Electrical System: Malfunction!

27239 Views 87 Replies 33 Participants Last post by etron21, 5 d ago

GreenwaveATL

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2021

I ran into my first serious issue with my ‘21 eTron today. It threw an “Electrical System: Malfunction” error & shut down the car to where I couldn’t drive it. It had to be towed to the nearest dealership. It happened while I was charging at my local Electrify America Charging Station.

I pulled in with 15 miles of charge left on my eTron. I plugged in & activated the charger via MyAudi App as I usually do. I hopped back in the car to work on my laptop while it charged. It made it to 131 miles (~ 60%) of charge when I suddenly heard a loud boom & noticed smoke coming out of the vent on the charging station. I hopped out to see the charger had stopped, and it instructed me to unplug. I turned to my charge port & noticed the flashing red LED. I pressed the button on the side a couple of times to disengage the plug. Fortunately, on the third attempt, the light turned white & it relinquished the charging plug. That’s when I hopped back in my eTron and tried to start it up.

I got the Electrical Systems: Malfunction error as well as a Drive System error. It effectively would not allow me to move/drive my eTron. While it would shift to R and D, it would not move. Luckily, we only needed to get it into N for the tow truck driver to pull it up onto the flatbed.

I’ve not found this error mentioned anywhere yet. I wondered if anyone might be familiar with it & what it entails. Audi Dealership said it could be end of the week before they may have an update for me. I’m most concerned that the EA Charging Station may have fried my eTron, but that’s just me thinking the worst.

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BeefJerky

· #2 · Jul 19, 2021

Yikes! Sounds like the charging station blew up and took out your vehicle too. I hope Audi does the right thing and fixes under warranty regardless if it was caused by the failed charging station.

Reactions: 1

Waynerm002

· #3 · Jul 19, 2021

I would think there is some sort of fuse in the system to protect it from these issues, hopefully. Not much in the manual other than contact a dealer. These days, parts may take a bit to come in. Keep us posted on the outcome.

JNealCox

· #4 · Jul 20, 2021

Wow! that is a new one! Yes, hopefully, the car has some built-in protection. Your car's reaction may really be nothing more than the fact that the charging was ended without following the required protocols. The fact that you could start the car and disconnect it is encouraging.

Reactions: 1

JC Mann

· #5 · Jul 20, 2021

JNealCox said:
Wow! that is a new one! Yes, hopefully, the car has some built-in protection. Your car's reaction may really be nothing more than the fact that the charging was ended without following the required protocols. The fact that you could start the car and disconnect it is encouraging.

I read a similar story on Taycan forum. EA charger failed and loud boom was the protective fuse for car’s 800-volt battery. Fuse did its job and protected big battery. Porsche had to ship the new fuse from Germany and dealer had to dismount the battery to get to the fuse on top of the battery. Expensive repair, but EA ended up footing the bill because they caused the blown fuse.

Reactions: 4

Waynerm002

· #6 · Jul 20, 2021

Well, that is good if they cover it as it was their system that caused the issue. It would suck if neither Audi nor EA took responsibility and he gets stuck with a hefty repair bill.

Reactions: 1

pressurized

· #7 · Jul 20, 2021

BeefJerky said:
Yikes! Sounds like the charging station blew up and took out your vehicle too. I hope Audi does the right thing and fixes under warranty regardless if it was caused by the failed charging station.

Well, given that the charger was smoking and the e-tron wasn't, it appears probable that the car's done for the charger. I hope there wasn't anyone waiting desperately to charge after the vandalism!

McFly1068

· #8 · Jul 21, 2021

Had the same error with my eTron on my holiday trip a week ago. But not because of a charger malfunction. Just out of a sudden. The car is with an Audi dealer since then. Audi recommended to replace the High Voltage Battery Control Module SX6. The dealer is waiting for the part. Might be difficult to get because of chip shortage.
So I'm still waiting. Any news on your side?

GreenwaveATL

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 21, 2021

Unfortunately, no word yet from the dealership. They acknowledged that it could be the end of the week before they got back to me. They have a limited number of techs, who are trained on the e-Tron. I will be sure to post once I do hear from them with any progress.

Reactions: 1

GreenwaveATL

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 22, 2021

Hopefully a bit of good news: I heard from the Service Advisor at the dealer this afternoon. He said the technician determined that the charging unit for the high-voltage battery was faulty. They already ordered the replacement part, and it is due in tomorrow (Friday). He said they hope to have my e-Tron fixed and back to me by sometime next week...but he also ended with the caveat, "as long as we don't find anything else after the new charging unit is installed."

I shall keep my fingers crossed.

