Electrical problem? Really getting frusterated...

[brandon5]

Ok so i have a 92 golf 1.6td.

Over the past few days i've been having troubles with having enough charge to start my car. Everyday i've had to jump it then trickle charge it. The battery tested good. The alternator i got tested today and its good. I also checked all the wiring for the alt. So today i go outside start it up and i think the problem was solved by re-attaching a wire to the alt. i drive it around for like 30 minutes at least park the car, crank it but there is no charge at all. I honestly cant figure out whats taking the power away that quick.

Anything would be helpful,

Thank you.

Brandon

[drrtybyl]

Sounds like a faulty connection or something sucking juice out of the battery while parked.  Have you tested the voltage coming off of the alt after starting the car?

[brandon5]

yes i did, i forget what i got but i think it was 13.55v? if that sounds normal?

[smutts]

14.4v is more usual with a fully charged GOOD battery. How was the battery tested? If you disconnect the battery from the car and use a charger on it overnight, diconnect the charger for an hour and then see what voltage you get on the battery. 12 and a bit volts is good, 10 ish volts and you have a dead cell. Batteries can be quite weird with how they die.

[burn_your_money]

Car batteries have 6 cells in them, each one has 2.1 volts. A fully charged battery will have 12.6 V. If you check the voltage right after you have charged it it will read higher then 12.6V.

You should put a load on the battery and check the voltage at the same time.

Turn your car off, remove the + battery cable and put an ammeter in series with the cable and battery post. You should see less then 0.25A draw. If it's more then this, hook the battery cable back up and go to the fuse panel. Pull a fuse, check the amperage draw (just like at the battery), put the fuse back and move on to the next one. It will take a while but it will find the draw. You actually may want to start off by checking to see if the alternator is causing the draw.

[brandon5]

Im definitely going to do that tonight, thanks. I have tested the battery at CT they did a load test on it to and it tested good.

[somolovitch3]

Okay, Someone with a better memory than mine..... There was/are several posts about this both here and on the vortex,  Something about a corroded wire at the battery that was leaking down the case to ground?

Also the brushs and slip rings need a LIGHT burnishing to clean them? 3M green pad?

When runing you should see 14.4 volts at your dash volt meter that comes down to about 14.1 to 13.9 volts after 20 min. I only drive the dumb bunny on the weekends so it might not take that long on a daily driver.

One of these days I will get off my buns and post my solution(s) with pics of battery/ground/starter/alt syst.  Basicly all hot goes to starter moter post ( take a 10-1.50mm bolt drill and tap for 8-1.25 and thread the 10mm bolt over the 8mm starter post-use what ever lengh of 10mm for the number and size of lugs getting attached there). All grounds go to the top starter attachment bolt (use one from a car with AC, its longer enough). These inclued the 4 ga from th Alt hot post and the 6 ga from the alt ground bolt (the one with the braid that goes to the block). And the 4 ga to the relay pannel that I bult to handel the main lights, B/U lites (tired of replacing the switch on the tranny), and what evere else I feel needs to be relayed. And the 4 ga that goes from the top alt suport bolt at the head to ground.

END RANT

Like above said, see if there is a draw when car is, although a quarter of an amp seems a bit much. Radio off, alarm sys ok, dome/trunk/glove box lights turning off correctly? (DO NOT ask about the "iewhiutiuer" glove box light the wouldn't!

Let us know what you find, we will be there soon or later (MKI's LOVE US!)

[macka]

check your grounds, I had the same issue when I bought my car, I cleaned the grounds and replaced my positive battery lead, then I was good to go. Corrosion can get under the shielding so test resistance on your battery cables.

[brandon5]

What should the resistance be in the cables?

[macka]

Sorry I meant continuity test, the ohm metre should read 0.