Constant battery drain

[Davedental]

Having checked everything I could I retested with all doors closed, interior lights off and watched the meter. It started at over 3A then maintaining contact with the meter leads I watched this reduce bit by bit as all systems shut down and after several minutes the reading was 100mA. 
With the bonnet shut this will no doubt drop further. I think the problem is a failing battery after all (only 2 years old)! and I wasn’t allowing enough time for all the heating and security systems to properly shut down. New battery on the way. If this is not the problem then back to the drawing board I guess. 

[Steve Q]

6 minutes ago, Davedental said:

Having checked everything I could I retested with all doors closed, interior lights off and watched the meter. It started at over 3A then maintaining contact with the meter leads I watched this reduce bit by bit as all systems shut down and after several minutes the reading was 100mA. 
With the bonnet shut this will no doubt drop further. I think the problem is a failing battery after all (only 2 years old)! and I wasn’t allowing enough time for all the heating and security systems to properly shut down. New battery on the way. If this is not the problem then back to the drawing board I guess. 

It's certainly unusual for a battery to go at 2 years old. What warranty was on the battery? Some manufacturers give you 3 years. 

Cheers

Steve

[Davedental]

Hi Steve, I’ve had batteries go under warranty before but you’re right it is unusual. It does have a 3 year warranty but I haven’t got a receipt and it is not date stamped. I’m having one delivered and got a really good deal from GSF batteries online. I don’t mind having a good spare battery if it isn’t the fault though 

[Magnet]

Hello Dave,

Might be worth removing the connector onto the alternator as a trial. Might be (only might be!) discharging through a faulty alternator. 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Davedental]

Hi Gareth, good idea, I’ll try next. 
I put my scanner on it and it came up with one dtc P0403 which is the egr control circuit. I had that fault with the egr where the idler gear stripped a few teeth. I moved the gear round a little further to the next set of sound gears and egr seems ok again. Maybe I didn’t clear the dtc properly but the dash light is now off. I wouldn’t have thought thus was a relevant to the battery issue though??

[Magnet]

Hello Dave,

Batteries and service life?

No longer any guarantee that they will last the warranty period -as you say! Recently had a battery fail catastrophically on a 15 month old non Audi, to the extent that it wouldn’t even start with jump leads. Also, one on a prestige vehicle which was just 3 months out of manufacturer’s warranty. 

All important - what make battery are you now buying? 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

p.s. 50mA is nearer the drain once everything has shut down. 

[Davedental]

The Yuasa battery I ordered didn’t arrive and the company cancelled the order! They claimed they hadn’t updated the stock level and didn’t have any at the price offered. Mmmmmm.........

Good news is that after all doors, interior lights etc double checked the original battery has maintained its charge. Must have been something switched on and not noticed I guess. Makes me feel a little foolish but quite relieved. Thanks for all your help and comments 

Dave

[Steve Q]

9 hours ago, Davedental said:

The Yuasa battery I ordered didn’t arrive and the company cancelled the order! They claimed they hadn’t updated the stock level and didn’t have any at the price offered. Mmmmmm.........

Good news is that after all doors, interior lights etc double checked the original battery has maintained its charge. Must have been something switched on and not noticed I guess. Makes me feel a little foolish but quite relieved. Thanks for all your help and comments 

Dave

Glad we could help 🙂

[Ruby Roo]

I'm just reading this as I have same problem. I have Audi A3 Quattro 3.2 petrol. Draining the battery completely. Same as this, boot lock was doing it to begin with. Fixed that and been ok for a few months now draining again....Flat..... Taken every fuse out, disconnected every gadget, light, wire, you name it. The only thing we did have was the central locking jammed once and another time locked the car whilst it was running with keys in the ignition. But we have tried disconnecting central locking. Any ideas apart from all the normal checks 

[Magnet]

Hello ? 

Thanks for being in touch. You say you have checked every circuit, but you don’t tell us what the parasitic drain current is - that you can’t find the source of.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

p.s. I notice, as a new member, that you haven’t included your name, location or car model detail in your profile. I wonder if you would be kind enough to let me know if this is simply because you chose not to, or whether the facility to do that was not evident. 

[cliffcoggin]

Ruby.

You assume that one of the car circuits is draining the battery, but it could equally be an internal short within the battery. That can be tested at home if you have a meter, but it is better to get the battery tested by a mechanic with a high discharge tester.

[bigzz38]

my car A3 2004 had same issue was headlight alinment motor fault ,then the dreded econ light came on wouldnt go out, changed the pressurer censor and it curred it, if this helps

[Vali Sofariu]

Hello, i am Vali from România.

I'm sure glad I found this club because I have te exact same problem.

I got a 2006 Audi A3 sportback 2.0 l petrol.

I have tested everything that you guys did, still got a drain of 1.5 or a bit more.

Monday to Friday all good because I'm driving to and back from work.

I live in a small town and no need for the car to move around  so from Friday evening to Monday morning battery goes flat.

The car is locked during this time.

 

One think I noticed and it is being tested right now: the button on the driver's door that lock the Windows to prevent them for being open by children or whatever, it was always on(orange light)

Even so with the lock on you could still open all the Windows if you would play with the buttons a little bit.

I hope I made some sense 8n what i was trying to say.

I'll let you know how the test went.

 

Peace!

 

[Vali Sofariu]

17 hours ago, Vali Sofariu said:

Hello, i am Vali from România.

I'm sure glad I found this club because I have te exact same problem.

I got a 2006 Audi A3 sportback 2.0 l petrol.

I have tested everything that you guys did, still got a drain of 1.5 or a bit more.

Monday to Friday all good because I'm driving to and back from work.

I live in a small town and no need for the car to move around  so from Friday evening to Monday morning battery goes flat.

The car is locked during this time.

 

One think I noticed and it is being tested right now: the button on the driver's door that lock the Windows to prevent them for being open by children or whatever, it was always on(orange light)

Even so with the lock on you could still open all the Windows if you would play with the buttons a little bit.

I hope I made some sense 8n what i was trying to say.

I'll let you know how the test went.

 

Peace!

 

It was that damn button, problem solved.

 

 

[cliffcoggin]

Glad to hear the solution was so simple.

[Vali Sofariu]

4 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Glad to hear the solution was so simple.

I think it was luck 😁