A3owner

The one-touch down on my A3 stopped working. I can reset it but it stops working every time i restart the car. Also, the hatch opener on the door doesn't work if the door is more than partially open.

So I took the car to the dealer to have the problem diagnosed. I was told the wiring harness needs to be replaced at a cost of $680+tax! Or repaired for $440+tax!

I declined and picked up the car only to find that I now have more serious problems:

1. the key fob doesn't work at all. I have to manually lock/unlock the door!

2. The door open light comes on and sounds an intermittent beep even though all doors are fully closed!

3. The interior dome light does not shut off when the door is closed.

Is this a common problem with Audis? Can this be fixed under warranty even though it has lapsed? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to minimize these repair costs? Do you recommend replacing the part or fixing it? I suppose replacing the part will fix all these issues. Many thanks for any help.

everfresh

Buy a vagcom cable, run VCDS, clear the codes, fix the ones that come back. Look for DIY threads and do the work yourself if you can, you will save hundreds of dollars once you realize the ease at which to fix some of your issues. You can also look for a local mechanic who specialize in VW and Audi vehicles, they usually charge half of what the stealership charges.

Audia3newbie

Yeah I had a similar problem. My left side mirror stopped working and the left door lock as well. I looked into the wiring harness and I saw some wires cut and bent.

My local mechanic said it would cost around 480$ (Montreal). The part itself is for 300$. Pretty expensive for a piece of wire ! I will look into finding something that might be cheaper or maybe a used one.

The funny thing is that some VW cars (like the jetta) have the same exact problem. Same part by the way. VW is reimbursing people who fixed theirs for 320$. I called Audi Canada and they told me that they are two different companies. The guy on the phone seemed clueless. They are the same freakin company ! exactly the same part too ! LOL...

This is definitely one of the easy fixes by the way, you can definitely do it yourself.

Cheers,

Audia3newbie

double post

Beaven X5

I had the same problem with my 2006 S4 Cabriolet. After my door was removed a body shop, I started to have symptoms. The harnest plug happenned to be badly connected creating an intermittant fault. Very simple fix. Took 2 minutes to reconnect and secure with tie-rap.

The problems were: left mirror not always working, FOB not locking the doors, doors unlucking by itself,

Stubble

I'm late to this thread but I had my harness repaired under warranty. The part was going to have to come from Germany at the time (2010) but maybe they're available here now. It is a standard VW repair that happens to Golfs and I guess Jettas.

bkds38

I had a similar problem. The "one touch" rear driver's side window function wouldn't work, or the automatic window closing from the outside with the key fob. My mechanic simply opened and closed the window 3 times (fully up and down) and this reset everything! Worth a try!