daedalus said:
I also read my warranty booklet yesterday. The stock battery has a 4 year/48K mile warranty (or something like that). The 'magic eye' is black and I'm pretty sure the OEM battery is a sealed unit. I'm going to visit the dealer on Monday to see if it can be replaced under warranty. I believe the OEM battery is undersized for the application but I will live with it if they replace it for free.
It's a cruel, cruel world. I took the car to the dealer this morning to have the system checked. Their answer is that something is drawing current when the ignition is in the 'off' position and that is what is drawing down the battery. They pulled the radio fuse and the current draw stopped.
I tend to believe them since I have added a few after market gadgets: radar detector, XM-receiver, GPS, replaced the stock head unit with a Pioneer, scanner radio. OK, so I'm a gadget freak! My suspicion is that the XM receiver (an XM-Direct) is drawing the current all the time. All except the XM and the GPS are powered by a switched power source.
My weak memory tells me that there are 2 power leads on the XM, one hot and one switched. I probably tied them together because it was 'easier'. The problem is that the XM-Direct is a b***h to get to - I buried it up above and behind the glove box.
I figure I have three options:
1. Remove the glove box (again!) to check and rewire the XM
2. Remember to start the car every 2 days whether I drive it or not (back to the italics: weak memory)
3. Buy a new battery with a higher amp-hour rating
4. Remember to plug in a battery charger on weekends (back to italics yet again)
It's too cold for the glove box trick so I'm down to 3 choices. Kind of leaning to a more robust battery since I know I'll screw up on choices 2 and 4.
BTW - the dealer was Douglas VW in Summit NJ. I was nervous about getting raped but they did me right. They diagnosed the problem, didn't mention all of the accessories in their computer entry and didn't charge me a dime!