charging/battery problems
 

I am starting to be at my witts end. Car doesn't seems to charge right or its draining the battery - most likely doesn't charge properly.

Here is my current findings:

-Bought new battery a while ago as car was having problems starting.
-Starting problems came back soon enough
-Car was sitting for a while as I had no time to deal with it - charged with motorcycle tricle charger for few days - hooked it on and checked the amps when car is not running and everything is supposed to be off. The drain was .6 amps - that seemed really high to me I went through the fuse box and removing radio fuse dropped the drain to .1 Amps which I thought would be reasonable 10h would drain only 1 Ah.
-with that fresh chrage from the plug-in-wall charger and the radio fuse off the car worked fine for almost a week but now the car doesn't start again
-when running the volt meter on dash is constantly in 13-14 range which seems right


I doubt it is the bettery as with proper charger it worked fine for days
I doubt that alternater wouldn't work as the when running there are no issues and the voltage is high/normal

questions:
1. Any ideas what should I check next?
2. Is it possibel to have high voltage and alternator output but that it just doesn't reach the battery
3. what is normal drain (amps) when the interior lights are off and "nothing" is on?

I am yet to check the voltage on the battery terminals when the car is running - if that turns out to be low - what is the most likely cause?



Any help would be great ly appreciated


Heikki

car is 1998 a6 2.8 quattro - if that makes any difference

RE: charging/battery problems
 

just to add - had the car not start today - got it jumped - rode 20 min. dash voltage all the time clearly over 12v - stopped the car and immediately tried to start - dash volatge dropped to below 9 and car would not turn over.

Any tips would be appreciated. I read other threads and I guess I will do following checks:
-The grounding of battery/charger
-resistance/voltage drop from alternator to battery

RE: charging/battery problems
 

You need to have the alternator output checked -- See If the local AZ can help.. It sould like a bad alternator...

RE: charging/battery problems
 

Is there any way one can check the alternator with a multimeter - isn't voltage a decent indicator?

RE: charging/battery problems
 

i was having this same exact problem, i got a new battery and that wasnt the problem cause my battery light was still on and it was running at a little under 12 V so i found out it is the alternator... but does 525$ sound right for total replacment and labor ? i mean it seems ok..and i was wondering how hard it would be to replace it myself?

RE: charging/battery problems
 

check the alternator and the battery

RE: charging/battery problems
 

CHecked the battery at Auto zone - it was toast. As to why it went bad so soon - either it was a lemon from get go or something else is wrong will have the charging system checked if the probalems come back.