Battery drain tied to fuse 42, non-mosson radio works fine

[paultakeda]

2001 NB with Non-Monsoon 6-speaker radio/cassette HU.

Been suffering a battery drain for over a year now but was lazy about it (battery drains in 3 days, so being a daily driver it basically was a "non-issue"). I finally sat down and started pulling fuses and found the drain was eliminated (a whopping 0.60 A dropped to the nominal 0.04 A) when I pulled fuse 42.

Forums browsing reveals this is the radio, but all problems were related to a non-working Monsoon system that needed resetting by pulling the fuse. None were about a parasitic battery drain on a non-Monsoon system.

Anyhow, what now? Do I pull the HU and try pulling its fuse? I noticed one the other day when I was replacing my center console trim piece (that sucked, by the way, how many screws do you need for a trim piece?!) and had to pull the radio.

What could cause the radio system to drain the battery (it's not on or anything... though the little blinking red light is there when the car is locked)?

[PostO]

It's possible the radio isn't shutting down properly when you turn the ignition off.

Search for "drain" on this page http://www.carsurvey.org/viewmorecom...w_51763_3.html

Hope this helps.

[paultakeda]

Originally Posted by PostO

It's possible the radio isn't shutting down properly when you turn the ignition off.

Search for "drain" on this page http://www.carsurvey.org/viewmorecom...w_51763_3.html

Hope this helps.

I saw that post, but a solution of keeping the fuse removed and having no radio isn't exactly a solution.

Do I need a new HU? Is it just the wiring harnesses (a crossed wire, for instance)?

[savethebluths.org]

Originally Posted by paultakeda

I saw that post, but a solution of keeping the fuse removed and having no radio isn't exactly a solution.

Do I need a new HU? Is it just the wiring harnesses (a crossed wire, for instance)?

It might be your harness, my buddy had a harness and when we put it all together the car stereo would turn off when we turned the dome lights off, turns out we just had the wire mixed up with another, pay close attention to your wires and make sure they are properly crimped. Try turning misc things off and see if the stereo still works.

[paultakeda]

Well, it's the original radio and original harness, not sure how it could get mixed up.

There have been no electronic problems detected. All I have is the battery drain, which is not drastic but does drain the battery enough in three days to prevent it from cranking the engine. Some reports have the radio staying on, but the drain would be overnight. This is not the case with mine. There's a drain, but it's not enough to drain overnight, something I haven't found to be a problem reported by others in various forums.

[PostO]

Well unplug your radio, via fuse or harness, doesn't matter. If the draining problem stops, then that's the culprit. Get a new headunit. All this speculation without action ain't gonna give you any answers. I'm sure you can live without tunes for 3 days.

[paultakeda]

PostO.... you didn't really read the original post, did you?

Thanks for nothing.

[PostO]

Originally Posted by paultakeda

PostO.... you didn't really read the original post, did you?

Um yeah...

Originally Posted by paultakeda

Anyhow, what now? Do I pull the HU and try pulling its fuse? ...
What could cause the radio system to drain the battery (it's not on or anything... though the little blinking red light is there when the car is locked)?

And I suggested...

Well unplug your radio, via fuse or harness, doesn't matter. If the draining problem stops, then that's the culprit. Get a new headunit. All this speculation without action ain't gonna give you any answers. I'm sure you can live without tunes for 3 days.

You narrowed it down to fuse #42 which everyone on the interwebs have determined it to be related to the radio. Then the next logical step is to remove the radio from the electrical system to see if that's the cause of the battery drain. Although you don't have a Monsoon headunit, I referenced the thread where another VW owner had a problem and the dealer determined that the headunit wasn't turning off internally. It has been mentioned on the Vortex and other forums that the non-Monsoon and Monsoon headunits are the same. The only thing that qualifies the system as Monsoon is the presence of the Monsoon amp.

You come on here for suggestions, you get free advice. If you don't like it, go pay some "expert" to diagnose it for you.

Thanks for nothing.

My pleasure.

[paultakeda]

That was a lot clearer than your initial post regarding the removal of the radio. I just needed a little more detail. Thanks.

[vwtazzman]

I actually posted this issue in another thread but had no response, this one got by me for some reason. I tried swapping the HU with another and even changed out the amp...still have the 2amp drain with fuse #42 in. I am stumped.
Please help.

[D2Beetle]

I looked up the radio wire diagram and there is another connection that comes off of fuse 42 besides the radio; it feeds instrument cluster. There also appears to be an antenna amplifier; if I was going to look for something shorting out the radio the antenna would be at the top of my list.

Also fuse 37 (ignition switch) is connected to the radio, which also feeds the instrument cluster and some control module; unfortunately the radio diagram was not specific, I'll have to pull the instrument cluster diagram to get more info.

[Pulgamovil]

My battery drains too, and in vag com my antenna is shorted (run the radio and instrument cluster diag) I havent had time to fix it but I KNOW is the darn antenna short.

[vwtazzman]

Thanks D2Beetle, My diagram does not show the antenna amp.
Now I'll have to look at that next time i find the patients to work on it again. This thing is driving me nuts!
Thanks again.

[D2Beetle]

Originally Posted by vwtazzman

Thanks D2Beetle, My diagram does not show the antenna amp.
Now I'll have to look at that next time i find the patients to work on it again. This thing is driving me nuts!
Thanks again.

Anytime, but you might want to consider this... the ignition switch is what actually turns the radio on and off. When I pull the key out of the ignition on my NB, sometimes there is no "clack" sound and the radio stays on. So I stick the key back in, jiggle it and pull it back out and I hear the "clack" sound and the radio turns off.

In short there is a spring loaded switch in the ignition switch that is turning more than just the radio off.