Batt drain problem

To be honest, even if the radio remained on for two days, it does not draw enough current to drain a car battery of any decent capacity.

Since you are electronically inclined, measure the current the battery is drawing while off. See if what the VW Garage is saying makes sense. It would have to draw more than an amp to significantly drain a battery in two days.

If it is drawing that much current when off, makes sure no short in the wires upstream of the radio. If not disconnect the radio, again check the drain on the battery.

If not drain, get rid of the radio, might me in warranty if a 2004. Even so aftermarket radios are often cheaper and better than originals. Or go to a boneyard and pick one up very cheap.

This should do it......let us know.

Joe

Depends how loud you leave the volume :-)

Anyway, don't discount the radio. A bloke I worked with had exactly the same problem. Turned out that the radio was drawing significant current, even when 'off'.

Having removed it, he found that one of his kids had been 'posting' coins into the cassette slot, and one was causing a partial short around the power input :-)

Al.

If a power amp is running full time even if it is not being driven, it could easily do it.

Put a amp meter on the battery and then pull the radio fuse. If the drain does not go down enough keep trying fuses one at a time until you find the one with the big drain. Keep in mind that a three year old battery may just be hitting the end of its life. You also should check out the voltage off and the voltage when running. It should be something like 12.5 off and

You need to measure parisitic drain (that is the drain when the key is off, doors closed, everything off that you would normally turn off). You must let it sit, measuring the drain for at least an hour or so, with periodic checks to see what the drain is. Chart these, make a log, whatever.

Any drain over 70 MA (that's 0.070 amps) is considered to be high, but you will probably find that there is an initial high drain that goes away after about 5 to 15 minutes. This initial high drain is normal.

He has replaced the battery, hasn't he?

'he found that one of his kids had been 'posting' coins

You gotta laugh. Thanks for you help

UKD

No she hasnt actually Pete. But why would an old battery be prone to draining? Thanks for your help.

UKD

Thanks Joe. Good practical advice. Cheers

UKD

Well, it's getting along in years, so to speak. Not unreasonable to have it go at 4 years, which is right about... now!

That would be my first guess.

I have seen that! Battery could charge up but would not hold a charge over time with nothing connected to it. I could measure voltage on the battery case! It helped after I cleaned up any acid on the case, but the battery was just bad.

Always check the part before buying another!

start with the easy stuff.

glove box light trunk light unplug the radio for a few days and see what happens.

Polo... I have no clue what they look like. Just not a USA vehicle.

Cheers Lost. It's easy to overlook the obvious. Good point. Thanks. I think over there the Polo was called the Rabbit. Could be wrong.

UKD

Lost >start with the easy stuff.

Nope, the Rabbit was a rebadged A1 Golf (or A5 Golf, more recently)

nate

Oh right. Cheers. I've often wondered why the same car sells better in another country with a different name. Odd really.

Nate Nagel wrote:

It is likely the radio, had same issue with aftermarket unit on 2008 R32. The computer does not recognise the unit and keeps trying to handshake after the ignition is switched off. The only solution is replacement with a compatible unit.