Battery drain on Mk3 Golf Auto

[ACMIRANGE]

Can anyone be of any assistance?

I have a Mk3 Golf Auto (1996) which has a battery drain problem. After about 2 days the battery is dead.

I have had 2 seperate checks done on the electrics and neither checks found anything. With the engine switched off there is a negligable drain on the battery, but after 2 days there is not enought power left to power the dash clock.

The battery is new and the alternator has been checked and is functioning correctly. I have even put a video camera in the boot and the glove box to check the lighs switch off.

It's driving me up the wall (when it starts...) Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance

JD

[Crasher]

I usually find it is an aftermarket alarm or the radio.

[ACMIRANGE]

Hi Crasher

Unfortunately the car has no aftermarket alarm or stereo fitted. The stereo is the factory fitted version.

The problem started about 2 months ago and seemed to coincided with one of the cells in the battery going u/s. The battery was replaced but 2 days later it was flat. The most it has lasted with the battery connected is four days but it has flattened itself overnight.

I was interested to see that on a thread on this forum someone had a similar problem with a Polo and it was related to the auto box fuse., but I aint no mechanic, so this may be clutching at straws.

We are currently disconnecting the +ive lead on the battery after every trip, which is a pain, but as the car is not used every day this aint too bad. Need to get it sorted (or sold) by the winter....

Cheers

[Crasher]

When the drain was measured, was it done at a battery terminal using a multimeter and if so, what was the drain?

[ACMIRANGE]

Hi Crasher

The drain was initially 0.4amps but after 10 minutes this drops and hovers between 0 and 0.1amps. I checked it and also had it looked at by 2 seperate vehicle electrical engineers. The fuses have been pulled one by one while on the initial drain and this has not identified the problem.

Cheers

[Crasher]

I think a drain of 0.1 amp is a bit too high but would take at least a week to drain the battery. If the drain does not disappear when removing the fuses the drain will be on what is known as line 30 which is the unfused main power supply. I know it is new but do the test again and disconnect the alternator main power lead.