Cars dead - only makes clicking noise and cluster lights flicker

[Richn83]

Right well I spent awhile out working on the car today had the stereo on fitted my R32 rear lights before doing this I turned the car over and drove it forwards.  just over an hour and a bit later once I had finished and while doing some VCDS checks and coding the car suddenly went funny the driver side mirror un-folded itself and an airbag warning came up. 

So I thought great the car flat, I got some jump leads and the girl friends car and had it hooked up for awhile and I managed to get the mirror to correct itself but the car wouldnt even consider turning over there was just a clicking noise from in the dash and the lights flickering on again and again but nothing from the engine bay.

Anyone got any ideas whats happened?  The car hasn't been used in a week but it turned over yesterday 5 minute drive, and then again this morning without trouble was running for about 30 seconds, and now nothing! 

HELP!! 

[danishmkvgti]

Battery flat, try another battery first of all, or let the car recharge overnight.
How did you fit the jumper cables to the car??

[Richn83]

I initially had them attached directly to the battery terminals as I could find a good earth on the engine block, but after that hadnt worked with the car left with donor car charging I moved the earth on my car down to the earth point below the battery compartment to the right of the DSG oil cooler.

So with the battery to flat to turn the car over there is a still a clicking of a solenoid?  and the lights flash on and off on the dash?  Is that correct in your experience jake?

[SteveP]

Yes that sounds like a dead battery to me.

[mark01348]

id be checking voltages with multimeter and consider volt drop test to rule out poor earth etc

[LouCyffer]

Rich, put multimeter across the battery terminals to confirm it's flat. The solenoid will still click as it taks very little current. I'b be inclined to hitch up a trickle charger & go for an overnight charge.

[Richn83]

Right thanks for all the posts fellas, car is now back up and running!  I tried to jump it with the girlfriends car but it didnt give enough voltage to fix the issue, so I swallowed my pride and called out the RAC (I have it free with my bank) I also cant trickle charge the car as its in a communal parking area 

So he came attached his booster pack and it fired straight up run for 10 minutes and he checked the battery condition which was good (cars still on original battery stamped 26 week 2005) and waited for all the computers to shut down and saw a standard drain of 0.2-0.3 amp after 20 minutes, so everythign is good, clearly my work last night stereo and ignition on for 45 minutes and my work today stereo on for 2 hours while doing the lights and then scanning and coding with ignition on for hour after not driving the car for a week was too much for it! 

The clicking just panicked me especially as I have been playing with the gateway and around the fuse and relay box.

[johnboy07]

Glad to see its all sorted mate and didnt cost you anything