Re: Charging Problem...please help me!

["SigMac" <sigmac@portland.quik.com>]

This probably isn't it, but here's a related thing I experienced: 


When I did a lot of short run driving, my battery was constantly
going dead.  After I drilled it into my head not to leave any part
of the heater on when I shut the car off, and to remember to shut
off the headlights (I was an early morning driver) I thought I
should be in the clear.  Charged up the battery.  Good to go.  But
something was still draining the battery, and in the cold weather
if I didn't get the car started within about 5 tries, I was stuck
driving the Ford.(Bleck!)  It finally occurred to me that the fan
was always left running a while after I shut the car off.  I
believe this was the culprit.  It never got driven more than 1.5
miles/20 minutes.  Just long enough to trigger the thermoswitch,
not long enough to do much charging.  Now that I drive longer
distances, no problemo.

FWIW,
Jennifer

----------
| From: Sal Guzzo <yu129742@yorku.ca>
| To: VWofT-owner@onelist.com
| Cc: scirocco-l@scirocco.org; Mk1GTI@aol.com
| Subject: Charging Problem...please help me!
| Date: Friday, January 08, 1999 1:51 AM
| 
| Well,
| 
| I got my car back today thinking that everything was going to be
| alright..........guess not.  Thankfully I was with some people
who assited
| in push starting my Rabbit.  Here's my problem which I can't
figure out.  I
| can start the car and run it fine.  The volt. gauge reads about
13v while
| driving.  If I shut the car off and try to start it, it starts. 
However,
| if I let the car sit for a while, nothing happens. The lights
will come on
| and then it'll try to crank and just dies.  Okay, this car is
really toying
| with me...I'm try to brainstorm some ideas about this prob. and
this is
| what I came up with:
| 
| Starter - nope, cuz it cranks the car.
| Battery - nope, cuz the car runs fine and doesn't die. I drove
the car
| tonight for about 1 hour (good enough time to drain the 
battery, I says)
| Alt. - I don't think so, but not sure cuz the car starts after
it is 	shut
| off and the volt. gauge continually reads about 13v.  If 	alt.
was no good,
| wouldn't the volt. drop significantly as I	 	drive and apply
loads.
| 
| Shortage somewhere - possible, something is draining juice from
the battery
| when it is not being driven.  I have no alarm system, no power
locks,
| windows, etc.  Can anyone tell me how to check for shorts in the
car.  
| 
| I feel as though I've lost the battle, Please recall that I did
a complete
| carb to fuel injection swap.  I started during the first week of
October
| and it's what day today......it's taken a while but hopefully
soon I will
| be driving my VW again.
| 
| 
| Thanks in advance for the help and sorry for the trouble I may
have caused
| 
| 
| Sal
| 
| 81 Scirocco (motorless)
| 84 Rabbit (turned GTi with 83 motor)
| 67 Peugeot 404 (original - no rust)
| 
| 
| --
| To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" to
majordomo@scirocco.org.
| If you experience other problems, email:
scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org
| 

--
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" to majordomo@scirocco.org.
If you experience other problems, email: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org