2004 A3 - electrical issues

[RuZleBiFf]

Hello everybody, my first post at this forum :)

I have got a 3-door 2004 Audi A3 (8p0), and in the last week it have been acting strange. The problem is not there all the time. Just sometimes. Today the problem was there when i drove to work, and not when i drove home or to the store later in the evening.
So here goes: The backlight in my istrument keeps flickering and sometimes the needles drop dead. They barely hit "bottom" before they are back to life. So my first thought was that the instrument needs replacing. But then i noticed that when this occures, the interior-fan keeps dropping speed. The panel is functioning, so i can see the fan-bars going up and down. As if someone is pulling the plug and putting it back in, and the car tries to get the fan back up to correct speed.
Thats the problems that occures most frequently, bur sometimes the entire AC-panel blacks out.

When the instrument starts acting up, most of the times the ESP-light comes on, but it's gone the next time i start the car, without having to drive in 20km/h (as i have to, to get the light to go away when i have disconnected the battery).

This became a lot of typing, hope my english isn't too bad, and that anybody is able to understand what's happening.
I have a video of the problem occuring while i'm driving. Will try to post it soon.

Best regards,
Sindre
Norway

[Dad A3]

from your description it sounds as if you have a loose ground within the dashboard.

[ricky_vwt]

Earth wire loose/damaged, on burnt fuse lead.

Sent from my LG-LS995 using Tapatalk

[RuZleBiFf]

Thanks a lot, guys!
Any ide where i might locate the ground-cables?

You say a fuse.. In A B or C box? Is there one fuse "controlling" all the power to the interior?

[mpower]

I suspect a cluster problem. There are many issues with the VDO/Fujitsu instrument clusters. Cluster can affect other modules in the car, such as the Climatronic system.

[RuZleBiFf]

I suspect a cluster problem. There are many issues with the VDO/Fujitsu instrument clusters. Cluster can affect other modules in the car, such as the Climatronic system.

Hmm.. Well, that sucks!
Is there anything I can do about this myself? I try to fix everything in the car myself, and a new cluster is expensive because i need to get a dealership involved.

I haven't had a chance to check the groud-connections yet.


But another observation: when the light-flicker-problem occures, and i shut down the car, sometimes the audio-signal for "your lights are on" beeps for a second.

[RuZleBiFf]

Two more observations:

When the lights flicker in the cluster, the windows only work when the lights are on.

When the cluster blacks out, the clock do not reset, as if the cluster have not lost power.