tpruitt1
03-26-2014, 05:06 PM
So i have an 09' s5 6spd manual. I replaced the exhaust, intake, downpipes all by AWE and got an APR tune from a performance shop nearby. Tune went well no issues. Installed the exhaust system and other things smoothly. Before doing this i disconnected the negative on the battery as people normally due when doing performance upgrades that can effect the ECU and didn't think twice. I hooked the negative back up and went to start my car and got the IGNITION LOCK DEFECTIVE! CONTACT WORKSHOP message in my dash gauge cluster. I thought maybe i just triggered something so i reset the battery again and even disconnected both terminals and touched them together to drain excess power out (dealer mech says that's how they reset things sometimes). then waited and hooked it back up. same code even without the FOB. Replaced the battery in the FOB. Nothing worked. This simple defect caused my E-Brake to stay on and not be released and made towing it quite interesting. Finally towed to Audi, got the courtesy car, and after three days of troubleshooting and they even replaced a comfort and control module and found out the old one was good so left it in. They learned the the Transponder inside of the steering column shorted when i hooked up the battery. The only way to replace it is to replace the column or try yourself and that's a chore that i've decided was not worth getting into because it has to be calibrated and computer codes need resetting and such.
So a very long story for a simple if anyone runs into these problems after removing a battery consider mentioning to your mech or dealer that the transponder in the column shorted before on other cars, it also happened on the B7 models for some people. It will save many of you that might or might not run into this the hundreds of dollars and hours of time and days of workshop time. I hope that people find this helpful. I searched these forums and many others to purchase my exhaust and the upgrades and will continue. Hopefully people can learn from my mistakes and save themselves the headache. Cheers.
So a very long story for a simple if anyone runs into these problems after removing a battery consider mentioning to your mech or dealer that the transponder in the column shorted before on other cars, it also happened on the B7 models for some people. It will save many of you that might or might not run into this the hundreds of dollars and hours of time and days of workshop time. I hope that people find this helpful. I searched these forums and many others to purchase my exhaust and the upgrades and will continue. Hopefully people can learn from my mistakes and save themselves the headache. Cheers.