We recently had a 2018 Audi S Q5 towed into our shop because it refused to start. We tried starting it ourselves and noticed that the dashboard refused to light up at all. We then checked to see if the car’s battery had any charge and it the battery checked out fine. We did notice the Audi’s electrical systems did show signs of life, but refused to or display anything on the dash board. In this case we proceeded to test the Q5’s fuses.
To our surprise all the fuses checked out fine! Then by process of elimination the next step is to check modules. German cars in particular tend to have complicated electrical systems. Each system has it’s own computer and they all talk to each other through an internal network of wires. We suspect one of these computers (modules) was faulty. After further investigation we found that the gateway module under the back seats was sitting in a puddle of fluid. We pulled the gateway module out and upon further inspection we found that the liquid had intruded into the computer and caused a short circuit that left burn marks on the board.
We proceeded to clean up the liquid and replace the gateway module with a new unit. That fixed the problem and the Audi S Q5 started right up!
In our experience we find that most electrical issues on late model vehicles are caused by liquid intrusion into the car’s electrical system. That is why proper diagnosis and knowledge is important to save thousands of dollars versus a mechanic shops that doesn’t diagnose and will just change random parts until they change something that fixes the problem.
If your car is having electrical issues and the batteries check out fine then check fuses and finally check for water intrusions into the vehicle. If you’d like us to diagnose your vehicle then feel free to Contact Us, to diagnose your vehicle.
