Landseer

Is there a little wire bridge in hatch area of a 5speed S4, to bypass the auto trans interlock, s i believe there is in mid year cars? Very early cars had a CE panel bridge, mid year had a wire loop in hatch.

Am looking for a reason why I could turn key and not have starter engagement....then after touching stuff in hatch area as we dug to get to the battery.....bammm....car starts perfectly.

Trying to root cause a situation that happened 10 pm last night on a car in a wegmans parking lot down here in Richmond that I stumbled into.

Small world, btw. Met brother owner and rennlister Pierpressure last night. Great new friend.

My God that car sounded powerful and incredible leaving the parking lot. I watched three other folks spin in their tracks to watch that thing drive away! Long live the 5speed S4!!!!


Thanks

PC-85-928S

have you checked the negative ground cable?
they can look ok, but have corrosion underneath-

Landseer

The car started, and disturbing the bat ground, might have enabled it. Thanks for that thought.

My question is kind of laser focused on that bridge. I might have jostled it in the dark. Does that little brown bridge circuit, up where speedo wire connects, also exist in S4 or 86.5 like it does 84/5/6?

GregBBRD

Not in the rear of the car.
Those stock ground cables to the battery are a nightmare and a frequent problem. You can go from not enough ground to make the clock function to a perfect start, by moving the ground strap. (Incidentally, if you needed to reset your clock after this occurrence, you are almost guaranteed the problem is the ground cable.)
We make a much better replacement cable.