Drain on battery

apw99

Hi - A friend of mine has a 8v 1998 Golf GTi. The battery keeps dying and it is only 1yr old. The alarm was disconnected by the AA man but it still has a drain on it. The radio has a feed from before the ignition but i doubt if it's that myself. We plan to check the boot-light is not staying on and then try to isolate the problem - has anyone any experience of this happening on Golf MK3s? Any suggestions how to proceed. Was going to put a meter inline with the battery and start pulling fuses to identify which circuit at least..there might be a short somwhere along the way....
Any ideas?

thanks

crosstownk

apw99 wrote: »

Was going to put a meter inline with the battery and start pulling fuses to identify which circuit at least.

Good place to start.

Use an amp clamp rather than putting a meter in line - if you can.

It may be a stuck S contact. This is a contact in the ignition switch that is only released after the key is withdrawn. I've seen a few of these stick in the past on VWs - I just can't remember whether it was more prevalent in MkIV or MkIII models. The solution is a new ignition switch. I'm not saying that this is your problem but it's something you should be aware of as you test.

Fishtits

Forget the Amp clamp, never seen one that's accurate.

Disconnect the earth lead overnight to prove that the battery is OK first - huge number of sh*te batteries out there at the moment - even new ones.

Use an in line Ammeter to test the draw, if excessive, go the usual route, pluck fuses until the culprit circuit is identified, then narrow it out.

Usual suspect on VW's is a replacement radio, red & orange leads need to be reversed - VW in their wisdom (f*ckwits) adhere to a mirror image of ISO std.

apw99

very good - never heard of that S contact before so that will help. Also good idea about the battery. It tends to take 2 days to flatten so I'll work away with the meter and try to isolate. many thanks, I'll post the fix whenever we get to it.
cheers-apw99;)