Battery drain

ROLSON · Jan 21, 2018

I have a battery drain on my 2001 jetta. Getting 0.19-0.20 amp draw. I have pulled the fuses from the fuse block and nothing. Pulled the green fuses at battery and nothing. Also disconnected the black wire (alt.) And nothing. Any help would be appreciated. I have been searcging the forums for hours trying to figure this out and nothing thus far.

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Vince Waldon · Jan 21, 2018

Because your car has various modules that need to go to sleep... and will wake up if you pull fuses... the "fuse pulling with a meter in series" method of finding a rogue current drain won't work very well, if at all.

Instead, Volkswagen put out an official Technical Service Bulletin that uses your multimeter in mV mode to measure current in each circuit with all the fuses in place and the car undisturbed for several hours (so that everything goes to sleep and stay asleep):

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/TSB_27_08_04_Matrix.pdf

Tdijarhead · Jan 22, 2018

Wow , Vince is that bulletin in the 101 section or a sticky? I’ve never seen it before.

wonneber · Jan 22, 2018

How long does the car sit unused before it will not start or what is going on?

ROLSON · Jan 22, 2018

In about 2-3 days it wont start cause of the drain depending on the weather. If i leave it for a week its stone dead. If its really cold outside like -35 Celsius it will crank too slow to catch after about 8 hours while im at work.

ROLSON · Jan 22, 2018

Also when i get home tonight ill try what the tsb says

Vince Waldon · Jan 22, 2018

Tdijarhead said:
Wow , Vince is that bulletin in the 101 section or a sticky? I’ve never seen it before.

Don't think it's a sticky, but it's been archived as a pdf in the documents side of the pictures server for a while now.

I've probably pointed about 100 folks to it, over the years.... every time I see a "I've pulled fuses and..." thread.

joep1234 · Jan 22, 2018

The amplifier, if it has a Monsoon radio, may be the problem. It is a common problem. Pull the radio fuse and see if it goes away. My son has the same problem on his '05 Beetle and it will crank the next morning if he pulls the fuse and is dead if he doesn't.

ROLSON · Jan 22, 2018

Ok so just unplugged the amplifier and thats not it

ROLSON · Jan 22, 2018

Just measured all fuses at fuse block inside drivers door like the tsb says. All are good. Im stumped..

wonneber · Jan 23, 2018

ROLSON said:
I have a battery drain on my 2001 jetta. Getting 0.19-0.20 amp draw.

I can't believe the above draw kills the battery that fast.
If its a bad battery maybe.
Can you try disconnecting the battery to see if it holds a charge?
Measure the battery voltage when disconnected and before reconnecting.
I assume this is your only car and need it to get to work.
You mentioned having "disconnected the black wire (alt.)"
Can you disconnect it at the fuse box on top of the battery and check for a current draw from the battery to that black wire?
I'm thinking possible bad diode in the alternator.

ROLSON · Jan 23, 2018

Yeah ill try that tonight. I did isolate the alt and didnt change the draw. its not really my only car but its my daily. I have a truck but shes a pig on fuel lol. It drains it in about 3 days. But when its really cold out it will drain it enough for me to just get a few cranks but its too slow for it to catch.

ROLSON · Jan 23, 2018

Also the battery is new and has been tested

wonneber · Jan 23, 2018

ROLSON said:
Also the battery is new and has been tested

And its the correct group 94R battery?
I'm running out of ideas.
When you checked the fuses inside the drivers side door did you latch the door closed with a big screw driver to shut the lights?
Some modules stay on for a while so you still have to wait a bit, maybe 5 minutes. (unless someone knows otherwise)

ROLSON · Jan 23, 2018

Door is closed. So my drain is after the relay box on the 30 terminal on the bottom where the 2 wires come off. Also i have every fuse in the fuse panel out and im down to 0.16 amps so something is still draining. Unplugged ignition switch and multi function switch and got nothing. I have been unplugging switches and have gotten no where. Im starting to think i might have a wire that has rubbed through somewhere

Tdijarhead · Jan 24, 2018

Check under and around the battery tray, there are a couple of wires there that get rubbed. Also why you have that tray off clean up the grounds, probably won’t help with your issue but it’s good preventative maintenance.

