Stop \ Start Malfunction and EPC Engine Management light on!!

[Lig]

Hi all,

Went for a drive yesterday and pulled up at lights 2 mins from starting and saw an error 'Start Stop Malfunction' then the EPC light came on and the engine management light was flashing. I could sense it was running 'lumpy' on tickover.... I pulled in at a bus stop, turned it off, then restarted and still got the 'Start Stop malfunction' message but no EPC or eng management light and car ran fine.

Stopped about 30mins later for a coffee, when I restarted all was perfectly normal again.

Been out today and all is fine no errors at all...

Phoned Audi, they said to see how it goes and if it comes on again then to bring it in for them to check.

Anyone seen this before? Could it be a hot weather gremlin?? Should I be concerned?

I plan to take it out a few times this week to see if it comes back, as I will be driving to France in a couple of weeks so don't want it to act up then!!!

Cheers,
Lig.

[Iain]

I've had exactly the same issue, has done it twice with me over the past 6months. Turned it off and started it, all normal. Will mention it when it goes in for a service as it will have thrown up a fault code that can be looked at.

I wouldn't worry about it. I'd be more worried about the batteries in the key fob if you have keyless as both mine have died in 18months.

Enjoy France!!

[MikeFish]

Low batteries cause all sorts of random alarms. I had a suspension failure light. Checked the logs and it said one of the level sensors was failing. A little research showed that as my car had DRC it only had 2 level sensors and not 4 (1 on every corner like the air suspension cars do) and the one it said was failing didn't exist on my car. I put it on charge every night when I got home and about a week later the fault went away and never came back. Prior to that I used to randomly get 5 or 6 different systems fail at the same time for a second or 2. After regularly charging the car (trickle charger once a month / 2 months or so) I stopped getting all these random faults.

[Lig]

Cheers Iain and Mike,

As the car is coming up to 5 yrs old I have decided to get a new battery as I am sure its still on the original one (just a black box with no big branding, but spec on the top says its a Varta). So ordered the same Spec Varta and will have it fitted tomorrow.... I am going to have it done at my local specialist, but they think, quick swap out will need no re-coding.... but we will see tomorrow!!

One of the first jobs I did when I got the car was to replace the key fob batteries!! I might even keep a spare one in the car!

Thanks again,
Lig.

[Tadass910]

Same old battery 2014 year so far no issues

[jc1970]

I recently had the same issue as did a blogger on YouTube (Calvin Car Diaries).

I'm still unsure what my issue was because my water meth kit leaked into the intercooler at the same time and I needed to replace the plugs, whilst the starter motor died on me at the same time. It seems to be running fine now but I'm nervous whenever I hit a rough piece of road as this is what the rough idle felt like to me at the time.

If the guy on YouTube is to be believed then this could be an injector issue which involves removing the engine and transmission to gain access to the injectors.

It might be worth getting your plugs and coils looked at prior to injectors.

[Lig]

Hi JC1970,

It sounds like you had a very sick car. What is a 'Water Meth Kit'??

I am much happier thinking it was just a glitch and possibly a dying battery, which I have now replaced

From speaking to my indy, the Stop/Start is one of the first faults to flag if there are any issues and he told me its worth replacing the battery in the first instance...

Luckily my extended warranty kicked in a week or so ago just in case but fingers crossed all will be good now !!

Cheers,
Lig.

[jc1970]

Water Meth kit is water meth injection.

It's basically good for running higher boost and keeping intake temperatures down. It provides the same benefits as running race fuel and only injects when you are at about 80% throttle.

Recent dyno showed my car putting down 620HP at the wheels / circa 750-780HP at the crank.

[Lig]

Ah, so its not a standard item then!

I think it might get more difficult to diagnose faults when you have made modifications.

My Indy did say that one of the first faults to show when 'something' is wrong, is the stop/start error which then triggers the EPC engine light. So it could well be that this warning was due to your leaking meth kit???

Fingers crossed for me it was just a glitch and possible battery on its way out... but time will tell....

I take it you have got yours all fixed up now and back on the road??

Cheers,
Lig.