Random battery drain

[mafrif]

I have a 13 Passat SE 6M.

I've searched the archives. There were quite a few dead battery threads, and each of them had the battery replaced by VW, and most of the guys on here said that will not solve your problem, but the conclusion was never posted on the thread... So those weren't really helpful

The first time the battery went dead was when I was making quite a few shorter trips <6 miles. I jumped the battery and then drove 80 miles and parked it. It was reading 14.+ volts the entire trip, so it's charging good. 4 hours later it was dead again. I replaced my battery with a 8 year old used one from my A4. (It was Sunday morning at 6 am 30 miles from the closest dealer, I didn't waste my breath calling them). I tested the original battery and it was bad. So I thought it was just a bad battery and no real problem.

Fast forward two weeks. No problem at all with the used one till this morning. I leave the keys in my car all the time. It's either in a locked garage or on the farm where nothing is locked.

It was driven this last Sunday to Church, this Monday my wife took it to work and back ~15 miles, and this morning it's flat dead.. Around 7 volts.

What process is needed for it to go into sleep mode? Does the key need to be removed?

If it was happening every day it would be easier to solve, but randomly happening 2 weeks apart is the worst kind of problem.

 

[nois]

I have a 13 Passat SE 6M.
I've searched the archives. There were quite a few dead battery threads, and each of them had the battery replaced by VW, and most of the guys on here said that will not solve your problem, but the conclusion was never posted on the thread... So those weren't really helpful
The first time the battery went dead was when I was making quite a few shorter trips <6 miles. I jumped the battery and then drove 80 miles and parked it. It was reading 14.+ volts the entire trip, so it's charging good. 4 hours later it was dead again. I replaced my battery with a 8 year old used one from my A4. (It was Sunday morning at 6 am 30 miles from the closest dealer, I didn't waste my breath calling them).
Fast forward two weeks. No problem at all with the used one. I leave the keys in my car all the time. It's either in a locked garage or on the farm where nothing is locked.
It was driven this last Sunday to Church, this Monday my wife took it to work and back ~15 miles, and this morning it's flat dead again. Around 7 volts.
What process is needed for it to go into sleep mode? Does the key need to be removed?
If it was happening every day it would be easier to solve, but randomly happening 2 weeks apart is the worst kind of problem.

The car must be locked to go into sleep mode. The keys should not be left near the car if you have KESSY or the battery will drain. This is in the owners manual, I believe.

 

[mafrif]

I don't have KESSY.

 

[nois]

I don't have KESSY.

The car needs to be locked to enter low-current draw "sleep mode".
Do you leave the key in the ignition and the car unlocked?

 

[mafrif]

The car needs to be locked to enter low-current draw "sleep mode".
Do you leave the key in the ignition and the car unlocked?

Yes, the keys are always in the ignition and car unlocked. I would believe that it needs to be locked to enter sleep mode, but the car has been fine the other 26 days I have owned the car, sitting in the exact same spot with the same daily trips.

HMMM.. everytime it has happened it's always been someone else driving it last. I wonder if all it needs is to remove the key and re-insert, which I always do, but others may not.

 

[pruzink]

I had a problem once with a battery drain issue. There are DC clamp on ampmeters (I work in a powerplant & borrowed one from our electrical shop), I just clamped the probe on the battery lead & pulled fuses one at a time until the drain stopped. It was a ground on a power seat switch.

 

[TDI2000Zim]

I had a problem once with a battery drain issue. There are DC clamp on ampmeters (I work in a powerplant & borrowed one from our electrical shop), I just clamped the probe on the battery lead & pulled fuses one at a time until the drain stopped. It was a ground on a power seat switch.

Bookmarked!

 

[JSWTDI09]

This is VW's "official" procedure for troubleshooting battery drain issues.

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

On a modern car, pulling fuses doesn't work well for a number of reasons. You need to monitor "sleep mode" current consumption, and if it is too high - you need to measure the current in each circuit by measuring voltage drops across the fuses.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[mafrif]

Thanks Don for the link.

I took it to the dealer yesterday. Original battery was junk, and they said my used replacement battery that I used is now junk too. It went into sleep mode three times while in the shop and was only drawing 5mA every time.

Hopefully it was just two battery failures, but I'm a little skeptical.

Without KESSY, they stated with car locked it should go to sleep within ten minutes. With the keys IN THE IGNITION, it will go to sleep within one hour.
So removing keys is not required.

Chad

 

[OntarioPassat]

2013 Passat Kessy(window, sunroof push and hold handle close)

Hello, i am an owner of a 2013 passat tdi highline six speed, kessy allows closing of sunroof and windows from the exterior door handle by maintaining contact. I have witnessed this on 2012 jetta. Mt 2013 passat only closes the sunroof. Why is this?

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Hello, i am an owner of a 2013 passat tdi highline six speed, kessy allows closing of sunroof and windows from the exterior door handle by maintaining contact. I have witnessed this on 2012 jetta. Mt 2013 passat only closes the sunroof. Why is this?

That's just the way Passats are. None of us have figured out how to enable remote windows - only the sunroof.

Not really sure what this has to do with the random battery drain thread, though.

 

[OntarioPassat]

my apologies for not being related to battery drain, i am having trouble posting. Thank you for answering.