Electrical Leak on 2001 A6?
 

Hi,
I haven't written for a long time on the forum.
I have a 56k 2001 audi a6 2.7t
Around October, I left the country for a month, and the car wasn't used for 15 days, and then started for 15mins, and another fifteen days, and then when I returned the first day, I got it working no problems, and I ran it only 5 times in 2 months, but no problems...
So, then, one day, the battery died-drained. But before that, I heard a radio-speaker noise, although my car was stopped and radio was off...
The next two times, it was ok, and then the battery died. They give me a jump, I get it charged on the road and then driven it everyday at least 15mins, and then it died again in 2 weeks, so they changed the battery, which I have no idea how old it was.
They changed it to a strong normal battery.
So, it ran perfect, except the interior lights were making this overvolting sound when I opened the door; and there will be a high pitch noise from the radio, although it is turned of, and this goes away when the radio is turned on and off...
But, for 2 months, with the new battery, I have driven day and night, at very high A/C turned on due to winter etc, but it was ok.
It was snowy here, so, I started it and it was very cold, didn't drive for 3 days, and dead again.
As far as I understand, there is a leak somewhere, but while the battery was being changed, I asked them for leak test, and they couldn't find one.
I have very little experience with the electrical system, but I decided to have a look at it my self.
I ordered a digital multimeter, a booster cable etc.
I am planning to test each circuit by pulling the fuses, one by one, and looking at the digital multimeter...
Any suggestions?
Am I on the right track here? Or can it be the alternator or the voltage regulator...? There is no MIL light, and the car pulls no codes.

Thanks in advance, I will appreciate any kind of input, so that I can learn how to fix this thing.

Check the ground wire between the motor and frame. remove it clean all surfaces and replace. Don't assume it is OK if it is tight. Clean clean clean

thnx i will found out about that cable the battery connection seems fine, but I will check the one that goes to motor.

I didn't yet find out about the adviced neutral cable but I did a parasitic drain test.
I removed negative diode from battery and connected negative diode with a multimeter and connected the other side with positive diode and checked the numbers: 0.14 mA, I don't know what is the accepted.
I removed the left front door - fuse compartment and tested the 0.14 if it would go down, with any fuse, it didn't. (this was the key off and tried with key on and didn't change)

Here are other notes that can tell me about.

I went on a 1.00 hr trip w/ 65mph and 12 hours later here is my battery reading:
12.57V

The other morning, went to 15mins trip/ lights off, radio off:
after 2 hr cool down: 12.47V

leak: 0.14 still.

The other day, 3rd day after the long trip:
12.15V

I didn't leave the lights on, or anything, I tested anything internal. and didn't see anything ON.

I know there is another fuse box for the relays, but I don't know how easy to access it.
Is it the only thing left?
AM I doing this correctly?

Note: THe battery is 3 months old,the older battery 2yrs old has had a similar problem 5 months ago so, I had to replace 3 months ago; it would run down, in 2days. THis one is a little better.

BTW: Voltmeter reads 14.0-14.2 when the car is running, I guess the alternator is fine.

Please help, thanks!

So far, so good. The alternator voltage looks good but the battery slowly losing voltage does not. There are a number of relays that stay on after the engine is stopped and one of those is probably stuck open. I would go there next, particularly the alarm system and the wireless remote system.

Bob

Thanks for the reply,
I am basically learning as I move towards a solution,
I will check the relays and report back.
So, is 0.14A acceptible when key - off?

Seems high, but this should go down after 10 minutes or so as the secondary water pump circuit goes dead. What I would do is take a series of readings every 2 minutes after shutting the car down for about an hour to see when you get less draw. Report back what you find and we can put our collective heads together about what circuit should time out when and maybe come up with a lead for you to investigate. Then, you will have to pull relays or otherwise disable circuits one at a time to find the drawing source. As I said beofer, it is most likely the remote or the security system as these draw at alll times but it could be the secondary coolant circuit, the stereo memory, the seat memory, etc......

Bob

Hi,

I didn't yet check other fuses.
But,in the mean time, I used my car so much, it doesn't die in 2 days.

MY QUESTION IS:

How long can i remove the battery from the car? I mean negative cable, so that it will not hurt any ECU?

I mean, I heard somewhere that the memory for basic functions such as how to open the windows and etc dies if you remove it long...

I am planning to remove the negative cable, when I am not planning to use the car for a long time.

Can someone please comment on this.

THank you.