wcheung

My car is an 97 A8.
When the engine is running and I open the door, the interior light flashes dim & bright instead of 'on' all the time.
Is this normal ?

stumbo

isn't that the ejector seat "procedure-start" warning signal ?

skiracer

The interior light does the same thing in my '97, but only if the left rear door is the only door open. If it were the driver's door it would drive me nuts, but since it is a back door I haven't pursued a solution yet. My guess is that it is a defective door switch, but that is just a guess.

I wouldn't be too concerned unless you hear 3...2....1.... ;-)

gdaniel

My 97 A8 does the same thing when only a rear door is open. Anybody know why?

Dommi3

My 97 does the same thing when the rear door is open and is open for a while, the light goes off. However, here's where the real craziness begins. I swear there is a motion sensor. As soon as I reach into that back seat to remove something or even wave my hand anywhere in the back seat area the light comes back on. I'm not kidding. This has happened consistently and has freaked me out quite frankly. It has to be either a motion sensor or Ghosts. Anyone have any similar experiences or am I just loosing my mind? LOL

dommi3/Tiburon, California
1997 4.2 Quattro Silver/Gray
17" Audi Wheels
All Possible Options including Ghosts
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Previous Audi
1990 V8 Quattro

LEHIII

I have the same problem on the drivers side rear door - periodically. I discussed this with my dealer in Toronto a couple of months ago and apparently it is the result of moisture getting into the sensor on the door. I believe this to be true since I have noticed that if the weather is dry for a few days, the problem goes away but the next time I wash the car, the problem starts again.

The dealer told me the only way to fix this problem is to replace the lock and sensor on the door which is over CDN$200 so currently I am living with this problem.

Lauren

a8silver

Could this be a feature to inform the driver that the back door is open? In terms on motion sensors- I believe that there are motion sensors on the pillars on each door.

wcheung

Oops ! I thought I'll get solution from someone. Instead, I seem to have open a tin of worms.... The A8 is supposed to be a luxury car, why can't it has normal interior light that lights up the interior when a door is open ??

PaulW

My 97 will not turn on the interior lights unless the motion sensor is tripped after opening the door. And it never turns on the little red light in the door, as it does on the front doors.

If my daughter is getting out of the back seat, her door open, then I lock the car with the front doors closed, the car alarm will "arm" and she will have the 30 seconds or so to close the back door or the alarm will go off. I've never really looked into it, but I figured the rear door switches (or whatever is used to show the rear doors are open) is broken.

However, if in drive when the car is moving if the back doors are open, the interior lights turn on and off like they are alarming, but the door indicator won't go off on the display. Can't figure that one out.

Also, a few months ago no matter what you did, the interior lights would flash on and off with all the doors shut. You couldn't arm the alarm because it would go off. You couldn't even lock the doors. I had to manually turn off all the interior lights, but the problem fixed itself after a day or so and never came back.

Now if I could only fix all of those blind spots in the car, I could live with these problems!

pw

skiracer

I noticed yesterday that the red lights in the rear doors never come on in my '97 either- so much for that safety feature! As for the interior lights, when I open a rear door the interior lights come on for around 30 seconds, then they shut off until movement sets off the motion detector, then they go off again after around 30 seconds. Every now and then they flash on and off at about 1 second intervals- I have no idea what triggers that behavior. If anyone knows why the red door lamps don't work, let me know. Thanks.