After sitting around in the garage for probably close to a year unused and untouched, the Blue Beast has seen quite a lot of action the past few days!
My big Audi has had some exhaust problems since the winter. The flex pipe on the passenger side has been leaking and had a few temp patches. Over the weekend its partner on the driver side blew completely in half and it was rather undriveable with the noise and vibration. Long story short it was time to resurrect the Beast so the Audi could have a breather.
Thankfully, before it sat for however long it had been running. The battery was shot to hell; wouldn't even hold a charge. Long live free replacement! Took it in, grabbed a new one and dropped it in. After crossing my fingers and good long crank it came to life. Gassed it up and let it run a while to shake off the dust. Went though a quick check of things and the windows didn't work (didn't before it sat), the sunroof opened but got stuck closing on the air dam, and the seats wouldn't adjust, which left my wife the only one to drive.
After dropping off the Audi I went to work on the quick things I could fix. First went the e-brake handle. As you can see from this picture the button was recessed way into the handle. I followed this ultra-complicated FAQ to fix it.
Then I moved to the windows. All four were non-functional so I figured it had to be a fuse or relay. Fuse 6 looked good so I pulled up a wiring manual from this site, which I found through MyE28.com. I found there is a circuit breaker for the power windows, which seems to be the switch on the right of the drivers knee bolster (never knew what that was). I popped that and the windows started working for the most part. They now moved, but some still did not work and others would not go back up. I pulled the switches and cleaned up the contacts inside with some sandpaper. The motors are a little slow, mostly going up, but all four work now.
Lastly, I turned my attention to the seats. This had been a problem before the car sat as well. Again I did some looking on MyE28.com and most solutions seemed to point at fuse 4, which also goes for the cigarette lighter and sunroof apparently. The sunroof worked other than getting caught so I wasn't sure about this fix. Nevertheless I popped the hood and took a look. The fuse itself was fine so I looked at the holder. These are the "bullet" type fuses, not the more modern flat "spade" type for those not familiar. It was a bit dirty looking so I cleaned it up and bent the tabs in some for a tighter fit. Replaced it and to my amazement it actually worked! I've checked a couple times through the day and they are still moving so I'm holding out for a permafix on that front. So many of the problems on this car are electrical and seems to come and go but I'm optimistic.
That's been all so far other than a quick run through a car wash. I think my next area to tackle will be the door latches. Some of the doors need to be slammed real hard to latch closed properly. I'm thinking something like WD-40 or a penetrating lube will be a quick fix for that, but I will continue to do proper research.
Stay tuned for more soon!
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