So my buddy and I went over to the next town last night around 15 miles away and after a few beers I get in my car and once again the headlights, turn signals, wipers, AC, etc. aren't working. So I had to drive all the way home holding my brights on.

Anyway, I replaced the ignition switch last week and the #30 wire was burnt but after I replaced the switch I was getting power to the #30 posts on the relay panel. So I'm still getting power to the #30 but not the x75. I removed the load reduction relay and figured out that if I push the little metal piece to connect with the rest of the relay that everything works but it keeps working when the car is off.

If anyone has any suggestions I will glady listen. I can't figure out if the relay is bad or the relay panel or something else. TIA.

Here's a pic of the little metal piece I'm talking about:

[IMG]local://upfiles/3888/85D0C3906268420B8EF7EC992278E316.jpg[/IMG]

 

maybe a bad ign. switch they gave you, I'm having the same problem but my windows and etc. want work and my car will start and turn right back off sometimes like the fuel pump or something is not working, I'm going to replace my ing. switch too hopefully that solves the problem

 

I am only trying to help and not trying to be a smarta$$, but I will give you a little primmer on how relays work. The contacts you are pushing together are the supply voltage lead and the output lead of the relay. One will probably have voltage (supply) and the other will not... it will be connected to the device you are trying to power (i.e. lights). The other two contacts are used to energize the ciol of wire you see there. One contact will have voltage and the other will have ground. When voltage is supplied to one side of the coil and the other side is connected to ground it creates a magnetic pull casuing that contact you are pressing to close and complete the circuit (supplying power to the device). All of the things you mentioned not working are all on the Ignition supply line, so I assume this is the Ignition supply relay. Not knowing the story behind the replacement of the Ignition switch or the burnt wire I would think something terrible has happened. Next place I would check (since you say you have voltage supplied to the relay now) is for the ground to the relay. If the power wire burned there is a good chance that the ground wire also took some damage. All your problems may just be a bad ground....but we've all heard that one before haven't we?
Good luck, if there is anything else you think of or want to ask let me know.

 

+1

 

Wow man...seriously, thanks for that. I really had no idea how that little bugger worked but I was guessing that the circuit wasn't supposed to be closed all the time.

I got fed up with it since I've spent over 5 hours working on it and having no free time I decided to take it to this independent Audi mechanic I use. He figured out in just a few hours that when the #30 wire burned in the ignition switch that the wiring harness on the female side took some damage which he fixed. Also, it turns out my headlight switch was ruined in this process as well and the new part costs $155 [:@].

Anyway, I seriously appreciate the response. Electrical problems are definitely not my cup of tea. I posted almost the exact same question on AW and got no response[sm=forgetit.gif]. These times make me happy that I'm a member of this board. Thanks a lot!!!

 

so how much was the whole job, I might just take my car in to the dealer because I don't want screw up anything