2002 jetta battery dies in two days

calboy

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2012
Location
Cottonwood, CA
TDI
97 and 2002 four door
when I park the car for 2 or3 days the battery goes dead. Then I charge the battery and disconect the positive cable from the post and barley touch the cable to post you can see smale spark. Some thing is discharging the battery?
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
There will always be some current draw, since the car has a clock and a radio and various comfort modules that draw some current even when off.

So, there will always be a small spark when reconnecting the battery.

VW has published a Technical Service Bulletin specific to finding rogue current drains on cars like ours that have a bunch of comfort modules that need to be asleep when measuring... the old way of hooking up an ammeter or voltmeter or testlight in series with the battery won't work well.

Can't remember the number... but if you search on "Current Drain" you should find tons of threads here... and some of them will reference the official Service Bulletin. :)
 

fruitcakesa

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Location
Vermont
TDI
04 jetta 5 spd wagon
when I park the car for 2 or3 days the battery goes dead. Then I charge the battery and disconect the positive cable from the post and barley touch the cable to post you can see smale spark. Some thing is discharging the battery?
How old is your battery?
My 03 kept losing charge and it turned out that the battery was old enough that it would not take a full charge.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Except that it starts with the typical (and poor, IMHO) advice to just get out the ole multimeter and put 'er in series. :) :)

I would agree with a previous poster that it's a good idea to start with the basics: is my battery even healthy enough to stay charged? Is my charging system working? Many battery shops will test both your battery and your charging system for free, in the hopes that they get to sell you new parts. :)
 

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
Does your car have a Monsoon radio system. The amp. in the trunk have been known to not go asleep when everything does. My son has an '05 Beetle that has the same problem. Bought new battery, had the alternator tested and checked the starter thinking something in one of them was sticking causing the voltage draw. Hooked up an amp meter and started pulling fuses and letting the car go asleep. When he pulled the radio and amp. fuses, the car can sit for 2 weeks and still start in the cold weather we has a couple of weeks ago. Turns out the amp. has had some water intrusion. He is considering creating a relay that will only power up when the car is started or drop the $'s for a new amp.
 

Blacktree

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Location
Central FL
TDI
'02 Jetta 5-spd
In addition to the above, you might also want to make sure the trunk light and interior lights are turning off when they're supposed to. Also make sure the mirror heaters and seat heaters are turned off, if you have them.
 
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