acarney

I have a soft clicking sound coming from why sounds like the drivers area inside the car. Either under the dash or under the carpet of the drivers side. You can faintly hear it from outside the car too. This clicking is a constant steady rate, about one to two clicks a second. It sounds "soft" like more of a tapping click rather then a hash like turn signal click. It happens ALL the time as long as the battery is connected. When the key is in, when the key is out. When the engine is on, when the engine is off, ALL the time. Now I also have noticed that the battery will die in about two or three days if the car isn't run, like it's fine when I come home from work on Friday but if I don't go anywhere over the weekend, it's damn near dead, or like today, completely dead on Monday when I go for work...

Battery is rather new, less then two years old. AutoZone tested the battery and said it looked good (though at the time it only had like a 40% charge, and was slow to start, hence why I had it checked). They also said it appears to be charging fine.

If I drive the car for awhile 30 - 60 minutes it seems like it fully charges & it'll fire up the next day with all the power in the world. Once it's running it also fires up fine if I run into the store for half an hour or something. It just doesn't start if it sits for 48 hours or so. Replaced alternator back in August with a Bosch unit, same part number that came out of the car. Seemed to work fine, charged battery fine, on the dash it showed 14.x volts most the time & occasionally 12.x colts while driving, I figure that's when the battery was fully charged.

This clicking has been going on for a long time though, over a year. It hasn't got louder or faster, but for some reason my battery issues just started recently. I figure they're related, but don't know why now I have battery issues... Maybe I've just recently started going out less so the car sits a little more?

I believe I had my comfort control module replaced by an indie around the time the clicking started, though it was hard to notice the clicking for awhile. Arming my alarm and the interior switch for my door locks wouldn't work & my interior lights wouldn't come on if I used the over head switches. He thought it was the CCM & replaced it. Well none of that stuff worked after the new part. The key fob lock/unlock works (still can't arm the alarm though) from outside the car & the lights come on like normal when I open the door and fade when I close it.

My concern is the battery issue though. The car is just a local daily driver & im like 3 miles from work. There are some other engine issues (vac leaks, yay) and I'm really debating dumping more money into it (170k miles) or just driving it locally as is until a huge issue comes up.

BUT, I need my battery to last a couple days when the car is parked to be able to do that >.<

HELP

jkwelsh

Give a shout out for any member with VCDS in your area. You need to run some diagnostics in order to identify what's going on as there is an endless list of component that's could be clicking...

Regarding the battery issues. Since this is a more recent problem I would be inclined to separate the clicking noise from the weak battery. It may be that the car is simply not being used enough to maintain the battery charge level (especially if it's an occasional 3 mile commute) l would recommend purchasing a battery conditioning charger - Something like a CTEK 7.0 which is an intelligent charger, able to condition a battery as well as maintain a float voltage 24x7 without causing any harm to the battery itself.

(As an aside, I'm not sure how a battery can be given a clean bill of health when it has a 40% charge and struggles to start your car!)

Good luck.

acarney

Well they claimed the the automatic test showed it was good and that it was charging fine, just that it was only at 40% so they suggested I drive around awhile... Take it for what it's worth.

It's a daily drive to work and back, but it's been bone chillingly cold here in Washington state lately and most days that's the only drive the car gets. Been busy and happy to stay inside lately & when I run out it always seems to be with someone else and they're driving. AutoZone swapped out the battery since it has been less then 3 years & they couldn't even get a read on it because it was so dead. Maybe I just had a less then great battery... We'll see how this holds up & if I notice it progressively getting weaker on starting...

jkwelsh

Cold temperatures will definitely cause an already weak battery to fail much quicker, or even kill it completely. Is the car garaged overnight?

georgeb944

1) Charge your battery fully, using a 10 amp or greater intelligent charger. If you're worried about getting to work on any morning, connect the charger overnight.

2) When you have the battery charged, find your clicking. That is the cause of your drain. You're lucky in that it is a solid failure, happening all the time. It is most likely a relay, remove the lower knee panel on the driver side so you can get your head in there to listen. A clicking relay can also be felt with a finger on the top of the relay.

3) Profit!!!

503VR6

I have this issue in my 2006 A4 B7
I started hearing this click sound just like you described coming from the driver's side under the dash. It's a soft click and in my situation it stops when I lock my doors with the FOB. So maybe the alarm? Idk but I'm getting tired of dealing with a dead battery every day now

georgeb944

Could be anything... pull out a wiring diagram and a voltmeter to look for a parasitic draw (search youtube on how to do that).

In the meantime, disconnect your battery everytime you park the car and you might come back to a live battery when you need it.

beauregaardhooligan

Maybe a stuck switch for something like a seat adjustment?
Charge the batt and pull fuses one at a time till it quits.