Tracking down a battery drain

[donald grady]

when i had to find the drain in my cgt, i removed the negative terminal and ran a test light between the terminal and the battery and one at a time pulled the fuses untill the light went out. this will tell you the circuit you're looking for (most times it's the trunk light or an aftermarket radio install or something along that line.)
 
> From: TooManyAudis at aol.com
> Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:26:48 -0400
> Subject: Tracking down a battery drain
> To: quattro at audifans.com
> 
> I've been befuddled lately by what appears to be a battery drain on my 95 
> A6q 5-speed.
> 
> The alternator appears to be putting out sufficient charge -- 14.0 to 14.2 
> depending on the load, but I've had to get jump starts on several occasions 
> lately. Most often it's been a jumpstart in the morning before work, but 
> last Friday I needed one before I could drive home. I charged the battery 
> on Friday night (sears Craftsman automatic deep cycle charger), used the 
> car several times on Saturday, drove one mile to watch the Giants self 
> destruct on Sunday and before the fourth quarter was halfway over, I needed a 
> jump to get home.
> 
> Again, I charged the battery up and went on a couple of appointments on 
> Monday morning. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, I drove about a mile to a 
> store and when I got back into the car, there wasn't enough juice to turn the 
> motor. Battery read 11.36v, which I would think would be enough to turn the 
> starter motor, but what do I know? 
> 
> So, I got a jump, drove home and disconnected the battery (I did not put it 
> on the charger). It read 12.6v when I got home last night, and 12.36v 
> this morning when I reconnected the battery and it started fine... While this 
> is a bit shy of the scientific method, I'm going to take this anecdotal 
> evidence to indicate that the problem is most likely not in the battery.
> 
> The question is, where else do I look, and how do I track down a parasitic 
> drain on the battery (if that is what's happening)?
> 
> Any ground points to investigate with this car? Is there a splice in the 
> positive cable like in the Type 44s?
> 
> Any other words of wisdom?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tom
> Charleston, SC
> 
> 
> 1995 A6q 5-speed (up for interesting offers) 249k
> 1988 80q (sold, and still going strong!) 250k+
> 1991 200q20v towed away in the middle of the night by a VW diesel pickup 
> 275k+
> 1985 4kq a freakin' beast of a car! 275k+ and presumably still going
> 1987 4k died in a hit and run 250k+
> 1983 4k Very first Audi 35 to 38 mpg. Victim of crank key failure 300k+
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