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Made A Stupid Mistake - Battery Content, Help!

GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
I’ll take a look! Thank you for all the help, I really appreciate it
 

GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
You may be on to something with the multi fuse. I quickly looked at those wires in the front of the fuse box but I didn’t see any fuses there. I’ll have to check that spot again
 

Carlosfandang0

Autocross Newbie
It essentially looks like this picture with large flat fuses between the threaded bolts, the appearance may differ slightly though,



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thatspsychotic

Ready to race!
Andddd the brand new 15lb Braille battery is now dead. Swapped the 11lb back in and it started right up.

All the lights are still on the dash though. So I definitely screwed something up.

I’m afraid I’m gonna have to take it to the dealer and pay out the ass to fix whatever is wrong.

I tested all the fuses and they all lit up the tester light

Check the alternator using a multimeter, battery voltage should be something like 14V when the car is running, and under 13V when engine is shut off. If your voltage is below 13V with the engine running, I'd say bad alternator or bad grounding somewhere.
 

GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
Check the alternator using a multimeter, battery voltage should be something like 14V when the car is running, and under 13V when engine is shut off. If your voltage is below 13V with the engine running, I'd say bad alternator or bad grounding somewhere.

I'll check this and the multi fuse out tomorrow. I also don't have a multi-meter and am unsure if I should drive this thing to autozone. Its my only means of transportation.

I'll see if I can bum a ride off someone.
 

GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
Its drawing power from somewhere now because both batteries are dead. Had to just take it off the street because of this snow storm coming and I wasn't able to start the car.

Luckily I put the key in the ignition, popped it into neutral and muscled it into the driveway without needing to start it
 

thatspsychotic

Ready to race!
Its drawing power from somewhere now because both batteries are dead. Had to just take it off the street because of this snow storm coming and I wasn't able to start the car.

Luckily I put the key in the ignition, popped it into neutral and muscled it into the driveway without needing to start it

Yeahh time to take it to a pro. Apologies to your wallet in advance.
 

GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
[emoji24][emoji24]
 

MKVInnie

Passed Driver's Ed
I concur with the Autozone test. They can test the battery and the charging system for free to rule out an alternator replacement, which would be much cheaper, and so you know that probably isn't the issue. I've been through something similar to this, not as bad of symptoms but I had to trickle charge my battery before every trip because the car would not charge it. Lost power steering one night as well. Replaced the alternator and battery myself but it still was dying out. I finally took it to an independent shop and they found that both the battery and alternator were fine but it was the grounding wire not being in the right spot causing the issue. The dealer didn't figure that out when I took it to them. I'm sure your batteries are fine as well but the system isn't charging it for some reason.

Also had similar stuff happen because my ground connection on Carlosfandango's picture wasn't tight after taking things apart ( different situation and my fault ). Maybe double check that everything is tight?

Is there a shop around you that specializes in electrical? I got lucky with that. I don't know what the dealer's order of operations is, but my local one wanted to charge me for the test ( which I did ), a new battery, a new alternator ( VW brand is excessively expensive vs Bosch ) and then keep testing. If they had their stuff together they would have found the grounding issue first. If you have to take it to them my advice is to charge the battery fully before you let them test it. Probably would be good to drive it there with your smaller battery ( to avoid tow cost ) and then tell them to use your fully charged heavier battery in their test. I'm really hoping everything works out for you, I know this is painful.
 

GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
The grounding wire seems to be in the OEM position which, I assume is right between the fuse box and the firewall on a metal bracket. Is this correct?
 

Carlosfandang0

Autocross Newbie
https://humblemechanic.com/best-way-perform-parasitic-draw-test/

I don’t think it’s a parasitic draw though as that wouldn’t likely be caused by what you’ve done! More than likely it’s a fried or non functioning alternator (maybe due to the main fuse at the multi fuse [F1] being blown), and as the car stays “awake” for a while after the key is removed or simply after the door is opened this would quickly deplete the battery if it’s not charging and as mentioned funky shit happens when the batteries are low on these cars such as non functioning or erratic modules, I had some similar symptoms on my SKODA yeti which were baffling but fixed as soon as I checked and replaced the battery and on my old Tdi too, the minimum you need is a multi meter to check the voltages, you need to make sure the car is in “sleep mode” when checking them (see video) as it will give misleading numbers if awake, obviously it would need to be running to check if the alternator it putting charge into the battery though!

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GreyGti1990

Ready to race!
I checked out the multi fuse and this is what I see:

Front:


Back:


Looks like the whole unit is soldered together. I’m gonna look up the part number and see how much a replacement is. Not even sure if the fuses are blown
 
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