I know I know this is out of our comfort zone......

[rabbitman]

The car in question is a '00 Jetta 2.0L

We're trying to watch the Olympics and all is good but as soon as the relatives drive up in that car we get diagonal lines across the screen. They parked in different spots trying to fix it but to no avail.

The fix was to disconnect the battery and all was good again.......strangely enough the car also will kill the battery in 3-7 days . When he unhooked tha battery it also had a perdy good spark.

So I'm thinkin' something is transmitting a signal all the time which eventually kills the battery.

Any ideas on this? Thanks

(They have two of these cars and both kill battery's so I'm thinkin' it must be a common problem........)

[Syncroincity]

Wow, that's a good one... Maybe a built-in garage door opener, what's it called, Home-link something like that? Do the cars have aftermarket stereos and/or amps? Bluetooth devices, GPS systems, etc. Eliminate all non-stock items first.

 Easiest thing to do is hook up an ammeter in line to the battery main and start pulling fuses one at a time until you find the current draw. It's not much if it takes days to kill the battery. That will tell you what circuit it is, then you can figure out what is stuck on.

[Vincent Waldon]

what's it called, Home-link something like that?

Good catch... that's exactly what it's called... and as far as I know that's the only radio transmitter in the car.... if so equipped. 

My understanding is that it's powered by Fuse #5:

Comfort system, cruise control, Climatronic, A/C, heated seat control modules, automatic day/night interior mirror, control module for multi-function steering wheel, control unit in steering wheel (7.5A).

Might be a quick first step is to yank that fuse and see if your squiggly lines go away... NOTHING is more important than the Olympics!!

[rabbitman]

Wow that actually doesn't sound very hard.

Vince you say all that stuff is powered by the same fuse?

Thanks a lot I'll tell 'em

[Vincent Waldon]

Vince you say all that stuff is powered by the same fuse?

'Tis, and supposedly Homelink as well.

[the caveman]

Not sure what a home-link is? is it like on-star? Any-who i think it may have a Boomerang- other markets call it something else, but it's a GPS homing device to deter theft. I've seen lots of them cause battery drains ,plus they are always transmitting.

[rabbitman]

Well, he pulled the #5 fuse today but at the same time turned the ipod transmitter off so I don't know what fixed it.........next time we'll try one at a time.