Hey all, I have an 01 Jetta Wolfsberg with the 1.8T, we recently purchased a new Jetta and the 01 has been sitting around alot, if we don't drive it for a few days the battery will be pretty well drained and we will have to jump start the car. I've checked all the interior, trunk and glove box lights to make sure that they go off when they are supposed to, and I am hoping one of you could give me an idea about where else to look. Thanks
Battery drain assistance
Mar 02, 2004
7 Replies
Does the battery test good? If so it might be the radio or Monsoon amp if you have one. first step would be testing too see how many milliamps the battery has on it!
There was some discussion about this earlier. Apparently the current draw from the battery is lower if you lock the car as this shuts off some circuits that are otherwise left on (I have this from post in this NG and can not vouch for the accuracy).
VW often puts little solar panel chargers >
Us an amp meter. Put it in between the battery & the negative connector. It should be less thatn 0.05 amps when car off & ignition key out & everything locked up. If it is more start pulling fuses until the amperage goes down. when it drops alot that is the area to look at.
The spec is in the 12-18ma but anything under 40ma is good.
A VW all locked up should go 2 months with easy before it will not start. Solar panel chargers are a good idea but not good to cover up a problem or weak battery.
Perhaps the battery needs a long slow trickle charge to bring it back to full capacity.
Jo Bo
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