Audi007Dude

Hi,

My subject car sat idle for at least a month or so while I was taking care of a family member and now it won't start and seems completely dead - no security light flashes anymore.

It's parked alone in a single car garage and I can't even put it in neutral to move and jump start it with another vehicle outside.

I have a few questions.

Is the 2019 TT-RS normally a lead or lithium battery? Also, it looks like there are two battery terminals - one is under the hood on the right side and another is in rear by the spare tire. Which one should I use to recharge the battery? Any videos or guides online? I couldn't find anything helpful for this vehicle.

Could any experts let me know what best steps they'd take to get it started again? I checked Youtube and Google, but could not find anything helpful. The service shop is over an hour away too and looks like the battery is hard to access under the hood if I wanted to replace it.

I have a battery charger, but unsure if it needs to connect to the battery terminal in the front or rear of the vehicle. I also heard lithium batteries can get fried with chargers so unsure which one it has. Any help is greatly appeciated!

Vegas-roadster

The battery is lead-acid. You can use the attachment points under the hood or you can attach directly to the battery in the trunk. Your battery should not have died after only a month. Something else is wrong. Most likely a cell shorted out while unused, and you will not be able to get a full charge.

Audi007Dude

Wow...Thanks for the quick response!

I just charged it using the under hood access points - charger shows full. It only took about an hour for some reason.

However, I tried to start it, but saw the headlights and internal lights flicker for a few moments and then shut off. For some reason the windows opened too.

Would it be worth running the repair/trickle mode on the battery charger for 6-8 hours to see if that helps?

I would likely need to get it towed to the service center which is 1+ hours away and the vehicle is in a 1 car garage and don't believe I can put it in neutral given the reliance on the electronics/battery. Maybe there's another way?

I'm not sure a jump start would work if the cell shorted out or battery is completely damaged from non-use. Maybe worth a try?

What would be your next steps here? Really appreciate it.

Vegas-roadster

Don't know what you mean by "charger shows full". You need to make a voltage measurement with the charger disconnected to see if the battery is at proper voltage and I would bet the answer is "no" meaning you have a shorted cell. hours of trickle will make no difference. So you are 1 hour away from any garage or auto parts store that sells batteries? You can try jumper cables but they may not work either if the battery is badly shorted. If you are a AAA member they will come to you and replace the battery. If you are not a AAA member and can not find a similar mobile service, you need to find someone who knows how to change a battery where your car sits rather than tow it. It is simple to do and requires very few tools. Plenty of videos on the internet. Some people will tell you that you must "program" the car when you change the battery but it really is not necessary, particularly if you replace it with a similar rated battery.

Audi007Dude

Thanks for your quick response! You know your stuff!

I'll check the voltage. The charger is displaying a full battery message after only 5 minutes of charging, but the vehicle won't start (lights flicker and radio turns on for a few seconds and turns off). Do you know if there's a way to put the vehicle in neutral when the electronics/battery are dead?

I can get a new battery, but can not find a video or guide for this particular year of the TT-RS. It appears this vehicle is limited in production so believe it especially hard to find instructions online? Also, I'm confused as to where the actually car battery is located (hood or boot) since I see a large flat battery in the trunk by the spare tire, but only see the charger terminal is under the hood - no apparent battery in the front unless it's buried somewhere. The service manual seems to indicate only they (the Audi dealer) can change the battery due to the complex nature of the electronics in the vehicle, but that could be a marketing gimmick IDK.

I'm also going to get some extra long jumper cables today to connect to a vehicle outside and see if that works.

Vegas-roadster

Battery is in the trunk, right side as you are looking into the trunk. Changing the battery for the Mk 3 TTRS is the same as the Mk 3 TT and TTS and any year Mk 3 video will do. There is nothing special about 2019 versus any other year for the battery. Service manual lies. Anyone can replace the battery. As I said before, re-coding the battery charger is nice to do but not required as the charger circuitry is adaptive and will figure out you have a new battery after a few starts. You may have some codes show up on the dash but they will go away after a few starts. The only thing a dealer will do is hook up a scanner for 5 minutes to code the battery and erase false alerts and charge you hundreds of $.

Audi007Dude

Thanks! Very helpful! It seems the manual wants you service the vehicle for even simpler things and puts the fear of god in newbs like me if you don't. It's a business so yeah I'm not surprised...

Audi007Dude

Sorry one more question.

Just in case the jumper cables/charger doesn't work, does anyone here have a link to a video or guide showing how to replace the Audi (MK3) TT/TTS/TTRS battery?

I realize it's in the trunk area, but it seems complicated to remove as it seems there are many connections running to it. I've tried searching Youtube and Google with no luck for MK3 types - could only finds one for MK1s.

Vegas-roadster

here is a prior AudiWorld post with instructions 2017 TT battery removal - AudiWorld Forums

Audi007Dude

*UPDATE*

I got the car started with a jump and let it run for 5 minutes and it turned off as soon as I removed the jumper cables so I tried again and let it run for 30 minutes this time while revving the engine intermittently and maxing the blower fan (saw someone say this tricks the alternator from needing 12V from the battery at all times even when the jumps are disconnected). I disconnected the jumper cables and the car remained running on its own, but there were so many warning lights and errors that showed up on the dashboard (one being an orange exclamation point at the top above the speedometer - not fully seen in the pic, that it made me nervous to drive the vehicle around.

However, as soon as I shut off the vehicle it wouldn't start back up. I'm going to get a new battery today and see if I can replace it myself using your shared link V-R. Thanks for that!

I don't have a VCDS hex unit to recode the battery so hopefully all goes well.

Assuming I get this working with the new battery should I wait for all of the errors to clear out before I take this on a main road. Like should I start and restart it a few times first while only idling? I'm a little nervous the electronics won't be calibrated with the new battery properly, but that could all be in my head IDK.