1.2A Parasitic Battery Drain (1.6 04 A3 8P)

Hi all,

New to the forum so apologies if I have screwed something up / posted in the wrong location.

I was wondering if someone had any suggestions on how to cure the following; I have a 1.2A drain with the ignition off which is chomping through the battery within a couple of days parked. It also struggles to start if both the AC and radio are running, even if it has been driven earlier that day. I have gone through pulling fuses and found the following:

• 0.6A background (can't get rid of it regardless of fuses pulled)
• 0.4A reduction if instrument cluster fuse removed (i.e. 0.8A background drain still)
• 0.1A reduction if interior light / reading light fuse removed
• 0.1A heating & AC control unit fuse removed

I suspect a bad earth / poor shielding somewhere but if anyone had a pointer as to how to go ahead with the work it would be much appreciated. The car was bought as a cheap runaround so I am hesitant to spend serious money on an auto electrician.

Thanks in advance!

Hi buddy, thanks so much for the quick response - really appreciated.

I did all the tests with the key out and the door shut (nearly blew the Ammeter with the door open first time...) so there *shouldn't* have been any significant drawdown.

It looks like all the effected circuits are to do with the driver's controls (i.e. dash display, air con control etc), do they share a common earth that could do with a clean?