Strange electrical issue

Schoust

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Location
Litchfield County
TDI
00 Jetta Alh 5spd
Ok so my 00 Daily Jetta has been trouble free for the last 60k. The car has 285k and is driven 80 miles daily. I recently updated my Injecter tips and thought I would do a diesel purge and since it was time to change the filter I went for it. Everything seemed to be fine until I shut the car off and turned the stereo on to listen to some tunes when all of a sudden the music got staticky and the car shut down as in No power? I attempted to troubleshoot with my meter starting at the fuses in the battery compartment when suddenly the radio came back on and the power returned? ***?? Anyone have any ideas on this one? This thing was stone cold DEAD! I drive the wheels off this car and it's been preaty reliable (knock on wood) Any ideas? Maybe the alternater? I have already changed the main power relay so I know it's good? I'm stumped and really do not want to get stuck..
Thanks
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Put your meter on the battery, not running sitting in the driveway a new battery will be around 12.6-12.8. You really don’t want to see it below 12.2-12.3.

With the car running put the meter on the alternator stud you should be seeing 14.0-14.3, anything below 13.4 or so and your alternator is headed for the graveyard.

Did you disconnect anything while doing the purge and filter?
 

Schoust

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Location
Litchfield County
TDI
00 Jetta Alh 5spd
Checked the battery and it was fine. The alternator seemed to be fine too.
That's what has me worried. Is there anything that could entirely kill power to the car? When I say stone cold dead I mean dead. No dash lights nothing! It's almost as if there was an auto reset circuit breaker somewhere in the wiring that somehow opened and over the course of time reset. I have to look in the manual and see but I'm thinking there isn't anything like that. Anyone else have any ideas? Is there something in the wiring maybe the Ecu?
What can kill all of the power like that?
 

joep1234

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Location
NC
TDI
former '04 Beetle TDI, now 2x '15 Audi Q5 TDI's, 2007 Dodge Ram 4x4 6.7
X2 on the bad ground. Clean the one under the battery box and check the engine grounds.
 

ffemtp

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Location
SE WI
TDI
2001 Jetta GLS TDI Deceased 11/2012, 2004 Jetta GL TDI Sold, 2012 Jetta TDI (Retruned to VW), 2004 Jetta TDI GLS 5spd
I think the car was trying to tell you it didn't like your choice of tunes! :D

I'd start with the battery cables - pull them off, clean the posts and clamps. Check the fuses on top of the battery to make sure they don't have any flaky connections. Then move on to the ground points. There are a number of them on that car.
 

Schoust

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Location
Litchfield County
TDI
00 Jetta Alh 5spd
New battery cables are clean grounds are solid! This ones gonna take a bit more to figure out. I have also changed the main power relay. I did notice a bit of fluctuation in the lighting from time to time not sure that means anything though. I would blame the alternator but can it kill power to the entire system? I lost my clock and mileage settings which tells me I had a total lose of power. Strange.. The car runs better than ever no codes and great performance.. Now I have to worry about the thing dying on the Highway.. I can only hope that the next time she kicks I'm right where I was in the driveway.
 

Duke_962

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Location
Northern new jersey
TDI
2003 jetta 5spd
Make sure the under hood battery fuse panel isn't burning up. Look at the 10 mm nuts on the main power wires going into the car and check the bottom to make sure it's not melting. When you said "Stone dead" did the clock reset or you had nothing happening when you turned the key on? Did the parking lights work? If nothing happened with key check the connector on the ignition switch and the wires for burning or discoloration. Can you duplicate the condition or was it a fluke?
 

Schoust

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Location
Litchfield County
TDI
00 Jetta Alh 5spd
Checked all of harness and the fuses above the battery all look fine. When I say dead I mean dead the clock lost its time nothing in the dash worked. It was if the battery was disconnected st the negative terminal. You know I did have an issue a while back when I tried to start the car and it was as if the neutral safety or something was holding it out.
Can it have something to do with the ignition switch???
 

Duke_962

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Location
Northern new jersey
TDI
2003 jetta 5spd
If the clock went dead most likely not but they do burn up but more of a loss of load reduction circuit. Has it happened again? Or is the car still dead
 

Schoust

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Location
Litchfield County
TDI
00 Jetta Alh 5spd
When I say the clock went dead along with the entire electrical system it was momentary and came back after a moment. The car runs fine with the exception of what occurred the other day,(Lose of power). Also the issue with it not starting that time a couple weeks back.
I am going to have really go over the electrical systems and the respective grounds to figure out just what is happening. I never minded driving older cars with high miles as long as the ran good and looked half way decent. However when the electrical system starts to go buggy and there are no signs it may be time to start thinking about a newer more reliable rig...
 

Duke_962

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Location
Northern new jersey
TDI
2003 jetta 5spd
drive it till it breaks, fix it and keep driving it lol. Newer cars will only have more electrical systems to break and to a high cost to fix. keep the old ones running....
 

wonneber

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
"New battery cables are clean grounds are solid!"
Why were they replaced and when?

"Checked all of harness and the fuses above the battery all look fine."
By 'checked' do you mean you looked at them? (not checked with a meter, not being sarcastic)

A loose connection can do what you saw.
The fuses over the battery is a start.
With the car running, lights and fan on high, I would measure the voltage across the fuses.
Measure at the connectors on the wires, not the studs.
I would not want to see more then a few tenths of a volt.
Next measure from the positive post of the battery (not the terminal) to where the battery feeds the buss in the box and to the opposite side of the heavy fuses.
Again no more then a few tenths of a volt.

Last, measure from the negative post of the battery to the body of the car. There should be a ground stud in the front left for the head lights.

These tests should confirm the condition of the main power connections.
Next would be under the dash. Not as much fun there.
 
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