Power consumption of a Volkswagen Golf 4 TDI, manufactured in 2002

Hello,

"Could anyone possibly tell me how many amps my Golf draws from the battery when it's locked and all consumers are turned off? I had a completely dead battery today." I've noticed over the past few days that the starter motor seems to have very little power when starting the engine.

I wanted to check if something might be draining my battery, so I measured the current flow and found it to be around 0.4-0.55 amps, which it continues to draw for about 1 minute after the car is turned off. Do you think that's normal? The car has all the available features, but surely nothing should be drawing that much current continuously?

I still have the original VW "Long Life" battery, 70Ah, installed. It has the "magic eye" indicator, which is usually black. I connected the battery to the charger about 2 months ago, and the next day the indicator was slightly greenish. Should this indicator not be white or yellow when the battery is in good condition?

Thank you very much for your tips.

Sure, here's the translation:

"MFG" is an abbreviation for "Mit freundlichen Grüßen," which translates to "Sincerely" or "Best regards" in English.

Hello,

The indicator light is green when the battery is charged. Anything else indicates a low battery charge. It looks like the battery will probably need to be replaced after 4 years, just like it was for me.
Best regards, Peer.

I've experienced this issue before on my Golf 02. I posted about it here once. In my case, the MFD navigation system was the culprit. I had a C version installed, and it was replaced with a D version, which resolved the problem. However, my power consumption was not that high, around 0.3A, which was still too much...

Have you been waiting a long time? Because the control units don't immediately stop drawing power when you turn the key. Unfortunately.

... It's around 100mA for my AXR.

matthiasTDI96 wrote:

I already had this issue with my 02 Golf... I had posted about it here before. In my case, the MFD navigation system was the culprit. I had a C version installed, and it was replaced with a D version, and then the problem stopped. However, my power consumption was not that high, around 0.3A, which was still too much... Have you been waiting a long time? Because the control units don't immediately stop drawing power when you turn the key. Unfortunately.

Hello, how long should one wait? Until the lowest voltage is reached?

I measured the current draw of my navigation system myself, and it goes down to 0.27A.

Sure, here's the translation:

"MFG" is an abbreviation for "Mit freundlichen Grüßen," which translates to "Sincerely" or "Best regards" in English.

Up to approximately 0.06A (60mA) is perfectly normal.

However, these values should only be measured with the vehicle fully assembled and after all control units have been deactivated.

The control units remain "active" for up to 2 hours (depending on the vehicle). However, it is more common for them to shut down after 30-60 minutes.
Anything achieved beforehand isn't really meaningful because it's dependent on the equipment used.

Up to approximately 0.06A (60mA) are perfectly normal.

However, these values should only be measured with the vehicle fully assembled and after all control units have been deactivated.


It is correct that the control units gradually shut down, but this only applies to newer vehicles.
In a Volkswagen Golf 4, only the remote central locking (and possibly the alarm system) should remain active after 5 minutes.
You are absolutely right about electricity consumption. Anything that consumes more power than it should is either improperly connected or has other faults.
If you have a 70Ah battery, with a measured resting current of 0.27A, you would only be able to leave the vehicle parked with the battery disconnected for approximately 11 days. Starting is no longer possible.
And that is clearly not enough.

Best regards, Jochen.

Hello.

Okay, I don't understand. What could possibly be sucking up so much straw? I'm really going crazy there.

Sure, here's the translation:

"MFG" is an abbreviation for "Mit freundlichen Grüßen," which translates to "Sincerely" or "Best regards" in English.

pa-mm6 wrote:

Hello. Okay, I don't understand. What could possibly be sucking up so much straw? I'm really going crazy there. MFG

Measure the current and trip each breaker individually. Then you'll quickly identify the culprit.

EDIT: However, this is a bit awkward with the G4 model, as the door has to remain open. You need to make the central locking system (or comfort module, depending on the equipment) believe that the door is closed.

Hello.

Okay, I'll do that.

Sure, here's the translation:

"MFG" is an abbreviation for "Mit freundlichen Grüßen," which translates to "Sincerely" or "Best regards" in English.

Check the trunk light.
Just unplug it there.

"Four years for an original battery is really quite short."

Holger247 wrote:

4 years for an original battery is really quite short

.

I would have been happy if it had lasted longer. After just 3.5 years, it was already over.

Roger wrote:

I would have been happy if mine had lasted so long. After 3.5 years, the shift was already over.

Hi Roger,

Do you perhaps have a hidden power thief on board, someone who's draining your battery too quickly after each trip, leading to sulfation?

No.

I consider that to be unlikely. After 3 1/2 weeks of inactivity, it starts up perfectly and runs smoothly after the first rotation. I measured the leakage current shortly after the battery failure, and as far as I remember, it was already well below 100 mA after 2 minutes.

The TIM timer, autosave function, is also disabled, which means it won't accumulate points even when you're at home in the garage or at the office (in the underground parking garage) where there's no reception . However, it's still quite useful if you can listen to the mumbled VF announcement again at a higher volume. When the radio is live, the last few minutes are always recorded.

Hi.

After about six months of inactivity, my car battery was dead again yesterday. I immediately measured the current consumption again, hoping I'm doing it correctly: In my Golf 4, there's a red cable attached to the battery on the front, which then goes to the fuse box on the battery. I unscrewed it from the terminal and inserted the ammeter between them. Am I doing it correctly? This should measure the entire current consumption of the vehicle, right? The battery is now approximately one year old.

I'm really starting to lose it. According to the measurements, the navigation system doesn't need anything else, either. I'm not entirely sure when I'm taking measurements whether the scale will display 500mA or 50mA.

I once called a Bosch workshop, and they said that a vehicle should consume a maximum of 30-40 milliamperes of quiescent current.

Maybe someone here can still help me? If needed, I can take a picture of my ammeter during a measurement.

Sure, here's the translation:

"MFG" is an abbreviation for "Mit freundlichen Grüßen," which translates to "Sincerely" or "Best regards" in English.

Hi,

Regarding the actual measurement:
I would suggest connecting the meter to the main ground wire to ensure you capture all the current draw. Often, several (red) wires run from the positive terminal of the battery. Therefore, there's a chance that you might not catch the culprit with just the main wire. Be warned: Most meters are overwhelmed by the high currents that can flow briefly near the battery in automotive applications. If you connect the meter to complete the battery circuit, various things can happen. Control units wake up, which, along with other consumers, can already overload the measuring device.

Therefore, I would initially bypass the measuring device and only remove the bypass after a few minutes, so that only the comparatively small leakage currents would then affect the measuring device itself. If you do that on the mass side, it also reduces stress/the risk of short circuits with exposed contacts if you accidentally touch bare vehicle parts .

The Bosch service already correctly stated the order of magnitude of the quiescent current. The value should definitely be less than 100 mA. However, you should also know what you are reading from your measuring device (and whether it is accurate enough), otherwise, you might as well not take the measurement at all .

A very elegant way to measure the quiescent current is to use a DC clamp meter . In this method, you don't need to open any circuits. That's usually how I do it.