[Vwdiesel] 89 Jetta naD Battery drain

[James Hansen]

With the car, and keyswitch off, pull the wire from battery to the
alternator.  That sounds about right for a bad diode in the alternator.
-james

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Doyt W. Echelberger
Sent: May-02-11 12:56 PM
To: Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] 89 Jetta naD Battery drain

Several times in the past month the battery on my 89 Jetta Dna (100K miles) 
has been too low to crank over the engine. And the battery is about 2 years 
old, in warranty and tests good.

I tried to remedy this situation by checking the charging system (which was 
OK), actually measuring the battery ability to charge and discharge,  (no 
problems), and then for good measure and (because it was Easter and the 
switch felt loose) I replaced the ignition switch module.  The tear-down 
proved me correct. The old switch WAS broken and didn't crisply click 
through the starting stages.

OK, that should have fixed the problem, right? The glow plugs were staying 
on and were eating up the battery, right?

Yesterday I went out to start the car and the battery was too low to crank 
it over, just like before. But I DO have anew ignition switch.

I figure the next step is to test every circuit with an ammeter for current 
flow, with engine off and nothing turned on, starting right at the positive 
terminal of the battery.

But I thought I'd poll the list first, for BTDT and alternate approaches. I 
KNOW you guys, as a group, are way smarter and more experienced than I am.

Doyt Echelberger 


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