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Flat battery!!!


Vman
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Went to take my GTI(07plate) out of my garage today and it would not start! It had been parked up there since Thursday. All the lights one the dashboard where lit and as soon as I went to turn the key nothing, the whole instrument panel went dim and also the highline display.

Called VW assistance and they sent out the RAC, which took about 30mins to arrive, he hooked up one of their big battery packs and the car started straight away. Flat battery. He said there is probably a drain from somewhere, but where!!! No interior lights had been left on and the interior boot light was switching off. The only thing I did different from when I normally put the car in the garage was not to fold the electric folding mirrors in. I also had the headlights set to auto and he said he had heard of the faulty controllers on this.

Also of note is about 1 week ago I went to B&Q, came out to the car, to find that the front windows on both sides had moved down appox 1cm. This I found really strange, might not be related but I thought that it’s worth mentioning.

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I had a similar problem a few months ago, left the car standing for week and went back to a flat battery !

Got it jump started by a friend and got the dealers to look at it the next day. They diagnosed that my retro fitted OEM sat nav was wired incorrectly and that it was drawing power even when the car wasnt in use. When i told them that it cannot be wired incorrectly ( same loom and can bus connections) they played dumb. I have since found out that the problem ( still havent bothered to sought it out!)could be for 2 reasons.

1. The can bus network doesnt know the sat nav is on the network, and theyfore sits in standby.VW will do this for me at a charge of £100. !!

2. The unit is faulty in such that it cannot always read the DVD and so is always scanning and never turning off.

Never the less the unit always worked brilliantly when used and when i leave the car for over a week i pull the fuse on it. ho hum ..................

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I had a few flat battery issues, if I left the car parked for three days or more it wouldn't start.

Fault was traced to the Tracker that was installed as it was taking power from a circuit that was turned live when the tracker was installed. It wasn't the tracker taking the power but other things on the now live circuit that was normally dead when the ignition was off.

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Moved the car for the first time since Sunday night when I had the RAC out, as I have been non stop painting the inside of my garage white(wish I had never started, much bigger job than I though). Anyway the car started first time, only things I did different when I parked the car up that time where leaving the electric folding mirrors out the sat nav system set to sat nav as oposed to CD, also I normally turn the unit off when I park up, to be honest I tend to turn everything off so there is no load on the battery when starting the car, which I will make sure I do from now on.

Thanks to everyone for there input.

Rob

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  • 2 months later...

Car has finally gone into the garage after 4 flat battery call outs to VW assitance. Took it to the dealer. First 2 times I was told they sometimes do this and its normal and have been turned away. Monday called them out again as battery was flat, told by my dealer that they had 2 other cars waiting for the chargers as VW will not pay for any warranty work until the battery is fully charged. OK. So the earliest I can get in is Thursday.

So went to take the car in on Thursday, flat battery again!! Call to VW assitance we are a bit busy and will be another 2 hours, this is 1 hour after making the call! Anyway I say can you just not send out an RAC guy with a jump starter so I can get to the dealers! And guess what they listened 10mins later an RAC guy turns up and I am on my way.

Anyway car is now in the dealers and there is a huge drain on the battery from somewhere but not sure where. Now the fun begins!!!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Vman, sorry to hear about your trouble.

I had similar problems with my GTI (March 2006)

Car would not start after being left for 6/7 days in the garage.

VW Assist came out on 9 Sept 2006. Mileage then was 5241

Again on 8 Oct 2006.

And again on 11 November 2006

Took car to dealer.

They had it for 3 days. Mileage now 7131

New battery and alternator fitted.

Seems ok now.

But I've only left it once for more than 6 days since. It started ok ............

I hope this helps.

Let us know how you get on.

Ludvig

Golf GTI 5dr; DSG; Candy white; 17ins Monzas, Cruise, Sat Nav, Bi-Xenon's, MFSW, Elec folding mirrors; Rear park sensors

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The dealer had the car just over a week in total. First they told me that there was definitely a drain on the battery and where unsure where it was coming from. Then they said that there was no drain and that the battery had 2 dead cells!! Ok. Problem was they did not have any new battery’s available, so they where getting a new one from another of there dealership and the car would be ready for collection at the end of the day, fair enough!

Then I get a call just before I am leaving to pick the car up to say that its not the battery and there is a drain from the OPS(on board power supply unit) I was told which basically controls central locking system.

What they think was happening was every time some one blips there car key, the on board computer wakes up to see whether or not the signal being sent out is for it. If not the on board computer goes back to sleep, mine was not!! This is what the dealer has told me.

1 week later I parked the car outside as I was swapping the cars round on my drive and the power siren that is used as a back for the alarm started going off, not flashing indicators for horn noise either. To me this sounds like there is still a drain on the battery and all they have basically done is changed the battery for a new one and this will all happen again in time.

I am already looking at the new Evo X with the dual clutch gearbox as a replacement if things continue to go wrong, it would just be a shame, as I really like the GTI.

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Vman, thanks for this update.

You must be very patient!

Re. "....to say that its not the battery .... "

You might want to tell them about my experience - and get them to fit a new battery and, check the alternator output.

BTW I did not tell you that when they had my car in they must have needed to remove the engine cover for some reason, alternator? Anyway, they cracked it and that was replaced under warranty. Covered in little oily finger marks as well. Useless.

Also, VW Assist gave me all that about the radio draining the battery and maybe the electronics in the throttle housing - rubbish. It's to do with these new "gel batteries" VW are using. I don't know how the alternator fits in. The bad thing is that it is produced for VW in the UK. Oh dear.

Like you I'm disappointed with VW

I'm concerned about how the new Mk 6 is going to turn out.

Winterkorn is apparently insisting on cost cutting - they had better leave the batteries, alternators and electrics (my electric mirrors played up early in the car's life) alone then!

Like you, I think I'll change and go for a Merc, Beemer or Lexus next time.

I hope VW people are reading this .........

I feel better now ....... :-)

Ludwig

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  • 3 years later...
The dealer had the car just over a week in total. First they told me that there was definitely a drain on the battery and where unsure where it was coming from. Then they said that there was no drain and that the battery had 2 dead cells!! Ok. Problem was they did not have any new battery’s available, so they where getting a new one from another of there dealership and the car would be ready for collection at the end of the day, fair enough!

Then I get a call just before I am leaving to pick the car up to say that its not the battery and there is a drain from the OPS(on board power supply unit) I was told which basically controls central locking system.

What they think was happening was every time some one blips there car key, the on board computer wakes up to see whether or not the signal being sent out is for it. If not the on board computer goes back to sleep, mine was not!! This is what the dealer has told me.

1 week later I parked the car outside as I was swapping the cars round on my drive and the power siren that is used as a back for the alarm started going off, not flashing indicators for horn noise either. To me this sounds like there is still a drain on the battery and all they have basically done is changed the battery for a new one and this will all happen again in time.

I am already looking at the new Evo X with the dual clutch gearbox as a replacement if things continue to go wrong, it would just be a shame, as I really like the GTI.

I am having the same problem with the '01 VW Golf TDI. Was reading through this when I read about your alarm going off. Apparantly mine was having this problem b/c when in the shop for the battery (both at the VW and local shops) thay said the car would be locked and the alarm would go off all of a sudden with no near it. It turned out to be a bad door sensor and was reading that it was opened or being opened while locked and would set off the alarm. (Only reason I didnt know was because I dont lock my car in the garage.) They believed that to be the issue draining the battery, fixed it, but unfortunately that wasnt the case but hope it helps you if you still have the car or have the same issues with another.

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