Battery Draining Over A Few Days

[audimaniac]

Hi Guys
Help Needed Here, tested the usual suspect items Fuses, Relays etc for power drainage and didnt alter anything in the slightest, this is after connecting the Multimeter up to the Battery and the Earth Disconected.

Checked the Alternator and the both Red Wires are showing drainage of 0.86 on my meter, unbolted the smallest battery cable off the Positive Terminal and the battery was not showing any drain but the smallest Red Cable was showing drain at 0.86 on my meter.

My Question is where is the Smallest Red Battery Cable getting its power from??? where does it go to after the battery terminal??? besides down the back of the engine??

Thanks in advance
Audimaniac

[Greg_S]

Could it be your radio draining it

[panzerwagen]

Electrical drains are hard to trace. This one will be....

The small wire goes to the voltage gauge and assorted items that are still hot after the key is pulled form the ignition. Some are fused and others are not. One thing to check is the cable that is in the hatch. It has a tendency to crack and expose the wires that feed the rear wiper, defroster, antenna and other little doo-dads back their. The constant opening and closing of the hatch has a habit of causing breaks in the wires and shorting out. You may have to replace the wires one by one or the entire harness. It's up too to you. Peel back the rubber booting where it comes out of the body and you will see what I'm talking about.
Or you could take a volt meter, connect the black wire to the body and the red to the (-) part of the battery. If the voltmeter shows a reading you have a short or something is on. Make sure you pull the fuses of the items that are on after key is pulled so you don't get false reading.

[nikmay]

Hi mate had the same problem with mine, when engine was running it was charging at 12.6 volts, alternator light would go out as soon as engine was cranked, but when left for more than 24 hrs the Batt would be totally flat, finally tracked it down to the alternator discharging to earth when ignition was off.

[audimaniac]

Hi Greg, been out all Day testing all sorts, changed the Voltage Regulator and now charging at 14.3 Volts, checked all earths, Fuses, Relays etc, What i did find though, Number 320 Relay Under the Drivers side dash is getting warm all the time, when the ignition is turned off, you can pull it out of its socket and when you put it back it has live feed??? making click on re-entry to its socket?? tried another spare i have and that was the same?? Radio not draining either.

Is Number 320 for the Interior Light Delay??? or has it some other use???

Checked door opening etc for sticking boot light and so on, nothing wrong there.

Any Ideas???

Cheers Audimaniac

[quattronutter]

check to see if the maf is getting a constant live i had this happen,it was continuing the burn off cycle draining the battery every time ign was turned off,could be numerous things,only way is to go through each thing individually

[audimaniac]

Thanks, i will check it out when im off work again after the weekend mate, do you know what number 320 relay does?? also i have been looking for some pics of the Relays under the dash on a 3B to make sure mine are correctly placed, do you or anybody on the Forum have some please???

Regards Audimaniac

[panzerwagen]

Ask the guys on the 80/90/CQ Forum of Audiworld...........

The CQ and S2 relays & fuses are almost 99% similar. If anybody knows what those relays are, the guys on Audiworld would know.