[LWJ]

Gents, (and occasional Gals)

Here is what I have:

My newly adopted daughter (23) and slightly disabled, has a 2014 TDI Beetle. It was her dads. He died. I got the child. She got the car.

Things were moving along pretty well until she called in a panic that her car, which she drives daily, had died. Well, it had a dead battery (11.x V). I charged it over a day and the car ran fine. It put out 14.5-14.12 V on idle. But we noticed that the battery voltage kept on decreasing over a few days. Until it ended up in my driveway DOA. I gave her my wife's car (wife not happy), charged the battery, and took it to a competent indy wrench.

They could find nothing except one of the key fobs was bad.

I took it to a WV dealership and had the same result. Odd, I think.

I swapped out to a good key fob and left it in my driveway for a day. A smart neighbor suggested a load test on the battery. I did this. It went from 12.5 or 12.5 to 12.2 with 2 minutes of high beams. Aha! Bad battery. Off to Costco. Grabbed a new AGM battery and I am feeling pretty darn smart. New battery measures 12.79 V. I start the car a couple times. Leave it in the driveway and I am ready to collect my wife's car and move on. Except the car didn't cooperate. The next afternoon the car was as dead as they come. 3.6 V. HOLY BATTERY DRAIN BATMAN!!! I charged it up over a day and a half. I drove it yesterday. It drove great. No idiot lights. Nothing weird. I did a 1)load test - Great! 12.5 V and 2) battery drain test with my DMM set to measure the amperage draw. It starts high at 2.++ A and then went to a solid 0.00 A. What??? No draw? I am flummoxed. I charge over night last night to 12.8ish V. I sent my wife out to drive the car and test anything and everything. The one thing that my "daughter" does that we have not done is lock the car. So, I have my wife set the car to replicate exactly the settings that she would leave the car - doors locked after a drive. I set the ammeter to measure and we have been at 0.02 - 0.01 for the last few hours. And, the battery is at 13.01.

As there is zero draw, I have no idea what to do? I can't pull fuses and check circuits as they are not pulling meaningful power. My last grasp of hope is 1) PPOT Brain Trust 2) Having my daughter clean all of the 5hit out of the car as it is a pigsty and I can't see, smell, detect anything through all of her garbage. And 3) last case is I will sell it.

Ideas??? I am really at the end of my options. I did call an electrical specialist. He said if there is not a drain, he can't fix it. And I agree.


Thanks! It is a joy to have a boat-load of smart people to gather ideas from!!!