Thought I had failed turbos, transmission, alternator, and/or onboard electronic controls. You won't believe what it turned out to be.

 This is very long. I apologize in advance.

 

Photo Credit: ©Aceyou

So, the last 2 months I had been having a random problem with my 2019 Q60 Red Sport. About 4 or 5 different times, when I started the car up - either for the first time that day or later in the day after I had previously started it with no problems, I would suddenly get a very sluggish accelerator/engine response. I'd push the gas peddle down forcefully and the car would slowly move forward, it would take forever to change to a higher gear, and the fake exhaust noise from the rear speakers would get really loud. I'd try changing driving modes, switching to manual paddle shifters, etc., but, nothing changed.

When this happened, I would then park the car, turn off the engine, wait 5+ minutes, then start the car again. After doing that, the car responded normally. It would stay that way for several more days, then, randomly it would happen again. 

So, I'm thinking I have some sort of turbo malfunction, a transmission malfunction, or some screwy computer malfunction with my car's brain being confused as to what to do. 

Last Tuesday it happened again while I was dropping my daughter and granddaughter off for a meeting. Again, I stopped the engine, waited 5 minutes, started it again, and everything worked normally. I then drove to a gym for a workout while I waited for their meeting to be over. After my hour workout, I went to my car, used the key fob to unlock the door, but, when I tried to start my car nothing happened! The start button would not move, there was no clicking noise of a dead battery (which is a fairly new battery), and no lights were on anywhere. Even the gear shift would not move!!! Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. 

I opened the hood, everything looked normal as far as I could tell. No fluid leaks, no wires disconnected, battery looked ok, etc. So, I called a tow company for help. They said if I couldn't get the car into neutral, they'd have to drag it. Great - I'm going to need new tires too on top of whatever else this is going to cost me to fix I thought to myself. Plus, I'm going to have to tow the car home then have it towed again in the morning to a repair shop because they are all closed now - it's after 6 PM.

While waiting I started gathering all of my personal belongings. When I tried to open the trunk, I couldn't! The trunk release button, like the starter button, would not do anything. So, I'm thinking - I'm lucky I even got the car unlocked to begin with!

So, I finally figured out how to get the car into neutral - there's a tab you can remove by the gear shift, then you stick a key in the hole and push down, and that frees it. I called the tow truck driver and he said it sounds like a complete alternator failure. I said, well, can we at least try a jump start when you get here? He said sure. 

Finally, the tow truck arrives just as it starts to rain!!! He gets out his jumper cables, starts to connect them to my battery, then I notice a puzzled look on his face. He goes back in his truck, gets a pair of pliers, removes the jumper cables, fiddles around with the battery, then tells me, "Try starting it now." I go into the car, all the lights come on, and the car starts right up!!!

I asked him what did he do and he said the battery cable to the positive electrode on my battery was loose. When he tried to connect the jumper cable, it started moving around. So he just tightened it. 

I felt like a moron because I didn't notice that at all when I checked my battery. He said he's seen this happen lots and lots of times. 

Anyway, that was 3-1/2 days ago. I have had no problems at all since. I'm just posting this in case anyone else happens to experience something like this or has experienced anything like this before. Plus, I'm going to add a small tool kit to my car just in case it happens again!