Hey,

I am new to this fourm and I am just looking for some advice. I have 2003 A4 with what would seem to be an electrical Issue.

This is what happens:

Turn on the car the passenger headlight wont come on the passenger side but once driving for a while it kicks in.

If I turn the headlights on while driving the speedometer will stop working and the hand break light will start flashing and ill get a beeping noise.

this issue just started to happen but the passenger side blinker in the back will blink rapidly and the front one wont blink at all. Also the front blinker does work when just driving.

Any help or insight would be great I need to get this fixed and I would also like to learn more about my car for future reference.

Also I plan on getting a repair manual anyone know a good place to get one?

Thanks in advance this problem is driving me nuts.

 

I would say that the best place to start is to find someone to scan your car with a VCDS tool. It will give you better insight into any problems the modules of the car may have. The best repair manuals out there are the Bentley ones. They're not cheap by any means but they are the most comprehensive. A bit more info from your side might narrow down the best way for the forum to help too. Info like where you are and a bit of the history of the car. Good luck!

 

Thank for the reply I bought the Car in Ontario Canada used so for past service on electrical I don't have.

I was wondering if anyone has any similar issues ect

I just don't want to take it to get fixed and it's something simple (I don't think it is) but I just want to make sure.

 

I did some more digging and I think the previous owner of this car tried to convert the headlights to the new style head lights xenon, and well whoever did it did a real mickey mouse job because most of the connections are not exposed to the elements...

ill upload some pics

 

If xenon headlights have been installed but the ecu coding is still set to halogen it could definitely cause the light clusters to not function correctly. I'm guessing that the poor wiring job isn't helping things either.

 

1) the ballast installed on the driver's side is too close to the ABS sensor...aftermarket ballasts are not electromagnetically shielded well...SOLUTION: take out the ballast and move it under the headlight where the stock ballast goes AND...(very important) AND GROUND THE BALLAST TO THE METAL PART OF THE CAR'S BODY

2) The reason your right light is taking longer to come on is probably a bad ballast...ask the previous owner where he bought his HID kid...cheap HID kits go out quickly...buy a quality HID kid or if you don't want HID's...switch back to the stock halogen

3) TRY THIS...with the key out...turn the headlight switch to the ON position and then put the key in and start the car...it MAY avoid the problems you're running into but this is just a band-aid fix...still follow recommendations 1 and 2

PS - i'm in toronto...if you're close by...I can take a look for you...PM me

 

I have seen this before with after market HIDs. Try to go OEM. Ebay has OEM HIDs for A4 for around $150 each.