How far can you drive on battery alone in an '01 A8L?

[Britt Crowell]

Re Post from QuattroWorld.com

 

Answer is 1 hour and 15-20 minutes. 90 miles down the road. Started dying
about 15 miles from house

 

Posted by: Britt (1151) on 2011-02-27 20:21:15 

So we were driving home after a weekend in Hotlanta.

All of a sudden the AC started smelling funny.

Looking around noticed the red battery light on, steering felt funny.

Having experience with this a long time ago, I started shutting everything
down.

Got off on next exit to check things out. Yep, no power steering!

Serpentine belt was off, pulley was missing off tensioner. Belt was still
hanging out in the engine compartment.

Made a few phone calls, got the calvary on ready and mounted up.

One mechanic friend gave me 20-30 min. So dad was working on loading up a
few batteries and swinging by my place for the trailer.

 

So we hit the road again to get as close a possible for a pickup.

Eventually called dad and told him to forget the trailer and I'd call him
the batt went south.

 

So buggying on down the I-state at 75-80, trying not to stay directly behind
anyone to get full cooling power of the wind, didn't want that electric
cooling fan switching on. So I figured that was as good as anything. Only
real power variable would be firing the spark plugs. So trying to balance
the power consumption of all the other mandatory car systems that run.

 

At about 1:15 the low battery warning came on. Within a min or two the
traction control cut itself off. A minute later the ABS was out. Next was
the big thump! Trans went in to limp mode. So the next church parking lot we
turned into (one every 500ft here in the south whether we need it or not!) 

 

Dad was only a mile and half down the road and we were only 15 miles from
home. So we just piggybacked a battery with some jumper cables and finished
the drive home. It couldn't have been much better overall. I didn't make it
all the way home, so dad didn't make a wasted trip either.

 

Looks like cheapest replacement part found is ebay at $68 shipped. 077 903
133 E

 

Went with the $78 part from AutohausAZ for $78 with free shipping.

 

Britt