I know there have been several posts over the last couple months with regards to people having issues with their car not starting because of a flat battery etc, n I have read every one, as my GTI is suffering the same problem
It all started when the car wasn't driven for a month. Went to start up, didn't want to know! The central locking decided that it didn't want to play ball either, which meant that I could only get in using my key (n even that would set the alarm off)! My airbag warning light would always come on from that point also. IIRC the fault code was saying insufficient voltage to the airbag (which made sense, because the battery had died).
I removed the battery and charged it up. I put it back into the car and it started up first time, but I noticed that the trip display screen was slightly dull (what it looks like when your battery is flat). I read up on here about getting key fobs resynced, so that's exactly what I did! £54 later, VW had sorted out my central locking
I tried deleting the airbag warning light fault code, but it instantly flashes up again.
As the car is hardly being driven, I have connected a solar panel which you plug into the cigarette lighter, just to try n pump some juice back into the battery. A week of the car being stationery, I start it up no problems. I went to start it up last night and it was completely flat again!
After bump starting it, and driving it for a good 20 minutes, turned it off and started it up again no problems. Waited an hour and started it up again no problems. Started it up again this morning, again no problems!
Went down to my local garage and got a drop test done on the battery; to my delight, the battery is healthy (which I'd expect, as it was new in April 2011). I then asked that the mechanic check the voltage. I recall Rich saying that with the engine running, the voltage should be 14v. I looked as he did the test and it said 13.73v. His response was, your alternator is fine. Now surely if the alternator wire was fooked (which has been the culprit for some people's issues on here) the voltage wouldn't be anywhere near that?!
He said, charge the battery for as long as you can, then drive the car to get the battery to its fullest charge. If that doesn't resolve it, it may be an idea to replace the battery?
Now to me, if the alternator works, the wire to the battery is sending pretty much the right voltage to the battery, and the battery does not have any dead cells, have I got something that is draining the battery when the cars in situe? I checked the boot light and the glove box light, but they go out when they're meant to!
This is a proper head scratcher for me!
If anyone can shine light on something i've missed, then I'd be most appreciative!
