[Vwdiesel] Cont'd Electrical gremlins - bad ground?

[Harmon Seaver]

On Fri, Nov 08, 2002 at 07:44:36AM -0500, Lee Hillsgrove wrote:
>
>   It almost sounds like a light may be getting left on or something else is
> draining the battery. If you are getting 13.9 V while it's running, and the
> battery is indeed good, it should maintain a charge overnight. On the other
> hand, almost 12 volts when not running isn't that bad, so you may have some
> other problem.

   "almost 12" is a dead battery. In fact, 12v is a dead battery. A good battery
will read a minimum of 12.5v, but should read 13.5 when fully charged. And I'd
be suspicious at only getting 13.9v charging -- I usually see 15-16v with most
cars. I've had defective alternators that only put out about 13v.