Flat battery - but why?

[Akinesis 0]

Parked my Corrado in the garage on Sunday, jumped in it today and the battery wasn't having any of it.

 

The thing is, it's an almost brand-new calcium battery and their was nothing left switched on in the car, their is no alarm and, as mentioned, she's in a garage! So why?

 

As I was tinkering with the car I noticed that the drivers' side side-light and tail light were on, and seemed to stay on. Obviously this is a parking light, but I'm not sure if I've seen this before and can't remember if they were on when I parked her up. Is this just a feature of the Corrado when you park up and exit the car or completely abnormal?

 

Is their anything else notorious on the 'Rado that would drain the battery in 4 days? I've not left her alone this long since I've owned her, but that's only been a couple of weeks anyway.

 

Thanks in advance

[domwells27 0]

The interior boot light is known to stay on even with the boot shut and keys out, as the boot switch can leak current with age.

 

Try getting a multimeter out and measure the current draw of the battery with keys out etc, then start pulling fuses until the current draw drops.

 

Got this currently on my G60, found out the drain is on fuse circuit 21 so could be interioir lights, ciggy lighter or spoiler adjustment. Gotta check that out soon!

[Fanjita 1]

Hi mate,

not sure how much light i can shed on this for you, but I can enlighten you about the side lights. On my corrado when you leave the car with the indicator in either left or right, the side lights of that particular side stay on. Not sure on the actual name of this (probably parking light or something), but if you left the stalk in a non-neutral position with everything else off this could leave the side lights on and subsequently drain the battery.

 

Edit:

Sorry just re-reading your post this may not be new to you, but to answer your question it's perfectly normal as my VR does it too.

[easypops 8]

I had the same issue.....turned out to be the boot light.......and the switch for it seems to be built into the lock?........i took the bulb out :lol: ........also have a look at your glovebox light

[GlosterOx 0]

I had the same issue.....turned out to be the boot light.......and the switch for it seems to be built into the lock?........i took the bulb out :lol: ........also have a look at your glovebox light

 

Snap, bootlight was the culprit on mine as well - I folded half the rear seat down to check with the tailgate closed!!

 

Ian.

[Akinesis 0]

No, I didn't know that about the indicator stalks :grin:

 

Well, I've never actually seen the boot light or glove-box light working :lol: But something I forgot about was the radiator fan - when I turn the engine off the fan can run for ages after. But then once I caught it coming back on again a few minutes later. I wonder if this is what happened?

 

But I will go and check the glove/boot lights 8)

[Akinesis 0]

Right - the boot light works, it was just disconnected, and the glove-box light has a blown bulb, so it's neither of them :(

 

However, when I was looking at the boot light there was wires piggy-backed off of it - some sort of home-made job. I traced them to under the rear bench seat but couldn't get them up to have a proper look (searched the forum, and now I know how :grin:), but from what I could see it was some sort of metal box - is this the ABS controller, or something? I think thee mystery wires go to there, or they might carry on to something else.

 

I seem to take one step forward with this car, and then three steps back!! :lol:

[carrots 1]

mines the same flat in 3 days,i just take battery lead off 5 sec job

[Akinesis 0]

That's what I'm gonna have to do. I'll get to the bottom of this, though :grin:

[carrots 1]

i need to get mine sorted its a pain in the arse if i dont take the batery lead off.going to take bulbs out glove box and bulb

[n3p 3]

Is your battery charged now and holding it overnight? If not you could feel to see if your alternator is warm in the morning or when everything else is cold. Good luck

[carrots 1]

never thought of that,battery leads off now.mite try that tho cheers mate

[somersetdub 0]

Mine has been doing this too, after being left for over four days or so. It's not the boot light or glove box light staying on.

I intend to get to the bottom of this though as it's annoying!

I think the way to do it is to connect the multimeter and then systematically pull each fuse out. When the voltage drop stops on a certain fuse, you know which circuit the problem lies on...

Unless anyone knows a more effective method??

[carrots 1]

to be honnest i dont think its my boot light.sure it didnt start going flat untill i fitted my shite alpine headunit or the imob

[somersetdub 0]

...funny I've got an alpine head unit too!

[aki 0]

hi

i tracked my fault down to the wiring for my alpine head unit it was live all the time! i have to add that i didnt wire it in i just plugged the iso leads into the existing wiring loom that was fitted to the car! so even with the face off it was draining the battery! i cant remember the exact details but i had to swap 2 wires over so that the colours didnt match i used a mutimeter to check which wire was ign live and which was permanent live on the car and swapped the headunit wiring accordingly so if your headunit works without the key in the ign thats going to be the fault

hope that helps

andy

[somersetdub 0]

My alpine is wired to permanent live, but every car I've had i have wired this way so I can listen to the stereo with the ignition off.. But every other stereo I've had has been a kenwood. I will certainly rewire mine tomorrow to switched live and see if this remedies it.

Thanks!

[The_Dude 0]

I think you geniuses have just solved the exact same problem for me. :salute:

[somersetdub 0]

I think you geniuses have just solved the exact same problem for me. :salute:

 

You got an alpine too?!

[V-Dubstar 0]

It seems that the Corrado's wiring for stereo's is slightly different to ISO standard!! If u want the stereo to work as normal (ie no power without ignition) u have to switch the live and switched live around :D :confused4:

[Dr. Robotnik 0]

It seems that the Corrado's wiring for stereo's is slightly different to ISO standard!! If u want the stereo to work as normal (ie no power without ignition) u have to switch the live and switched live around :D :confused4:

 

 

I think it's the same with most Volkswagens, if not all, in general, isn't it? I mean, my golf was the same, messing with my head as to why i had to swap the yellow and red over D:

 

I have an alpine head unit too and it's never caused me any trouble, but i did have to wire a set of iso connectors into the car because some numpty that fitted the stereo had cut all the wires and soldered onto the connector for their head unit... But the crazy thing is they soldered a seperate wire from the stereo earth directly onto the cigarette lighter illumination live, which ended up blowing fuses and burning the dash illumination tracks inside the clocks. Crazy what goes through some peoples minds...

Sorry, a bit off topic :D

[Akinesis 0]

Um... mine's an Alpine head unit, too! :shock:

 

Hmmm....

 

I haven't charged the battery yet as I've got a 100 mile journey home in a couple of hours. Was gonna get a jump.

 

Let's hope it's not the alternator packing up :pale:

 

Interesting about the Alpine head unit, though!!

[carrots 1]

i am going to look at mine tommorow,dont think much of the sound coming from my alpine.sure its perm live.hope it is and it sorts prob :D

[Akinesis 0]

Yeah, I was an audio specialist for a few years and with Vee-dubs you have to swap the perm live and ignition switch over for them. I've always wired mine up to permanent live for the same reason - listen to music with the keys out (car washing/polishing :grin:). So is it just Alpine's with Corrado's??

 

Can I direct people to this thread, too - I may have found a second culprit...

 

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=94579

[The_Dude 0]

I think you geniuses have just solved the exact same problem for me. :salute:

 

You got an alpine too?!

 

Yep and both wires going to a constant live. ;) This only happened when I upgraded to a newer model Alpine tho, my 10 year old beast of CD player never did it, but I guess its got less to remember lol.

 

I know also have a very small drain coming from the window ecu (thanks to The Trim Wizard who pointed this out when fitting the alarm).

 

It could be worth paying a sparky for an hours work if you still have a drain afterwards....could be anything causing it.