Technical Service Bulletin
27 Low battery charge: Diagnosis tips and TAC instructions
27 14 24 2025360/3 April 29, 2014. Supersedes Technical Service Bulletin Group 27 number 12-12 dated
February 28, 2012 for reasons listed below.
Model(s)

Year

VIN Range

Vehicle-Specific Equipment

A4

2009 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

A5

2008 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

A5 Cabriolet

2010 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

A6

2005 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

A7

2012 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

A8

2004 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

Q5

2009 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

Q7

2007 - 2014

All

Battery Manager

Condition
REVISION HISTORY
Revision

Date

Purpose

3

-

Revised header data (Added model years)
Updated entire bulletin (Added ODIS information)

2

2/28/2012

Revised header data (Added model years)

1

8/8/2011

Original publication

• Customer may report that the vehicle does not start due to a discharged battery.
• The vehicle has one of the following control modules:
• Battery diagnostic management control module (J367)
• Battery energy management control module (J644)

© 2014 Audi of America, Inc.

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All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin
Technical Background
This TSB provides basic diagnosis steps for discharged batteries, general tips for working with batteries, and
system verification steps to ensure that the vehicle is configured correctly.
For additional information on known current draw issues, refer to the following TSBs:
• 2014127: 27 Battery dead or low after returning to the vehicle (2007 A6, A8, Q7)
• 2019143: 27 Battery discharged on some vehicles with Advanced Key (2005 - 2008 A6, Q7)

Production Solution
Not applicable.

Service
1. Connect a battery maintainer to the vehicle.
2. Record the serial number of the battery.
3. If the vehicle is a Q7 and it has a sunroof:
• Inspect the amplifier to verify that there are no water stains on the component.
If the vehicle is an A4 Avant or A6 Avant:
• Operate the rear washer, then inspect the amplifier for washer fluid stains or water damage.
• If no stains or damage are found, take photographs of the top and bottom of the amplifier and of the
electrical connector, as a Technical Assistance Center (TAC) ticket may be required.
4. If the vehicle is equipped with a battery diagnostic management control module (J367), proceed to
Section A, below. These vehicles include:
• A6 (MY2009 and newer)

• A4 (MY2009 and newer)

• A8 (MY2011 and newer)

• Q7 (MY2009 and newer)

• Q5 (MY2009 and newer)

• TT (MY2011 and newer)

• A5 (MY2008 and newer)

• A7 (MY2012 and newer)

• R8 (MY2011 and newer)

If the vehicle is equipped with a battery energy management control module (J644), proceed to Section
B, below. These vehicles include:
• A6 (MY2008 and older)

© 2014 Audi of America, Inc.

• Q7 (MY2008 and older)

• A8 (MY2010 and older)

Page 2 of 14

All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin
Section A (For vehicles equipped with a J367 control module)
Use the following procedure to determine if the discharged battery was caused by the customer:
1. Through ODIS GFF (Figure 1):
• Select Test plan (A).
• Select Select self test… (B)
• In the Test Overview window, select A Battery, manufacturer data (located under
Body >> Electrical equipment >> Battery,
Starter, Generator, Cruise control >>
electrical components >> A - Battery,
manufacturer data) (C).
• Select Attach to the test plan (D).

Figure 1. Selecting a test plan in ODIS.
2. Verify that the battery serial number displayed
in the scan tool (Figure 2) matches the serial
number on the battery.
If the serial numbers do not match, adapt the
correct value into the vehicle through A Battery, Adaptation after replacing, then
check A- Battery, manufacturer data again to
ensure that the new manufacturer data was
accepted.
Tip: For some vehicles, the scan tool may
only display a portion of the battery serial
number. If the string of characters displayed in
the scan tool matches part of the full battery
serial number, adaption is not necessary.

Figure 2. Battery serial number displayed in the scan tool.
© 2014 Audi of America, Inc.

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All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin
3. Test the battery through A - Battery, testing (located under Special functions >> General jobs >> A - Battery,
testing).
When asked if a new battery has been adapted in the last five days, select No to run the test.
4. View the test result (Figure 3):
• If prompted, replace the battery and
adapt the new serial number.
• If the state of charge (SOC) is low,
charge the battery according to the
instructions in TSB 2023282: 27 Battery
testing and charging - vehicles with BDM
(J367).
Tip: For some vehicles, the scan tool
does not display the SOC during the battery
test. For these vehicles, run A - Battery,
state of charge to get this value.
Figure 3. Battery test result.
5. Open the Control modules tab
(Figure 4):
• Right-click on the Gateway
module (19) (A).
• Select Guided Functions (B).
• In the Guided Functions window,
select Reading history data (C).
• Select Perform (D).

Figure 4. Accessing Reading history data through the Control modules
tab.
6. Select 6. Data for energy critical
vehicle condition (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Select -6-.

© 2014 Audi of America, Inc.

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All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin
7. Inspect the values in the Energy critical vehicle
conditions readout, paying close attention to the
highlighted areas shown in the image at right
(Figure 6). These areas show information about the
critical energy state of the battery, with battery
history fields separated by an asterisk. Fields
include:
• The date the critical energy state occurred (A).
This example shows May 9, 2010.
• The time the critical energy state occurred (B).
This example shows 2:48 PM.
• The status of the exterior lights when the critical
energy state occurred (C). This example shows
that two exterior lights were on when the battery
Figure 6. Energy critical vehicle conditions readout.
reached critical state.
• The status of PRNDL (D). This example shows
that vehicle was in “P” when the critical energy
state occurred. Any gear other than “P” would
be represented by a “1”.
Tip: Some BDM vehicles do not show
PRNDL status. In this case, terminal 15 status
will immediately follow the light status.
• How long terminal 15 was on, in hours (E). This
example shows that the ignition was on for 3.0
hours.
• How long the data bus was awake, in hours (F).
This example shows 3.1 hours.
Tip: The data bus was awake during this
time because terminal 15 was on. Data bus
awake time without terminal 15 on could
indicate a problem with a module.

© 2014 Audi of America, Inc.

Page 5 of 14

All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin
8. Return to the Reading history data menu and
select 4. Shut-off stages history.
In the example Shut-off stages printout (Figure
7), the three sets of data (battery history fields)
that are outlined in red were recorded on the
date of the critical energy reading. When
reading shut-off history, all information within
~24 hours of critical energy is valid.
Starting in the top left corner of each battery
history field, the information presented
(separated by asterisks) is:
• Date and time
• Shutoff stage
• Auxiliary heater
• Battery SOC
• Available charge
• Current battery draw
• Exterior lights status
• Auxiliary heater
• PRNDL status
• Terminal 15 on (in hours)
• Data bus awake (in hours)

Figure 7. Shut-off stages. The reading highlighted in yellow
was taken when the battery SOC reached zero, the
readings highlighted in blue and in gray were recorded on
the same day, before the SOC reached zero.
For example, the battery history field highlighted in gray
shows the battery SOC at 41% (041) on May 9, 2010 at
1:59 PM (2010-05-09-13:59). It also shows that two (out of
six) exterior lights were left on (0-0-1-1-0-0), and that
terminal 15 was on for 2.2 (02.2) hours.

9. Review the shut-off stages history. The final battery history reading (highlighted in yellow in the example in
Figure 7) shows the battery SOC at 0%.
Investigate the battery history reading that occurred just before the final reading (highlighted in blue in the
example in Figure 7) for customer-induced conditions. In the example, two exterior lights were on and the
ignition was on for 2.5 hours, which show that the condition was customer-induced, as both the critical energy
status and the matching shut-off stage show that energy-consumers were left on by the customer.