Vince Waldon · Jan 24, 2018

Yeah, once you've eliminated the usual I guess one has to move on to the unusual.

160 mA with the car fast asleep for several hours is a bit more than is usually reported, but I am a little surprised that small a draw is flat-lining your new battery overnight.

In any event, I wonder if there's some "after market" wiring somewhere that's missing on the fuse tests. Common suspects might be:

- aftermarket stereo
- aftermarket subwoofer amp
- aftermarket CD changer in the trunk
- powered trailer wiring adapter
- GPS tracker under a seat somewhere, radar detector, backup camera, dash cam kinda stuff

Random thoughts!

Tdijarhead · Jan 24, 2018

How about after market lights?

BobnOH · Jan 24, 2018

Excessively dirty battery?
I thought that TSB covered this situation, of course I haven't read it.

ROLSON · Jan 24, 2018

Wires from battery to relay box are good. The battery will be stone dead after 3 days. Overnight it will drain enough for a slow crank but not fast enough to start but has to be very cold outside. Right now it will fire up in the mornings but i wanna fix it before we get another cold snap. I have aftermarked stereo and subs but disconnected all of it and no change. It has aftermarker fog lights from the previous owner but i disconnected them cause the relay is toast. I also have aftermarket hid headlights disconnected them and no change. My radar, dash cam all that crap is disconnected. I just cant win with this thing haha.

ROLSON · Jan 24, 2018

Battery is new and i also topped it up cause the fluid was low. Battery has also been tested and passed

aja8888 · Jan 24, 2018

On those aftermarket lights, have you removed the toasted relay and made sure the power wire to it is isolated or removed?

KrashDH · Jan 24, 2018

joep1234 said:
The amplifier, if it has a Monsoon radio, may be the problem. It is a common problem. Pull the radio fuse and see if it goes away. My son has the same problem on his '05 Beetle and it will crank the next morning if he pulls the fuse and is dead if he doesn't.

ROLSON said:
Ok so just unplugged the amplifier and thats not it

This was where my drain was coming from as well.
I wired in a relay to trigger the amp on when the key is switched.
Might be worth it to do this anyway.

Edit: Just saw that you disconnected the entire system...

ROLSON · Jan 24, 2018

Yeah my fog lights are completely isolated. I pulled the wires off when i found out they didnt work. I pulled the ground wire for my hid relay as well. No change.

BobnOH · Jan 24, 2018

So you draw close to 200 mA after 2 hours of sitting, but we still need to isolate it.
Did you try disconnecting the big wire to the alternator? Starter?
We did pull the big fuses on the battery, still draining after 2 hours. Is that fuse holder clean (it would have to be pretty crappy to draw current with the fuses out)?

ROLSON · Jan 24, 2018

I figured the drain is inside the car. On the relay box if i disconnect the wires fron terminal 30 the drain goes away. Everything in the engine bay is good.

jayb79 · Jan 24, 2018

Is the alarm working? If it is then it is ready for sleep. It seems like the car is not going to sleep. If i remember correctly pre-sleep draw is close to .2amp. Door and or hood switches as well as the factory radio not being seated in place properly are all things that will keep it from going to sleep.

ROLSON · Jan 24, 2018

As far as i know alarm works fine. Honks when armed. Does the alarm have its own module? Or is it throigh ths comfort module? On these cars

wonneber · Jan 24, 2018

ROLSON said:
Battery is new and i also topped it up cause the fluid was low. Battery has also been tested and passed

New battery was low on acid?
What brand is it?
What's the group# and CCA on the label?

ROLSON · Jan 24, 2018

It was low but not really low. If that nakes sense. Its a napa legend i cant remember the number or the cca. It has a high cca number from what i can remember. Ill have to check it.

Battery drain

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