[leehongshen]

I have a 2004 Touareg v8. I just changed my battery not even a month ago. I spent so much money on trying to figure out why the battery is draining. The mechanics couldn’t figure out the problem and said everything is fine. I do have a Kenwood car stereo in my car right now; the reason I changed to the Kenwood is because when I first bought the car the stereo didn’t work. I have brought it to 3 mechanics and they each said that’s not the problem. So now, I am not sure if that’s the cause of the drain or not. Do any of you have the same problem? I literally had to jump start my car everyday but now it won’t even jump start anymore.

 

[Blownvette]

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[leehongshen]

Sounds like you have a bad starter.

I believe the previous mechanic said is fine. Also would bad starter be causing the battery dead? Thank you so much for giving me ideas

 

[Speednw3]

The way I ended up finding a battery drain was to do a draw test, took a while but basically what I did was to get access to the battery under the seat, run a amp meter between the battery and positive cable. Put down the driver window.shut the door and arm the security. Then I proceeded to pull fuses one at a time to figure it out. That's kinda the short version but you get the idea.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[Blownvette]

.

 

[leehongshen]

like the other person mentioned, you need to find the circuit that has the draw. Then you look at what is on that circuit and check the modules and wiring associated. It’s is tough to find but it’s easy if you understand the principle.

Thank you, is just really frustrating that I spent a few thousand dollars last time at the other place to check all these modules and wiring. The person just told me he couldnt find anything that is drawing the battery. So I am not sure if I should go do other places spent so much money again to do this check again

 

[Denker]

Any issues with your keyless entry (Kessy)? They are a known culprit of battery issues.

 

[leehongshen]

Any issues with your keyless entry (Kessy)? They are a known culprit of battery issues.

I believe last time the mechanic said this might be the issue already unplugged it. Right now it doesn’t work anymore.

 

[MMMZON]

Well, for starters, put voltmeter on your battery with the engine completely down and all devices disabled. Take note of the voltage and share it. It would be handy to also measure current drawn in this state if you know how to do that. It should be close to zero with the car switched off. Share what values you come up with.
Next power car on, engine not running, measure again the voltage (and current if you have decent meter for that). Share these values.

You might have leak to ground somewhere and battery keeps on draining even when switched off. A colleague had the similar problem in F350 he owns, with both batteries draining to near zero over the course of week. We located one of harness bundles damaged likely during a visit at the shop, where insulation was stripped from one positive and one ground cable, and they were shorting all the time. A week of searching and repair cost whole 5$ worth of insulation tape. No need to replace the bundle. For reference, when his car was switched off, voltage on batteries (there are two connected in parallel) would go all the way down from 12.4V with fresh charged batteries to 11.4V in a matter of a week and that is on empty (all devices switches off).

 

[JonyTreg7L]

I have a 2004 Touareg v8. I just changed my battery not even a month ago. I spent so much money on trying to figure out why the battery is draining. The mechanics couldn’t figure out the problem and said everything is fine. I do have a Kenwood car stereo in my car right now; the reason I changed to the Kenwood is because when I first bought the car the stereo didn’t work. I have brought it to 3 mechanics and they each said that’s not the problem. So now, I am not sure if that’s the cause of the drain or not. Do any of you have the same problem? I literally had to jump start my car everyday but now it won’t even jump start anymore.

hello i had similar problem when i changed my battery,R5 Tdi it was because my new installed radio was on all ways internally,so i rewired it to turn on with the ignition and it solved it. Hope it helps solve yours

 

[Jimbuffalo2]

Memory is a strange thing, but back in 2005 I recall the initial culprits for this Touareg battery drain issue were:

Compass module in the overhead console
Kessy door handle buttons and
(My favorite) Excess cosmoline (? a wax like coating) on the negative battery grounding strap.
VW replaced a number of wiring harnesses from starter to battery to ground (not an insignificant job) under warranty.

After 16 years, you can likely ignore the last two possibilities.

Good luck troubleshooting

 

[leehongshen]

Memory is a strange thing, but back in 2005 I recall the initial culprits for this Touareg battery drain issue were:

Compass module in the overhead console
Kessy door handle buttons and
(My favorite) Excess cosmoline (? a wax like coating) on the negative battery grounding strap.
VW replaced a number of wiring harnesses from starter to battery to ground (not an insignificant job) under warranty.

After 16 years, you can likely ignore the last two possibilities.

Good luck troubleshooting

Thank you for sharing it with me! I share this with the mechanic I brought to, hopefully this fix it. I have this car for 4 years and all I have been doing is trying to fix this.

 

[leehongshen]

hello i had similar problem when i changed my battery,R5 Tdi it was because my new installed radio was on all ways internally,so i rewired it to turn on with the ignition and it solved it. Hope it helps solve yours

Thx a lot! I shared this with my mechanic and hopefully this is the problem and could solve it!

 

[leehongshen]

Memory is a strange thing, but back in 2005 I recall the initial culprits for this Touareg battery drain issue were:

Compass module in the overhead console
Kessy door handle buttons and
(My favorite) Excess cosmoline (? a wax like coating) on the negative battery grounding strap.
VW replaced a number of wiring harnesses from starter to battery to ground (not an insignificant job) under warranty.

After 16 years, you can likely ignore the last two possibilities.

Good luck troubleshooting

Appreciate it a lot! I don't think the compass module I ever checked on that one!!! Thankyou

 

[TurboABA]

So if any of the mechanics you're using are real, they should be able to use and amp meter and to pull fuses off each circuit until they narrow it down. Sometimes, even a bad alternator can drain a battery.

 

[MMMZON]

Yeah, sounds like an incompetent mechanic to me, if they have been "fixing" the car for so long and have not checked the basics ...

 

[Touaregman33]

I believe last time the mechanic said this might be the issue already unplugged it. Right now it doesn’t work anymore.

I think this is a big key to this post. You can't unplug your kessy and still have it start. If it is unplugged it won't start. Do you have the small black buttons on your door handles?

 

[TouaregNut]

Is there a way to test if the alternator is the culprit? I took my TDi to a vw mechanic he tested the charging and said it was good. One of the kessy's has Intermittent issue so I think it could not be causing the drain within 2 days. Any who i plan to test the parasitic drain to see what is going on, and knowing how to test the alternator would be helpful.

 

[Denker]

If the mechanic can’t properly diagnose the draw, do we think they know what they are doing with the Kessy system?
My neighbor now owns my old 2005 Touareg and he had this same problem earlier this year. I disconnected the Kessy at each door handle and the problem hasn’t returned.

 

[Denker]

He also took it back to the VW dealer after getting a new battery from them and continuing to have it drain. They tested the charging system along with anything else they thought could be the problem. After being told they couldn’t figure it out, he asked me to see if I knew anything about it. Found the fix for unplugging the door handles on here after pulling codes and seeing an intermittent Kessy issue.