Waynerm002

· #11 · Jul 22, 2021

That is a bit of good news! Let’s hope nothing else beyond that part was damaged and you can get you car back by the end of the day tomorrow.

Bill33525

· #12 · Jul 23, 2021

GreenwaveATL said:
Hopefully a bit of good news: I heard from the Service Advisor at the dealer this afternoon. He said the technician determined that the charging unit for the high-voltage battery was faulty. They already ordered the replacement part, and it is due in tomorrow (Friday). He said they hope to have my e-Tron fixed and back to me by sometime next week...but he also ended with the caveat, "as long as we don't find anything else after the new charging unit is installed."

I shall keep my fingers crossed.

Will be interesting to learn if Audi will consider this as a warranty repair or charge E.A. for the repair? Frankly, this is a very scary situation. The only time I fast charge is on a road trip, who wants to have something like this happen on the road far from home?

Waynerm002

· #13 · Jul 23, 2021

From what the Audi tech stated, it seems it was an issue with a part in the vehicle, Audi would be handling it. With it still being under warranty, they would still want to handle to at least keep their customer happy and gain some more knowledge from the issue and see if the part needs a redesign. At least that would be my expectation for a company that is new to this and not want any bad press to affect their sales.

Bill33525

· #14 · Jul 23, 2021

Waynerm002 said:
From what the Audi tech stated, it seems it was an issue with a part in the vehicle

Okay, big relief so to speak. Would hate to learn that a charger can blowup a car. This might be a big problem for customers out of warranty, however!
Finally, seems the charger should be able to take a dead short without blowing up.

GreenwaveATL

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 26, 2021

I heard from the Dealer again today. Who had their money on the battery module?

Unfortunately, replacing the Charging Unit didn’t fix the problem. They still were getting fault codes after the replacement. They opened a technical assistance ticket with Audi and performed additional tests directly with Audi. They determined that the High Voltage Battery Unit needs to be replaced.

The module is in NJ and should be here by the end of the week. The dealer hopes to have all repairs done and my e-Tron back to me some time next week...”barring any kind of unforeseen issue.” (Parting words from my Svc Adv)

I’ll keep you guys posted.

JNealCox

· #16 · Jul 26, 2021

OH no! So your car really did a number on that EA charger!🙂

Lucken

· #17 · Jul 27, 2021 (Edited)

JNealCox said:
OH no! So your car really did a number on that EA charger!🙂

I’m confused. After reading all this are we sure it was the car doing damage to the charger or the charger doing damage to the car? All we know for sure is that the HV battery unit and the charging module are being replaced and the EA charger was smoking. I’m not seeing convincing evidence either way. 😳

Reactions: 1

JNealCox

· #18 · Jul 27, 2021

Lucken said:
I’m confused. After reading all this are we sure it was the car doing damage to the charger or the charger doing damage to the car? All we know for sure is that the HV battery unit and the charging module are being replaced and the EA charger was smoking. I’m not seeing convincing evidence either way. 😳

Sorry, my poor attempt at humor! After all the complaints about EA chargers, it's time etrons exact revenge!

Reactions: 4

frios

· #19 · Aug 5, 2021

My Electrical System Malfunction problems didn't start until after I used an EA charger for the first time in which it stopped charging mid-way. Then while on the way home on the freeway, I got the hard judder (stutter) followed by the Electrical system malfunction, dash Christmas lights and then just turned off, ON THE FREEWAY!!! It's currently at my work for, you guessed it, Electrical System Malfunction for the 3rd time! Is it related to EA? I don't know. Could you rule it out entirely? I don't think you can.

GreenwaveATL

Discussion Starter · #20 · Aug 5, 2021

frios said:
My Electrical System Malfunction problems didn't start until after I used an EA charger for the first time in which it stopped charging mid-way. Then while on the way home on the freeway, I got the hard judder (stutter) followed by the Electrical system malfunction, dash Christmas lights and then just turned off, ON THE FREEWAY!!! It's currently at my work for, you guessed it, Electrical System Malfunction for the 3rd time! Is it related to EA? I don't know. Could you rule it out entirely? I don't think you can.

Luckily, Roadside Assistance picked up my e-Tron from the EA Charging Station, and so there was no question of when & where it all happened. To date, Audi has taken full responsibility for my repair, though. They’ve made no attempts to blame EA.

I should know more tomorrow. The technician finally got to install the new high-voltage battery module & they hope to have it ready for me to pick up tomorrow. Then I’ll get to see the paperwork with all the details of work performed & parts replaced.

I’ll keep you guys posted.

Reactions: 2

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