RS246.com Forum :: The World's #1 Audi R, S and RS Enthusiast Community

Hi gents,

Got the car washed and the red battery lamp came on and car went kind of dead. Only 0.5mile from Audi dealership as well

Have done a search and not getting much back. How easy/hard is it to replace? Anyone ever had to get theirs replaced?

Any info would be great.

Cheers

Sure its just not the belt?

I'm hoping it is. I''ll go check the now, where can I find the alternator as it is a tight engine bay so struggling a bit.

If it was the belt you'd know it, you'd lose the power steering.

It's towards the bottom front of the engine, best to get it on a lift off ramps and take the undertray off.

id say belt to had this on my R32 replaces belt no issues

incorrect, you won't lose the power steering , the only thing driven by the belt is the alternator , the power steering and everything else is driven from accessory drives from the rear of the engine , washing it shouldn't do any harm to the belt , they can handle a lot of water ,and at worst may slip a fe seconds , it mat be broken , by co incidence ,so look down the front of the engine and see if its still there or is damaged with bits missing from the ribs , it may a wiring issue or an internal fault with the alternator may be the issue a short inside the stator will flatten a battery in no time at all and will cause a lot of heat and possible catch fire , tho it didn't happen to you , did yo smell any hot melted plastic smell ?, its also water cooled so not a quick change out and is buried in the bottom RH side of the engine , and is likely horrendously expensive just to swap out , so best get it diagnosed by audi or a competent auto electrician

My bad, I forget the B7 RS4 is a different arrangement to the C5 RS6. Good luck sorting it

We have water cooled alternators? Even after 4.5 years I'm still learning stuff about this car!

Yeah its water-cooled , due to the high amp output and its buried in the engine bay very closely packaged , and it doesn't have a cooling fan