o6 jetta tdi is draining the battery with everything shut off. what would still be causing it to drain?
mattie mea asked:
Even when i pull every fuse out of the car and void the key, it still makes the light tester come on.
Even when i pull every fuse out of the car and void the key, it still makes the light tester come on.
bad battery and a bad short grounding it out hard to say ..hard to find by a good mechanic best bet is a shop and a good mechanic
Bad stater or ignition switch. Both of these can still draw power with out a fuse. Try taking the lead of the starter and see if you still have a draw.
If your battery is dying on you then you need to do some checks. Start your test by disconnecting the battery ground(this is one of those weekend jobs when you don’t have a lot of tools. By disconnecting one side of the battery – it is disconnected from the car. Now if it took a dayof sitting (lets just say for example)and when you tried to start the car the battery was dead or very low>whatever the case may be. So, everything after that is for accessories (headlights, fan motor in engine compartment and inside car(heater), stereo, etc.
Most likely it is the glowplug relay that needs replacing. They do not last forever and if they stick on (and depends if the electrical has been looked at before – sometimes lines get rerouted so that things work) VW had a problem in the early Rabbit years with electrical and water shorting out the fusebox. I fixed mine a few cars and it was down to knowing where to pound the dashboard to make something work. Very minor for me but basically unstealable because it would die on other drivers(and they don’t know what to do to fix it).
Secondly, it could be the alternator(if you are one of those people that “jump start” other cars with booster cables, you may have fried the alternator or caused an internal short inside the alternator.
If you don’t want to sit there on the driveway and mess around, then take it to the dealership and they can mess around with it. You and the mechanic will basically be doing the same work (seeking out the source)
But the difference of taking it to the shop (and going out and buying electrical stuff yourself) once you bought it, it is yours. Whereas, in the shop they can try various items and only charge for the items replaced.