I'm Stuck - battery light but no other power indications

[brentik]

Well, I'm a bit stuck. I think there's a bad ground but I can't seam to track it down.

Background: I bought a 2001 1.8l Turbo with a bad motor with the plan of fixing it for my daughter who's turning 16 soon. The car had sat for a year before coming to me. Before I started the project I was able to get enough juice into the battery to roll down a window halfway and see the aux lights on the dash.

I'm 95% done with the replacement and have replaced the battery - the front clip is back on but the headlights and turn signals are still in the boot. I figured I would see how much gas was in the tank to see of I needed to remove the old gas or just dilute with new and found I have a vexing problem:

Absolutely nothing electrical works! First off I notice no lights, door chimes, power windows, door locks, etc. Insert key and I see the Battery Light but nothing else happens, no clicks, etc.

I checked the Bat Box fuses and replaced a burnt fuse to the cooling fans (this explains what happened tot the old engine BTW). Then I checked power to the fuses where I go hhmmm. About 2/3 of the fuses (24-37) have only 9 volts to them and the remainder (38-44) have the full 12 volts.

I checked the negative cable and found I had connected the end correctly to the bolt connecting the trans to the engine but the connector mid way on the cable was free. I realized this must go to the body and found the appropriate bolt to the transmission mount directly below the air filter box. However, I still have the same issue. Maybe I messed up a relay with the bad ground? Am I missing a ground strap somewhere?

Any help of course would be greatly appreciated...

[D2Beetle]

I believe there is another grounding point under the battery tray and/or under the driver side headlight tray. You might want to check your ignition switch.

[brentik]

Yes, it was under the battery tray. I had moved it around previously and did not see it. I finally got the tray way up and viola!

[esse10]

yep if you don't have a good connection in the negative chassis ground Cable under the battery tray you don't have a complete DC circuit and the DC electronics tend to act like Gramblings..LOL I posted a thread some months back titled CAUTION here in the 1.8 section of what I found in my car, lots of corrosion under the battery.

http://newbeetle.org/forums/newreply...ote=1&p=820467