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Well, I think I had about three or four things going on at once, since the car no longer runs at all now, lol. However, I think I have diagnosed my new issue being a fuel pump. I was still having problems the other day, so I did some more troubleshooting and took off the battery compartment and it was completely full of water due to a clogged drain. That is ALSO where the ECU and several critical relays live, but luckily they were all dry and I tested the main relays to see if they clicked and had continuity across the other terminals. Car eventually started misfiring, sputtered, and completely died on me.
I thought my crank sensor was acting up, but I tested the resistance on that sensor and it was within spec. Cracked the fuel rail open and pointed the hose to a catch can as I cranked several times and nothing was coming out. I tested the fuel pump relay as well and that clicked to open the other terminals which had continuity as well. All fuses looked good, so I’m going to test power at the pump or try to fire the pump on manually to verify my diagnosis. I think it’s under performing, since it will have slight pressure when I rehook the lines and disconnect them, but hardly any fuel comes out. Fuel filter is relatively new as well.
So, I think I had a weak battery and failing fuel pump when my first issue started to pop up. Timing was just crappy, because I wanted to get this timing belt started, since it’s probably about 25K miles overdue.
Funny you should mention the CCA. I actually called AAA, since I just remembered with my membership they will do diagnostic tests for free and you get a discount should you need a battery. Everything seemed to pass all his tests, however, the CCA came in at 470, which was extremely lower than the tester recommended and what was printed on the battery. So, I bought a new battery anyway for about 175 bucks and hopefully this will help with the weird issues I was having.
Oh yea the battery was from 2010, I found that out when it was replaced.
If not I will have to move on from there.
I didn’t have time after work to do anymore testing. I started this morning and the issue I was having seemed to disappear, however, I left my cigarette lighter tester plugged in while I was driving to work. I noticed that when I started to turn on certain accessories headlights, lights, defroster, and ESPECIALLY the heat warmers the LED that shows the voltage is good would start blinking, flashing, and cutting out. When I turned those off the LED would stabilize and remain steady in color. I’m going to have a load test done on the battery first.
I’m not sure how old the battery is, I’d have to look for a manufacture date later when I get home. I’ll try load testing the battery/alternator again later when I get home from work.
Hi Eric,
Had an issue popup the other day and was wondering if you could give me your insight or opinion. The other day I was pulling out of my driveway for work in my 04 Audi A4 3.0 Quattro with ~195K miles. The car died and the battery light came on, so I restarted the car and parked it to diagnose later, because it started acting funny and I didn’t feel safe driving it.
The car appears to work fine, however, when I hit the gas and take my foot off the pedal. The engine will rev up to about 1000-1200 RPM and the interior lights get really bright, and then it stabilizes.
The alternator is hard to reach in this engine, but I did do some basic voltage tests from the battery. Powered off the voltage was about 12.2 volts and while running it was around 13.92. I had my wife rev the engine to about 1500-2000 RPM and the voltage remained constant at 13.92 volts at the battery. I know that 12.2 is slight low, so I trickle charged the battery and it was reading 12.6/12.7 last time I checked it, I did have to trickle charge it for about 8 hours several months ago, because the battery died (I think the door was slightly ajar which left an interior light on).
All the connections looked clean and secure, but I couldn’t check the actual alternator itself, so I plan on doing that soon. Everything I’ve seen online points to alternators not putting out enough. What are the symptoms or how to test when the alternator is putting out a surge?
I also had one of those cigarette lighter plugins that tells you voltages and when the power surge did happen the red LED would light up briefly saying the voltage was too high for the alternator. It’s from Harbor Freight though, so I don’t know how accurate it actually reads the voltages though.
I believe you are correct. I decided to drive it for a little more and after driving about 50 miles everything went away. The car doesn’t shake anymore near like it used to. I’m a little surprised it took 50 miles to sort itself out though, since my other cars relearn rather quickly.
I had a really bad vacuum leak in my Infiniti that I couldn’t track down. I used unlit propane, water, and everything else you can think of. I ended up using a vacuum gauge, isolating different areas of the system, and then finally built my own smoke machine, which helped me find it.
I basically did this for my smoke machine although you can use a cigar or cigarette. I used a small paint can, two terminals, thin wire that can hold an electrical charge, unscented baby oil, and hooked it to my car battery. The mineral oil heats up, smokes, and then I blew into the hose to push it in the system. You can use an air compressor as well, but I did it night, so I didn’t want to wake my family up, lol. I ended up having a leak between the brake booster and the firewall….
This happened on a bolt on my rear diff flange when I was replacing my driveshaft. I ended up using my Dremel multi-max tool and cut the head off the bolt. The shaft was still seized in there pretty good and wouldn’t budge at all, so I had to take a MAPP torch to it and then got it off with some vice grips in a few minutes.
I had this same problem on my 06 G35 coupe for several months w/same exact code. I swapped out O2 sensors, MAF sensor, and sprayed unlit propane and carb cleaner around everywhere trying to see if I had a vacuum leak – Nothing. So, I broke out the vacuum gauge hooked it up directly to the manifold noticed the Mg and RPM’s would raise and drop like clock work. Next, I started isolating the manifold from the various hoses (ie: disconnecting a brake booster line, PCV line, etc..). I narrowed it down to somewhere in the brake booster line since the engine ran perfectly when that was capped off, but every single hose still looked good with no cracks.
I had to get creative and built my own DIY smoke machine, which consists of baby oil, small paint can, some wire that gets hot, air compressor/lungs, and battery power. Start blowing the smoke into the lines and low and behold an o-ring behind the brake booster was bad and causing this terrible vacuum leak. Ended up costing my 15 bucks to replace, but my vacuum leak went away along with the 171 and gas mileage returned to normal.
I’d start with the hoses, since your car is 99 and look at a vacuum diagram and make sure all those hoses are good.
Nope, the shifter seems pretty solid. I was told that the Audi actually uses CV joints on the drive shaft instead of u-joints. There is also a center rubber bushing that can go bad.
Yes, it’s an all wheel drive system. It’s upon take off from a stop the rear tires thump like they are skipping I guess you could say. But, when I’m sitting at a stop light; I feel a shudder/vibration under the driver seat that is pretty intense (it feels kind of like something is off-center). Also, when I’m turning the car seems kind of loose in the rear.
I haven’t been able to take a look under the car yet, since my garage is unusable at the moment.
The mechanic I brought it to mentioned the carrier or carriage bolts were loose and the driveshaft had play.
1. It’s an 06 G35 Coupe 5AT
2. It was several fine lines digging into the outer side of the rotor.
3. The pad was down almost to the metal and the wheel spins freely without any resistance. When I replace the pads/rotors I’ll try spinning it again and press the brakes a few times to see if it’s seizing.
4. I would say it’s a combination of pits and missing metal. I could run my finger and feel an indentation. I used basic Centric rotors and ceramic pads.My car is an auto with about 138K miles. The other thing I thought is that it could possibly be the starter not disengaging from the flex plate quick enough. The noise usually comes from the passenger side engine compartment. The starter, power steering, and alternator are located in that area and it’s only after sitting for period of time.
My car is an auto with about 138K miles. The other thing I thought is that it could possibly be the starter not disengaging from the flex plate quick enough. The noise usually comes from the passenger side engine compartment. The starter, power steering, and alternator are located in that area and it’s only after sitting for period of time.
They did put a clamp on it and the dealership the noise was coming from within the CAT. But, I only hear the noise on startup. That’s why I’m confused if the internals of the CAT were not functioning wouldn’t I fail emissions and have a problem across the board. Not just when starting my car up after sitting for a few hours.