losing 1.5 Amps and battery drains!

[DaveA3]

Hi All,

My old mans A4 is losing 1.5amps of power constantly when he turns his card off. The hazard light in the middle of the dash stays illuminated constantly and eventually drains the battery. Vag com shows no faults but using the multimeter we could see it was losing amps.

Anyone know what could cause this kind of thing?

cheers

 

[scott b]

if possible, unplugg the switch and see if it makes a difference.

there is a constent feed going to it, my first thoughts would be a faulty switch

 

[B5NUT]

That's a fair bit of juice, if it's not the switch, start pulling the fuse one by one until you find the correct area (module).

 

[AndyMac]

Has he had anything added to the car recently like a hands free kit or satnav? The puny light on the hazard switch would not draw anywhere near 1.5amps, that's a lot.

 

[DaveA3]

it might not be the little light itself thats pulling the amps but the car is in general. ill double check with him and tell him to try the suggested so far. cheers all ill be back!

 

[DaveA3]

ok so far the following has been done with no joy:

#all fuses taken out 1 by 1
#hazard light connector taken out
#no additional devices installed

none of the above has made a difference and the car is still losing 1.5amps. he has to disconnect the battery every time to stop it from draining. any further ideas?

 

[A4 nut]

Take the bulb out of the glove box see if that works could be the switch if not i had the same mine was the climate unit, also ive heard that the dash pod can do that as well it is a matter of elimination it took me a month and ripping my car appart to sort out vag com did not through any thing up either.

 

[paul20v]

Hasnt the Hazard illumination got some thing in common with the locking/alarm system ?

 

[A4 nut]

Yes it does, Does it drain when locked or unlocked? Does it go into sleep mode?

 

[quattrojames]

This has definitely been discussed before, because I remember standing next to mine and locking it, and counting the time it took the hazard light switch to go out! (30 seconds). I think maybe if the switch is dodgy it illuminates all the time.......

 

[markyzs180]

basically it takes around five minutes for the car to completely shut down, the hazard light stays illuminated until it all shuts down and then extinguishes, if it stays on there is a problem somewhere...

 

[DaveA3]

it drain when its locked mate. Ive forwarded on the info so hes gonna see if thatll sort it. ill let ya know how it goes

thanks again all

 

[quattrojames]

basically it takes around five minutes for the car to completely shut down, the hazard light stays illuminated until it all shuts down and then extinguishes, if it stays on there is a problem somewhere...

Thats an interesting observation that I've never heard before! What takes so long it's five minutes before it shuts down?

 

[B5NUT]

There are a fair few module on the car that will take a couple of minutes before they completey shut down. The RNS-E is one, along with the AMP. The MMI system on the newer A4's also do the same.

 

[markyzs180]

Thats an interesting observation that I've never heard before! What takes so long it's five minutes before it shuts down?

thought this was common knowledge???? i'm sure i read it on here!! take a look next time you've got aa spare 5 minutes!! lol

 

[BILKO1]

5 minutes is a small amount of time on modern cars, BMW's and Mercs can take up to 30mins to go to sleep the old x type jags take 2 hours!

 

[quattrojames]

I knew this had been discussed before, have a read of THIS.

 

[BILKO1]

I've just tested a B7 with flat battery problems and found a drain of 1.4amps this drain stopped after 16 mins. After 16 mins I heard a relay click in the relay / ecu box under the bonnet the drain then went completely. To do the drain test you must trip the bonnet catch switch and lock the car otherwise the modules won't shut down.

 

[donnie69]

hello,hazard warning switch stays illuminated to alert you of a fault in the system.i just got my car fixed.mine turned out to be a draw from fuse 13.turned out the steering column module was f*****.