONLY PLAUSIBLE ANSWER IS THAT ON THE aUDI 1999 A8 THE POSITIVE CABLE IS BLACK AND TWO WIRE CABLE WITH THE SECOND WIRE BEING THE EARTH CONNECTION.
THIS OF COURSE GOES AGAINST ALL ACCEPTED RULES OF CABLE CONNECTIONS AND THE CHARGER VERIFIED IT WAS CONNECTED WHEN I REVERSED THE CABLES
iIAPPRECIATE ANY HELP THAT YOU CAN SHED LIGHT ON THIS. THE BATTERY INSTALLER SAYS THAT I COULD NOT HAVE DRIVEN THE CAR THAT WAY.
CAN YOU TELL ME IF THE 1999 AUDI a8 HAD A OVERLOAD PROTECTOR ON BOAD FOR A IMPROPER CHARGING ACTION OF THE BATTERY
THANK YOU
BUD DEWOLFF
Hi Bud,
The best way to charge the battery for the D2 is to REMOVE the terminals cables and directly connect the charger cables to the appropriate battery terminals (red to + and black to -) look at the battery picture. I don’t recall my 98 has a negative post. Never charge the battery with cables connected directly to the battery terminal (CONNECTED to the car system). The schumacher battery charger should have the % indicator and the voltage indicator.