Non Starter

[john24susan]

Hi all, I own a A3 sportsback 2l tdi 2005 and have just had my first problem with it. My wife used the car to work today and parked the car in the car park and after her 6 hr shift came out to start the car. The doors would not open with the Fob key and had to be manualy openned. Once inside she put the key in the ignition and nothing !!! She noticed that the hazard arrows on the speedo dash and the satnav were flashing in and out. My wife phoned me to tell me that the car would not start, I took a trip over in my sons car with a set of jump leads and within 5 mins with the jump leads the car started first time.
I have checked the battery and with the engine on the battery is around 14 volts, when the engine is off it is 12.5 volts.
I have checked the usual things - The boot light to ensure that when the lid was closed the light was out, the inside lights would go out once the doors were locked. The battery terminals for loosness., all seemed to be ok.
I have run the car for 50 miles and the car is starting ok.
I wonder if anyone has had the same problem as me.
Many Thanks john.

 

[MarcQuinlivan]

Strange that it wouldn't start.

I was reading a while back that car will actually shut off power to accessories , etc. if the battery is running low so that it doesn't go flat.

When I was installing my multimedia adapter and TV Tuner in my car about a month and a bit ago I had left the ignition on while tracing the wires for an inline fuse I'd blown on my phone kit. I had also had the ignition on and off for extended periods during the day to test the tv but without starting the engine and at one point had trouble finding the live wires, but two minutes later a wire that was previously dead would be live again. When I then tried to start the car it wouldn't do so as there wasn't enough power to turn the engine over. After about 10 minutes of phoning around to try to get someone to call over with a set of jump leads I tried to start the engine and it started first time - almost as if it was able to pull in enough power in those 10 minutes to start. I left it running for about 30 mins to recharge and it has been fine ever since.

She wouldn't have left the exterior lights on would she? 6hrs of parking lights may be enough to drain the battery.