Is my starter the culprit?

[janoush]

Hey guys,

Seem to be having some issues with the car (2.0t FWD) the past few days:

After 8 hours of not starting the car, it started up just fine and drove to the mall with no issues.
Stopped at the mall for 15-20 minutes and then came back out to find my car battery completely drained.
This has happened twice in the past 2 days.
Had the battery checked after I got a jump and it was fully charged.
And the odd thing is the car starts fine but when I put it into Drive/Reverse it immediately dies, which is when I had to jump it.
I make it a habit of letting sit for a few minutes at home but don't do this when I'm around town.

Thoughts?
Any feedback is appreciated.

[Luis_Heineken]

not shure, but check the alternator

[B-Time]

Scan for codes.

[aluthman]

Doesn't sound like a starter to me. When mine went out, I had slow cranking until one day it just wouldn't crank. Car could be push started and would run fine, and battery had a good charge.

[JDillon15]

I wonder if it could be a short or something?

[AJacksA4]

Ive had the engine turn off a couple times after putting the car in drive after first starting it up. It began after I replaced the thermostat which required removing the alternator. Check to make sure the connections are tight

[janoush]

Thanks for the input guys, just replaced the serpentine belt so I'll have to go back to make sure that I didn't loosen anything up on accident.

[mtroxel]

So twice in the last two days your battery has drained in 15 - 20 minutes? Only way that could happen is if:

1. Battery is not holding much of a charge. Where did you get it tested? Just because a multi-meter shows 12 volts doesn't mean the battery is good.
2. You had a huge parasitic drain. That car draws about 300 ma when everything is turned off. You'd have to drawing way more than that to drain a healthy battery in 15 - 20 minutes.

If you are sure that battery is good, I'd ask Mr. Google about "parasitic draw". There are only about 10 websites that explain how to track it down better than I can.

[aluthman]

When you say your battery was completely drained, do you mean that the car will not crank of all electronics inside are also dead?

[domamei]

I went through a whole bunch of similar stuff like this last month. I thought it was the alternator or voltage regulator. Ended up getting a brand new battery and replacing the whole alternator wiring harness. Harness was 755 after negotiation with Audi. And battery was almost 200. My battery was 3 yrs old and read and tested fine. Spent almost a week trying to diagnose this myself.

[domamei]

The wiring harness burnt near the starter where it was hard to access and had an open wire that was "arching" according to the dealer.

[janoush]

So twice in the last two days your battery has drained in 15 - 20 minutes? Only way that could happen is if:

1. Battery is not holding much of a charge. Where did you get it tested? Just because a multi-meter shows 12 volts doesn't mean the battery is good.
2. You had a huge parasitic drain. That car draws about 300 ma when everything is turned off. You'd have to drawing way more than that to drain a healthy battery in 15 - 20 minutes.

If you are sure that battery is good, I'd ask Mr. Google about "parasitic draw". There are only about 10 websites that explain how to track it down better than I can.

I had the battery tested at Auto-zone immediately after needing a jump and they told me it was holding a 100% charge. I'm assuming auto-zone is somewhat reliable.
I'll google the parasitic drain when I get a chance but I am not sure that is the culprit. It's been quite a few days now and I haven't done anything to fix it but have not run into the issue.
It seems if I let the car run for 30 seconds to 1 minute I don't have any issues and the car runs as normal. If I put it immediately into gear I'm afraid it will need a jump again.

When you say your battery was completely drained, do you mean that the car will not crank of all electronics inside are also dead?

The electronics on the interior and exterior are all working normally.

I went through a whole bunch of similar stuff like this last month. I thought it was the alternator or voltage regulator. Ended up getting a brand new battery and replacing the whole alternator wiring harness. Harness was 755 after negotiation with Audi. And battery was almost 200. My battery was 3 yrs old and read and tested fine. Spent almost a week trying to diagnose this myself.

The wiring harness burnt near the starter where it was hard to access and had an open wire that was "arching" according to the dealer.

I'm glad you were able to fix the issue but I am not about to fork over over another $200 to the stealership considering my battery is just over 12 months old.
Did you lose power when you put into gear similar to me?

[aluthman]

The electronics on the interior and exterior are all working normally.

Replace the starter. You have the same symptoms I did. Mine looked pretty gnarly when removed. It was obviously toast. I was surprised at how fast the new starter cranked compared to how it cranked with the dying starter.

[domamei]

I had the battery tested at Auto-zone immediately after needing a jump and they told me it was holding a 100% charge. I'm assuming auto-zone is somewhat reliable.
I'll google the parasitic drain when I get a chance but I am not sure that is the culprit. It's been quite a few days now and I haven't done anything to fix it but have not run into the issue.
It seems if I let the car run for 30 seconds to 1 minute I don't have any issues and the car runs as normal. If I put it immediately into gear I'm afraid it will need a jump again.



The electronics on the interior and exterior are all working normally.





I'm glad you were able to fix the issue but I am not about to fork over over another $200 to the stealership considering my battery is just over 12 months old.
Did you lose power when you put into gear similar to me?

No I didn't lose power when put into gear.