Tricky Gremlin - care to speculate?

[Lil bastard]

a: Bad Ignition switch

b: Car interior got wet, Alarm box malfunction, but dried out - you got lucky...VERY LUCKY if that is the case.

[Sloan]

I think we can rule out "B", as the problem arose before even a drop of rain had fallen - further, the top was up, so no moisture got in to the car. Told you that this gremlin was a tricky one! As of today, all is still just perfect ...

[Sloan]

I totally forgot to update as to what the problem really was - of course, it was a very simple thing - a battery cable quick-disconnect screw-down fitting was not quite tight enough! What an odd combination of symptoms though ...

Originally Posted by Sloan

I totally forgot to update as to what the problem really was - of course, it was a very simple thing - a battery cable quick-disconnect screw-down fitting was not quite tight enough! What an odd combination of symptoms though ...

I don't think they are that odd, checking fuel & spark on a dead engine is always a good starting point.

[Lil bastard]

Originally Posted by EE3racing

[/B]
I don't think they are that odd, checking fuel & spark on a dead engine is always a good starting point.

Very true, and many of us assume that these things, such as battery cables, fuses, fuel-in-tank, etc. have been checked before someone posts here looking for help. So, the obvious is often overlooked. Happy all's well now.

[Sloan]

That was a safe assumption - I had checked the battery terminals and the cables, however this quick-disconnect had appeared clean-and-tight, and it was only on secondary evaluation that I discovered it was the problem.

As for the combination of symptoms being odd, even now that I know what is was I would not have thought a battery connection issue in the first instance. Strange shift function and Tiptronic fail warning while the car still ran did not immediately signal a connection problem to me ...