Smoking Audi

[Brett Dikeman]

On Jun 22, 2005, at 5:50 PM, Mark J. Besso wrote:

> As of this morning I'm getting a small waft of white smoke from  
> under the left side of the dashboard whenever the key is in the  
> "run" position.  It is accompanied by that pungent aroma of  
> insulation melting away from a wire somewhere.  Obviously I am not  
> driving the car now!

Did you check the relays in the side kick panel, driver's side?   
There are numerous relays there.

If push comes to shove, you might have to pull ALL the fuses (noting  
correct values), turn on the ignition, and use a ammeter to jumper  
the fuse pins one by one, looking for non-sensical loads.

Also, you can use what we computer people call a "binary search".   
You pull half the fuses.  Smoke still there?  Okay, it's not those.   
Pull another half.  Etc.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure how wise it  
would be to run that long.

Another thought- if something's shorting out, a component is not  
going to be getting nearly the power it should be.  With an  
extinguisher handy (CO2 comes to mind, won't make a mess, but they're  
rare/expensive), you can turn on the car and quickly check as many  
accessories as you can think of.

I'd check the stereo and those fog lights first off.  That they've  
worked for many thousands of miles is more of a "hmm" than a "nope,  
couldn't be them."

Brett
-- 
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
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