Hi

I have a strange problem and would welcome any suggestions please.

The battery on my Golf Mk II 1600 Auto has twice gone flat within a week or
so. Today I measured the current drawn from a fully charged battery fitted
in the car and was surprised to see 7.5A drawn with the ignition and lights
off. The engine was cold and the radiator fan was not running. Of course,
things like the clock will be on but should draw much less current than what
I am seeing.

My plan is to take out each fuse in turn to trace what is taking the current
but today it fell dark before I could get far. At one point I did see the
current slowly fall as though a capacitor was charging somewhere in the
system, but a return to 7.5A later suggested that I was just not making a
good connection.

Tomorrow I can restart the trial and error way of finding the fault. But if
anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. I am assuming that the
battery went flat because of a fault external to the battery, but maybe I am
misunderstanding the system, the 7.5A is a red herring and the battery is
faulty.

Thanks in advance

David

Aldrich wrote:
[snipped]
Today I measured the current drawn from a fully charged battery fitted
in the car and was surprised to see 7.5A drawn with the ignition and lights
off.
My plan is to take out each fuse in turn to trace what is taking the current
but today it fell dark before I could get far.
Tomorrow I can restart the trial and error way of finding the fault. But if
anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. I am assuming that the
battery went flat because of a fault external to the battery, but maybe I am
misunderstanding the system, the 7.5A is a red herring and the battery is
faulty.

Thanks in advance

David



A 7.5A drain without anything on is clearly too much. I'd return to your
testing tomorrow and try to narrow it down. Post what you find here.

Must be a short circuit if you know how to use an ammeter. Connected between
the battery pole and the wiring connector normally attached to it, but
disconnected for the test? Things should be getting warm somewhere! 100W is
being dissipated. If you just connected the ammeter across the two terminals,
the battery is rubbish and/or totally discharged or it would probably have
killed your ammeter.

Check how you're measuring this current, and if it's correct, check each circuit
in turn, as suggested.

--
Dave.
UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club
http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/
------
"Aldrich" wrote in message
...
Hi

I have a strange problem and would welcome any suggestions please.

The battery on my Golf Mk II 1600 Auto has twice gone flat within a week or
so. Today I measured the current drawn from a fully charged battery fitted
in the car and was surprised to see 7.5A drawn with the ignition and lights
off. The engine was cold and the radiator fan was not running. Of course,
things like the clock will be on but should draw much less current than what
I am seeing.

My plan is to take out each fuse in turn to trace what is taking the current
but today it fell dark before I could get far. At one point I did see the
current slowly fall as though a capacitor was charging somewhere in the
system, but a return to 7.5A later suggested that I was just not making a
good connection.

Tomorrow I can restart the trial and error way of finding the fault. But if
anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. I am assuming that the
battery went flat because of a fault external to the battery, but maybe I am
misunderstanding the system, the 7.5A is a red herring and the battery is
faulty.

Thanks in advance

David

Hi,
Not knowing any info about the car, my buddy has a car that is losing
power, and causing a flat battery.

It turned out to be the car alarm, the ignition wouldnt turn the car over
because it went through the battery.

It was a cobra alarm.

I hope this helps.



"Chris Bartram" wrote in message
...
Aldrich wrote:
[snipped]
Today I measured the current drawn from a fully charged battery fitted
in the car and was surprised to see 7.5A drawn with the ignition and
lights
off. My plan is to take out each fuse in turn to trace what is taking the
current
but today it fell dark before I could get far. Tomorrow I can restart the
trial and error way of finding the fault. But if
anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. I am assuming that
the
battery went flat because of a fault external to the battery, but maybe I
am
misunderstanding the system, the 7.5A is a red herring and the battery is
faulty.

Thanks in advance

David



A 7.5A drain without anything on is clearly too much. I'd return to your
testing tomorrow and try to narrow it down. Post what you find here.

Hi

Thanks for all the replies to my question. I have to confess that I made a
stupid mistake! I forgot to change the probe connections on the multimeter
from voltage to current so the 7.5A was nonsense. The actual drain was 4mA
which would be the clock.

Have fitted the new battery now and all is well except that now only one
side of indicators are working when the hazard switch is on (even though
both sides work normally when used with the indicator stalk).

Sorry to have bothered you.

David

The battery on my Golf Mk II 1600 Auto has twice gone flat within a week
or
so.
Get a solar powered trickle charger, which plugs in to the cigarette
lighter. Since you can't push start an automatic, a good starting system is
vital.

Tod

"VW Internet" wrote in message
k...
Hi,
Not knowing any info about the car, my buddy has a car that is losing
power, and causing a flat battery.

It turned out to be the car alarm, the ignition wouldnt turn the car over
because it went through the battery.

It was a cobra alarm.

I hope this helps.


7.5A - don't be daft - it's not a bloody heater!

What's your point ?


"DCA" wrote in message
...

7.5A - don't be daft - it's not a bloody heater!

ISTR he said the 7.5A was a misreading - he was using the meter wrongly.
Sounds as if he's got it sorted out now anyway, so no prob.

--
Dave.
UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club
http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/
------
"DCA" wrote in message
...

"VW Internet" wrote in message
k...
Hi,
Not knowing any info about the car, my buddy has a car that is losing
power, and causing a flat battery.

It turned out to be the car alarm, the ignition wouldnt turn the car over
because it went through the battery.

It was a cobra alarm.

I hope this helps.


7.5A - don't be daft - it's not a bloody heater!

"Tod" wrote in message
...
The battery on my Golf Mk II 1600 Auto has twice gone flat within a week
or
so.
Get a solar powered trickle charger, which plugs in to the cigarette
lighter. Since you can't push start an automatic, a good starting system
is vital.

Tod
Yeah - right!
If it is working OK - you DONT need one of those stupid things