Golf 1.9TDi Flat Battery after left unused for 2 -3 days

[Dravinger]

Hi,

Can anyone help me out please? My golf has a habit of flattening its battery if it has been left unused for more than 2-3 days. I have had the VW assist people out and they can find nothing wrong with the car or battery. Everything they could possibly turn off was turned off and there was very little current drawn from the battery. Guessing that this would happen again over Christmas I charged the battery up on Christmas eve (I know, I'm sad) and today its flat again.

I have checked the boot light as well and no it doesn't stay on with the boot closed!

Any suggestions before an expensive trip to a main dealer?

[RickT]

Few things to check...

If the cars parked in the a garage.... do you lock the car?? if you dont lock the car the ECU and modules on the car dont shut down and stay active draining power... (these normally shut down from 1 hour to 3 hours after the cars been locked.)

One other thing..

is it a NEW MK5 golf??

if so theres a know problem with the headunits which turn on after the car has been parked a few hours and then turn off again..

VW offer a Free re-flash of the firmware on the headunits.(not sure on headunit types)

the reason i know this is because i have had VW assist out today as i dont think i had locked the car in the garage hence the reason for the flat battery. then we got chatting about loads of things VW/Audi related for the next 3 hours!!

RicKT

[Dravinger]

The car is locked and on the driveway so I don't think it's that. The car is also a Mk4 Golf (1998).

Having searched around another forum I may have found the answer - the car was fitted with a tracker from new and it is possible that the backup battery has failed and the charger circuit is draining the battery.

Problem now is to find and disconnect it!

Any ideas?

[bluetwo]

i had a '98 mk 4 which would drain the battery after about a week, traced it to the ultrasonic alarm thingy. if that was not on it would last longer. good luck.

[devonutopia]

Also, aftermarket head units can drain the battery if the proper yellow wire / red wire swap isn't done on the radio's wiring that plugs into the ISO blocks.

[RickT]

how have you got on with the tracker?? found it yet??

RicKT

[Dravinger]

Not found it yet - boot out, glove box and most of the dashboard but still can't find it. Ended up ringing the really 'helpful' people at Tracker who would not talk to me as the tracker wasn't registered in my name! After a few more calls they and one from the previous owner I was told it was "3 feet from the passenger door" so it could be anywhere in the car! Tracker have said they will send out a service engineer to change the batteries for £80 and they have said the battery life of a tracker is between 5 an 10 years so there are probably other cars out there with this problem.

[sjpryor]

Hi, I have the same problem with my Mk4 Golf (1998) GT TDI, but when it is cold overnight i.e. less than 4 degrees Celsius its worse and drains the battery over night (~16 hours) enough that it won’t start the next morning.

It has been in the garage 3 times and I have done several checks myself, but nothing abnormal can be found.

My car is fitted with a 80Ah battery, so for it to drain overnight from fully charged, enough for it not to start, something must be drawing ~2.5 Amps over the 16 hour period.

I have monitored the current drain on the battery with an ammeter over a 12 hour period (it was a cold day so the car should have been exhibiting the fault) and the most it drew was 0.25A but most of the time it was only drawing 70mA.

I have removed several of the fuses overnight. Radio, All heaters, Ancillary electronics i.e. boot light, glove box light, cigarette lighter, internal/door lights etc; and this has made no difference.

The battery drain occurs regardless of whether I leave the car locked or unlocked (thought it might have been the alarm).

It’s not the battery because if leave the battery disconnected for several days, then reconnect the car starts fine. The alternator has been tested by the garage, they say its fine, and it is charging the battery at 14V when the engine is running.

I have had my car for over 5 years and been living with this problem for 2 years; I found investing in a portable jump starter (which I take every where!) has made it more bearable.

Does anyone know how I can find out whether my car is fitted with a tracker, in case I’ve got the same problem?

Dravinger, did you ever find your tracker? If so did disconnecting it fixed the problem?

I did read on another forum that the Mk3 golf had a problem with an earth strap on the gear box, does anyone know if this could be an issue with the Mk4 in case I have some funny earth loop?

Anyone got any other ideas?

[Dravinger]

Hi,

Sounds very much like the problem I've got - yes, I've got a portable jump start too just in case too!

From some posts on another forum the favourite spot seems to be
in the boot, or under the steeing column.

Tracker, unsurprisingly, are not being very helpful over this and after over a week of ringing and leaving messages I'm still waiting for them to call me back with an appointment to remove the damn thing.

If I manage to find it in the meantime I'll let you know

[Dravinger]

I finally found and removed the tracker about 2 weeks ago (It was located by the steering column) and since then I don't seem to have had the problem. One morning this week the temperature dropped to -9degrees C on the car thermometer and I didn't expect it to start if I still had the problem. I turned the ignition key and after a brief pause the car started OK

For the technically minded the tracker's battery was well and trully knackered and it was a lead acid and not a Nicad. The battery was rated at 6v 1.2Ah so I put a 22R load across it and measured the volts. it dropped from 6v to 2v in less than 30 seconds - the load was drawing 270mA e.g about a quarter of what the battery was rated at.