Short in Electrical system

Tiny
JMINION
  • MEMBER
  • 2006 AUDI A8
  • 35,000 MILES
With everything 'Off' and hooking up a New, good battery the ammeter starts at 2.5 amps and rises to 7.5 amps then settles back to 4-5 amps continually. I have removed every fuse (from all 4 fuse panels) individually and still get the same draw. The car was housed all winter in heated garage unused and worked OK when put away.
Saturday, March 31st, 2012 AT 1:34 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
Try unplugging your abs unit and see if it stops. If it does then your abs may be bad.
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Saturday, March 31st, 2012 AT 2:29 PM
Tiny
JMINION
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I disconnected the large multi plug on the ABS unit. No change, still drawing 5 amps.
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Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 AT 12:35 PM
Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,761 POSTS
Did you disable all the hood lights and door lights and remove the keys first?

The system has modules on timers that have to be timed out before reading the draw.

Here are the instruction I give out.

You will need a digital ammeter and a jumper wire with clips on the ends to do this.
First rig any door switches so you can have a door open without triggering the interior lights and unplug the hood light. Remove one battery cable and attach the meter in series between the battery cable and battery post. Take the jumper wire and also attach it the same way. Leave the jumper wire on for at least 10 minutes to expire all the automatic timers. Now remove the jumper wire and read the meter. Anything over 50ma is too much draw. The way you locate this is to start removing fuses one at a time until the meter drops to normal level. This will be the circuit with something staying on. Determine what components are part of that circuit and check them individually until the problem is isolated.
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Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 AT 1:02 PM

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