Battery Drain issues

[roseyboy]

Have 2011 Audi 7  Quattro 3lt 

 

Apologies for long explanation 

Took car off road during Covid and since then several big issues. Thought issues wer connected but been looked at by 2 main dealers who diagnose several different issues but won’t guarantee that if fixed will fix underlying battery issue.

Main issue is erratic battery drain. Prior to Covid noticed car not starting first time so purchased new Varta stop-Start battery (£400) which I fitted and then used trickle charge unit for several months whilst not used.

At same roughly time realised front and rear cameras not working (Sensors are) and Boot not opening with key fob 

Until now Battery drain issues been manageable as long as left on trickle charge but this week after being on charge and then driven for 90 mins on motorway i stopped at traffic lights and it completely died- warnings that I had steering malfunction, spoiler alerts etc- absolutely dead. The AA charged it for 15 mins so restarted and seems as usual. But can’t carry on this way.

One thing the dealers did say was battery needed coding to car as that ‘May’ be issue. They couldn’t do this as not genuine battery so had this done at local garage but made no difference - hence the issue just occurred 

The only other advice from Main Dealer was that the Camera Control Unit (CCU) which ‘May’ be faulty (no guarantee) could be causing battery drain. 
 

Really don’t know what to do now. The two dealers quotes are between £3500- £5000 but won’t guarantee to fix battery issue and with car only worth ~£11k I’m reluctant to spend. Plus can’t believe CCU cannot have caused such drastic failure as just experienced.

 

Does anyone have any clues as to what may be the underlying cause?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions 

[Paul JA]

Appreciate this was some time ago that you posted this, did you ever get to the bottom the issue? I have a similar issue with battery draining, I'm assuming my battery is dead and needs replacing as it wont hold a charge, bought a £300+ battery but early indications are that it too is not holding a charge, I'm hoping recoding will do the trick.

[Magnet]

Hello Paul,

Have you tested for a parasitic drain on this battery? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[roseyboy]

Finally took car to specialist electrics garage who diagnosed that the actual battery was the issue. Even though 3 other garages had all looked at it and even done drop tests on it. I was sceptical but they fitted a new one 7 weeks ago and not had a problem since.

think they said when shorted the battery should fall from about 13.5v to around 11v but my battery was falling to 6.5v so not holding any charge 

 

now trying to get refund on Varta battery as apparently come with lifetime guarantee ……!

[Paul JA]

14 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Paul,

Have you tested for a parasitic drain on this battery? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth,  no i haven't i just purchased a vcds yesterday,  is this an "easy" check to do? I posted on another similar topic on this forum saying I'd put a new battery in and coded it, but overnight its drained again, so i dont think it's a battery issue now.. i did check voltage with engine running and it was showing 14.5v or there abouts so I don't think alternator is the issue.. I've jump started the car 3 times today already.. on one occasion it wouldn't start even with starter pack attached, but started on its own when i disconnected it/switched it off, so its getting stranger and stranger, think i might call my car Christene...