Tigermaul

Hi all. I got mine fixed via Dan at MMS Technik mmstechnik.co.uk. He’s excellent, cheap and ex Audi West London. His workshop is at Ranmore Common, Effingham, Dorking but he also offers a mobile service in London and Surrey area and is loosely attached to a garage in Hampton Hill. Water had got into my EV controller, out of warranty. Audi wouldn’t help in terms of goodwill even though it’s a known issue but Dan sourced a new EV controller, reseated the battery properly, and afterwards was working better than new with a better electric range. I think it cost me around £2k. He took a video showing water literally dripping out of the EV controller.

I do think Audi are hiding behind ‘out of warranty’ to disguise what is a known issue with Etron plug-in hybrids. What I would recommend is you go to an independent EV mechanic - the one I used is ex Audi West London. He says all EVs are prone to water ingress because of aluminium which as it corrodes expands (?) thus the seals fail. And there was a recall in the US for exactly this issue. Anyway mine had water dripping out of the EV controller (which is considered part of the battery). Audi themselves claimed out of warranty, not interested in even any goodwill. EV battery repair kits exist but Audi main dealers won’t work with them. My independent man ordered and fitted a new EV controller and with labour that was £2k - but afterwards the car worked better than new, with a greater EV only range with the new software. However after all this I’d lost faith, and traded it in for a 12-month-old (non Audi) full EV which still had seven years of battery warranty left. Huge depreciation on EVs (50% in a year for the one I bought) meant I could afford the finance. I’d never buy a hybrid or EV again without a long manufacturer’s warranty - the cost of EV battery replacement is obscene.

Ah ok. Cheers for that. Ok I will make that suggestion to my EV mechanic. Did you go to Audi for that one, and did you have to go to a high voltage specialist Audi garage (eg Watford?).

How was your issue resolved? I have the same error message. Mine came after long drive in rain, then charging at lamppost. Charged stopped automatically 2/3 full rather than continue to 100% as usual, but car then showed error messages and wouldn’t start at all. Mobile EV mechanic has changed 12v battery which means car starts (but direct to Ice which is unusual) but error messages still there and car won’t actually go forward or back when D or R engaged - he says the EV system and ICe motor aren’t talking to each other properly. All these problems came after - for the first time ever - I got into the ‘red’ on both electric and petrol fuel gauges, although it was still saying 60 miles range left. I think I have exactly the same car as you - a 2015 e-tron. Mine is out of warranty so hoping it’s not the dreaded EV battery!