B6 S4 Won't Turn Over, Battery Fully Charged Options

[michaelfenton]

Got in the S4 today all ready to head to work, turned the key, and nothing. Won't even turn over, not even a click or any of the ancillaries starting up on the engine. Battery is fully charged, tried a booster pack and jump leads and made no effect. At the end of my tether here.

Anyone encountered something similar before?

[michaelfenton]

Update: Dealer is less than useless: "You need to jump start the car, the battery is dead". Tried that. "Try putting your foot on the clutch". Tried that. "Try locking and unlocking it a few times". Tried that.

[michaelfenton]

Update: Starter is possibly bust. Not covered under warranty, and dealer has hung me out to dry. Aviva insurance to the rescue but not sure how much they can do without towing the car (also not sure if they will pay for repairs if car needs to be towed). Looks like a lovely hefty bill is marching its way towards me.

[smish]

did you try starting it with spare key?

[michaelfenton]

did you try starting it with spare key?

Just the one key unfortunately, but it's a fairly known problem with the starter. Car is booked in with Geo in the next few days and he'll take a look at it for me.

UPDATE: managed to get the car started! Only a few hours late for work at this stege (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[gti-ronan]

Just the one key unfortunately, but it's a fairly known problem with the starter. Car is booked in with Geo in the next few days and he'll take a look at it for me.

UPDATE: managed to get the car started! Only a few hours late for work at this stege (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

just get the starter reconditioned if that is the cause, loads of people do it around the country its not going to cost that much i got one done before it cost me 80 euro and it was perfect!!!

[davkav]

I'd bet you anything Mike that there is a small crack in the ECU cover.

There is a relay under the ECU that triggers the starter motor. I would say after the recent rain (especially the heavy rain we had last night/today) water got down into the base of the ECU box and soaked the relay.

Once it dried out the relay became active again and you could start the car.

ECU is located beside the brake booster on the driver side.

[BA4]

Dav kav great piece of advice was just about to write that myself, seen it before on good few of the b6 model, I'd be going that route with it if none of the ancillaries won't start up

[Jimmy Diesel Jun...]

In my experience of starters, I wouldn't be a huge fan of getting them overhauled

[Nardo]

why was dealer less than useless?

[michaelfenton]

why was dealer less than useless?

Car comes with a 6-month Mapfre warranty, but when I rang them up they said that a) they don't cover issues within the first 14 days of ownership (I got the car on Friday), and (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) they wouldn't cover the starter anyway. Rang the dealer back and they said they won't deal with any issues, want nothing to do with the car any more, it's all in the hands of the warranty company.

Moral of the day: Don't have anything to do with G Kavanagh Car Sales in Dublin.

@davkav, @BA4: I'm fairly sure it's the starter, it's a fairly well-documented problem with the S4 in particular. The V8 runs pretty damn hot, and the solenoid that engages the starter motor warps after a while from the heat (I'm at 86k) and stops working when cold. The car won't start if left to sit for a good few hours (i.e. overnight or after a particularly long day at work, as happened last night), which sucks majorly as they're pretty much the only times you need to drive the damn thing. The car is indoors at work (underground car park) so rain wouldn't have any effect on it.

[michaelfenton]

Starter motor was the cause of the issue, Geo put a new one in yesterday, all fixed now!