Battery Drain Help

blackchrome

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Location
Toronto
TDI
Jetta
I've been having to boost my Jetta every couple days. 5 days ago I bought a brand new battery from downtown VW. last night the wife calls and said the car won't start. Thought it was a starter or fuel pump. But once I got to the car, the key fob wouldn't unlock the doors. That was the same problem before I put the new battery in the car. So...when CAA came to boost it, he said the battery was completely dead...had to wait 15 minutes before the car would start.
There is nothing plugged in. I always unplug my GPS, cell phone charger, ipod charger...nothing was plugged in.
Anyone with that problem before that can point me in a direction of where to start looking?
 

ruking

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Location
San Jose area, CA
TDI
2003 VW Jetta, 5 M, Reflex Silver: 09 Jetta, 6 Sp DSG, Candy White: 12 VW Touareg, 8 Sp A/T, Flint Gray
Well first of all (US anyway) return the battery for a full refund/replacement. There is a 12 month full replacement warranty with 60 mo prorated total warranty.

Obviously there is a switch ON that is allowing current to flow, pretty close to 24/7 as 5 days of current draw will kill any battery and I mean DEAD. So once you find the offending part/s and fix, I would use less auxiliary current drawing sources, i.e., GPS, cp charger, ipod charger etc, etc,.

VW charging systems are NOT designed to get your battery back up to 100%. Further aux draws compound the issue. Indeed whether you follow the advice or not, get and deploy a battery trickle charger (like Battery Tender Plus @ $50.). There are literally dozens if not hundred's of brands/models.
 

Tsagoth

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Location
Hanover, ON
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon Automatic
Put a clamp ammeter on it and check the alternator. I just went through this two weeks ago, turns out a bad diode in the alternator was giving me an 6.5 amp drain.
 

Zozep

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Location
Peterborough Ontario
TDI
2000 01M
I went through this too, was the alt. good thing I still have the receipt from Canadian tire... all that boosting and draining is no good for it, going to have to get a new battery...I imagine i'll be able to get it replaced under waranty from Crappy tire. shhhh :D
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
As above, the alternator can be your culprit. Failing that, you should get your hands on an ammeter, and check the current draw on the car.

If there is a current draw on the car unrelated to the alternator, then hook up the ammeter and start pulling fuses until the current draw goes away.

A headlamp can be a poor-mans ammeter if the current draw is high enough. Place the headlamp in series between the pos+ battery cable and the battery post, and start pulling fuses until the lamp goes out (current draw goes away).

Once you have isolated the circuit, start unplugging the items on that circuit to find the cause of the drain.
 
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