2003 Audi A4 Car completely dead

03AUDI-A4-NEWB

MEMBER
2003 AUDI A4
4 CYL
AWD
AUTOMATIC
72,000 MILES

Hi,

I bought the car 5 months ago. After owning it for a week, I went to start it and it was completely dead. Enginer would not turn over. No lights at all anywhere. Absolutely no power. I tested the battery, and it had full power. I took the battery out, cleaned the terminals, and put it back in.

Car started fine and ran fine.

Last week I started the car (early morning, kind of cold out) and about a mile away when I can to a stop it died. It started up again fine.

This morning, I started the car, drove about 2 miles to get coffee. Turned car off, went inside. 5 minutes later came out and car was completely dead again. No lights anywhere. Etc. Etc. I tried jumping it, but to no avail.

I'm pretty sure the battery has power. For some reason, the rest of the car isn't getting any power. Any idea what the problem is?

Thank you.

8 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Hi 03audi-A4-newb and welcome to 2carpros

What needs to be done here is have both the battery and alternator load tested with a VAT machine-this will tell who's not doing its job-Could also be a short circuit with the electrical system draining the battery creating an excessive current draw

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Sunday, October 26th, 2008 AT 3:16 PM

03AUDI-A4-NEWB

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6 POSTS

Thanks for the quick reply.

I had the battery load tested (I said this in original post) and it was fine. 12 volts.

What is the first step in diagnosing an electrical problem?

Do you think this is at all related to the sludge proglem common with 1.8 turbo a4's?

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Sunday, October 26th, 2008 AT 3:33 PM

03AUDI-A4-NEWB

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I don't think it's a battery problem. I mean, it started fine, I drove 2 miles, got coffee, got back in 5 minutes later and COMPLETELY dead. Not a single light anywhere. No way the battery drained this fast.

Anyway, I just bought a new battery, put it in, and still nothing.

Could a short cause this? Is it something different?

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Sunday, October 26th, 2008 AT 3:40 PM

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Not a single light anywhere.

Recheck battery connections-Did you have the alternator output checked might not be putting out and its just running on battery power. Also might want to test all the fusible links-power has to go thru the links before it gets to the ignition switch and other areas.

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Sunday, October 26th, 2008 AT 3:48 PM

03AUDI-A4-NEWB

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Thanks Mr. Rasmataz. Yeah not a single light anywhere.

So I just walked back to my car, and it started up fine. WTF. Drove it home and in driveway.

Time to start checking connections I guess? Man I hope it's not some broken wire or something that is just barely making contact or not making contact or something.

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Sunday, October 26th, 2008 AT 3:53 PM

03AUDI-A4-NEWB

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6 POSTS

So I grabbed the multi-meter and I found the problem.

There's a fuse right by the positive terminal. It was corroded. I broke it trying to clean it. I'll measure it and get a similar piece of steel laser cut at work tomorrow and use that for a fuse.

Any idea what this is for? There's the main line coming off of the positive battery terminal, and then this other line. This other line has a fuse right by the battery terminal. The line then proceeds through the firewall into the um, cab of the car you would call it?

Yeah what is this line for?

Thanks again.

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Sunday, October 26th, 2008 AT 5:31 PM

RASMATAZ