1998 VW Jetta Battery Trouble Help?

Ok. This is a very strange problem with my car. I have an idea what's
wrong with it but I know almost nothing about cars.

My car battery drains completely in the winter over a period of about 2
days. I've remedied the problem by disconnecting the red connection on
the battery when I'm not using the car and the battery does not drain.
I bought a new battery not long after I bought the car (2 years ago) so
I don't think that has anything to do with it.

The strange part is that in the summer I can leave it the red
connection on the battery on for a week without using my car and it
works fine, starts right up. So in the summer my car works perfectly.

Since I've found a way around the problem I haven't taken it to a shop
to get it fixed. I think the problem is that there's some open wire
that's being grounded from touching the frame of the car. This is the
second year I've had the car and this has only been a problem in the
winter. It's gotten progressively worse as well. It used to be that I
could just drive it around every day in the winter and it'd be fine but
now I can't even do that it seems. It is also very difficult to jump
at this point. We've been unsuccessful jumping it. We actually have
to disconnect the battery itself and charge the battery and then
reconnect it to jump it. I'd like to take it to a mechanic soon but I
don't even know where they'd start or where to find the spot it's
grounded to the car, if that's even the problem. Has anyone had a
similar situation or know enough about cars to give me some idea of
what's wrong?

Thanks!
Renee

I have had this problem before on a Ford Crown Vic. Even though the
car is different, the diagnosis is the same. First thing to check for
is the obvious... Interior dome light not on, glove box light not
turning off, etc. The next step requires a volt meter and fuse puller.
Pull one of the battery terminals off and run an amp meter between the
battery and the terminal. Hopefully you will see some current passing
through the meter (if not, try when it's colder??). Then what I did
was to pull a fuse one by one until the meter dropped significantly.
That will at least narrow down the issue. I have no idea why it would
be more prevalent in cold weather. In my situation, it was indeed the
glove box light that turned out to be a culprit.

HTH,

Derej
wrote:
> Ok. This is a very strange problem with my car. I have an idea what's
> wrong with it but I know almost nothing about cars.
>
> My car battery drains completely in the winter over a period of about 2
> days. I've remedied the problem by disconnecting the red connection on
> the battery when I'm not using the car and the battery does not drain.
> I bought a new battery not long after I bought the car (2 years ago) so
> I don't think that has anything to do with it.
>
> The strange part is that in the summer I can leave it the red
> connection on the battery on for a week without using my car and it
> works fine, starts right up. So in the summer my car works perfectly.
>
> Since I've found a way around the problem I haven't taken it to a shop
> to get it fixed. I think the problem is that there's some open wire
> that's being grounded from touching the frame of the car. This is the
> second year I've had the car and this has only been a problem in the
> winter. It's gotten progressively worse as well. It used to be that I
> could just drive it around every day in the winter and it'd be fine but
> now I can't even do that it seems. It is also very difficult to jump
> at this point. We've been unsuccessful jumping it. We actually have
> to disconnect the battery itself and charge the battery and then
> reconnect it to jump it. I'd like to take it to a mechanic soon but I
> don't even know where they'd start or where to find the spot it's
> grounded to the car, if that's even the problem. Has anyone had a
> similar situation or know enough about cars to give me some idea of
> what's wrong?
>
> Thanks!
> Renee

Thank you! I will definitely try that. And the only in the winter
thing kinda confuses me too...