My 2002 VW Jetta with 34,000 miles has gone thru 2 bateries in the last year. Again, today, I went to start the car and NOTHING ! No lights,nothing. Afew days ago I turned my radio on and nothing ! The rest of the car worked fine at that time, just no radio. This problem has also occured in my daughters 2002 VW. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem may be. I hate to be putting new batteries in my car every year !!! VW dealer has no answers !!
I assume that the first battery has been in the car since it was new so I can understand that one going out. The second battery may have had a defect that caused a early failure. Hopefully the shop checked the charging system and made sure that the alternator was working as it should be and not overcharging the battery. Overcharging a battery will cause it to burn out quickly.
Your radio problem sounds like there is either a problem with the radio itself or in the power circuit to it. Since it looks like nothing else was having a problem this appears to be a seperate issue. Your daughters vehicle may be the same. If the radio shows signs of power getting to it but no sound then there may be an external amp that is at fault. Have the radio checked out.
After you park the car for the night go back 15 minutes later and see if it sounds like something running under the hood. In VW’s there is an after run pump that continues to circulate the water after shutdowdown. The cooling fan also continues to operate. I have had to change a number of after run controllers because they would fail to shut off and run the battery dead. Just a thought.
~Michael (dartman69)