[s-cars] Current draw/dead battery "Did It Fix It?!"

[Mark Strangways]

Good tip.
My POS afterrun pump caused me a dead battery or 5.
I will be looking at that relay come spring.

Thanks
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stott Hare" <stott at gwi.net>
To: <audijim at comcast.net>; <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Current draw/dead battery "Did It Fix It?!"


> I'd definitely take a gander at the after-run pump system relay in the 
> right
> footwell, position 5.  I had my footwell open last weekend, and found 
> traces
> of water down that A pillar.  My ground connections were growing a little
> green, and my after run relay had wicked enough of that moisture into it,
> that it was quite corroded.  I had heard the pump running excessively over
> the summer, but with sufficient futzing under the hood I thought I had
> managed to correct that.  Now seeing the condition of the relay, I'm
> wondering if it wasn't part of my original issue. in hopes of keeping it 
> out
> of the water flow.
>
> In spirit of one step forward, two steps back I moved the relay from
> position 5 to position 6.  The relay won't be in the water flow, but now I
> need to get a replacement relay, and determine the source of the water 
> leak.
>
> The leak seems quite towards the rear of the A pillar, so I don't think it
> is the airbox recirc flap.  I'm leaning towards a sunroof drain or some
> such, and hoping I don't have a leaking windshield.
>
> Good luck on your current drain.
> Stott
> 95 S6A
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of audijim at comcast.net
> Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 11:19 AM
> To: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Current draw/dead battery "Did It Fix It?!"
>
> Happy Holiday's All!
>
> As stated in the previous exciting episode of "Current Draw/Dead Battery", 
> I
> removed a Kenwood CD power control module in the hope of that was bleeding
> current and staying powered "ON". No luck! On the morning of Christmas 
> Eve,
> I un-plugged the secondary coolant pump and was thinking that the pump was
> coming on during some point while it's parked and draining the battery. I
> drove it to work that way, and left the battery + lead connected during 
> the
> day. To my surprise, I still has good voltage on the analog volt-meter! 
> The
> car started right up and I was pretty happy that this was possibly cured. 
> I
> left everything connected and on Christmas morning, still good indicated
> voltage. The wife and I left for Christmas breakfast with her family in 
> her
> A6 and returned home at or about 1530 hrs. A quick look through the window
> while walking past the S-car, still good voltage! Could it be? Could this 
> be
> fixed? Around 1700 hrs we had no plans for Christmas di nner and ordered
> sushi. I left and
> took her A6 and I still had good voltage when I left to pick up dinner, I
> returned about 15 minutes later, grabbed the food, walked past my S-car 
> and
> saw the voltmeter bouncing off the 10 volt range. Son-of-a-B@%^H!!!!!! I 
> ran
> into the house and grabbed my keys, unlocked the door and the battery was
> too weak to power the pump to unlock all of them. I have the power lock 
> pump
> out of it's little hole while trouble shooting this and while the 
> voltmeter
> was pinging off the 10 VDC range, I started un-plugging things. I first
> unplugged the vacuum pump to see if the fluctuations would stop and the
> battery would stabilize, no joy. I then started to pull the fuse cover off
> the left side of the dash and pulled one fuse. It didn't change anything. 
> I
> then realized that I had a wife and dinner waiting inside for me, in order
> to continue with this, I needed to get some tools out, and I said "to hell
> with it" and took the + le ad off the battery. I will prob get another new
> battery this week bec
> ause this current new battery has been deep cycled so many times, I'd 
> rather
> just start fresh with another fresh one. I wish I had the tools and my DMM
> just laying in the car, ready to see what the actual draw was on the
> battery. My wife saw that I was visibly upset that this pain in the ass 
> car
> is driving me crazy. The lack of time to trouble shoot this is getting the
> best of me right now too. On the plus side, I have a bag-o-relays coming
> from a lister who answered my calling for some "known good" relays and is
> parting an S6. They will prob be here this week as well. I have a new
> turbocharger coolant temp sensor coming as well. I'm not ruling out that 
> the
> aux water pump is running. Even though the pump was unplugged from the aux
> water pump, the relay might be doing this to the battery. Again with the
> "ifs"...if I had my DMM out, I could have seen if there was power at the
> disconnected plug for the aux water pump. That would have drove me to that
> system (electrically) Today (time
> permitting) I will remove the  left and right footwell covers and expose 
> the
> relay panels down there. The aux water pump relays and rad fan relays are
> down on the  right side, the power window stuff is on the left.
>
> The car will be able to sit for the upcoming New Years holiday. My wife 
> and
> I are going to Baltimore to my cousin's home for a New Years Eve bash he 
> and
> his wife throw every year. If I'm able to do anything significant to the
> S-pig, that will be a good static test for it. (or maybe someone with set 
> it
> on fire for me!)
>
> Once I get this pig fixed, what do these cars go for on trade in at the
> dealer?  :)
>
> So to sum up this episode "Did It Fix It?!" the answer is hell NO! I have 
> a
> growing list of what is not draining my battery!
>
> Stay tuned for the next episode titled "One Step Forward...Three Steps 
> Back"
>
> Jim
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