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Thread: Battery dies after 3 days of sitting, need help

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Posts: 21-30 of 34
2014-05-22 13:36:46
#21
Originally Posted by Storm88000
When you said you unplugged an ECU relay, are you referring to the greenish one? Kind of hanging there off the ECU?

If you disconnect that, the motor will not start or will stall when it runs out of fuel in the lines because the fuel pump will be off. However, you can open the fuel pump relay in the engine bay and bridge a wire from the #4 pin to the positive battery terminal and the fuel pump will prime even with the keys completely out of the ignition, and with the key the car will start up normally and drive normally. However, when you shut the motor off and remove the key, the fuel pump will continue to prime and will not stop.

My point here is that it sounds like you have some sort of wiring or relay problem where something is remaining on that normally only functions when you turn the key to the accessories setting. Something that would draw just enough power out to kill a brand new battery in about 3 days or less. A fuel pump priming non-stop would kill a brand new battery in about 3 days or less. So when you said you heard the "ticking" sound from the ECU but it stopped when you removed the relay it made me think of it. Although now that I think of it, if your fuel pump primed for 3 days straight it could/should burn out, but on the other hand, if the battery is dead, it can't prime at all. Now I just confused myself.


haha, oh man. the more i continued reading, the more i think my brain started to smoke!
2014-05-22 14:10:51
#22
Lol. Too much coffee or something. I actually drove around for about a week with the wire bridged because my relay at the ECU was shot. I just used zipties on the wires and some tape, but everywhere I went had to pop the hood and pull the wire off the battery to get the fuel pump to shut off. Fun times
2014-05-22 17:19:14
#23
Your on the right track, the relay should be off when the car is off, if it is buzzing the ECU is still sending a signal, most likely 5v or less for the relay to buzz and not fully close. Sounds like a bad ECU.
2014-05-22 17:57:39
#24
I just don't know exactly what he means by a 'ticking' sound - you see I have removed all my rear seats, carpeting and sound deadening tar, so I can EASILY hear the fuel pump prime. But maybe with all the interior its more difficult to figure out where the sound is coming from? IDK....
2014-05-23 03:34:15
#25
Originally Posted by squirlz
Your on the right track, the relay should be off when the car is off, if it is buzzing the ECU is still sending a signal, most likely 5v or less for the relay to buzz and not fully close. Sounds like a bad ECU.


right thats what i was thinking, Im actually focused more on the ECU, what im thinking is, if the relay is unplugged then plugged back in there is no noise, but when i turn on the key, send power through the ECU relay which powers up the ECU i think it signals a driver in the ECU to tell another driver to turn on, but then when the key is off, the second driver is taking power from somewhere else and not shutting itself off when its supposed to.

Originally Posted by Storm88000
I just don't know exactly what he means by a 'ticking' sound - you see I have removed all my rear seats, carpeting and sound deadening tar, so I can EASILY hear the fuel pump prime. But maybe with all the interior its more difficult to figure out where the sound is coming from? IDK....


if your ear is almost right next to the ECU you can hear it, I cant hear this noise on my 93's. ill try and record i, but im sure it wont really help to explain it.
Last edited by NSMO240 on 2014-05-23 at 03-36-52.
2014-06-07 18:49:09
#26
alright, swapped out relays and once they key is turned and powered up it still makes the noise. the noise is actually coming from the relay, but a driver in the ECU is sticking causing the relay not to power down, now just gotta get an ECU
2014-07-27 16:08:21
#27
Ecu resolved?
2015-07-14 15:19:10
#28
Originally Posted by NSMO240
alright, swapped out relays and once they key is turned and powered up it still makes the noise. the noise is actually coming from the relay, but a driver in the ECU is sticking causing the relay not to power down, now just gotta get an ECU


^Update on this? I'm still having this problem. I trouble shoot a little bit at a time narrowing down the problem some more, but I drive my G20 almost every day now because of this.
2015-07-14 15:29:23
#29
Crazy, this started happening to the beetle. The radio died, and then the battery was dead the next morning. Pulled out the head unit and it's all good again.

Reese, you probably don't have the same problem as the OP, but have you tried the stuff he's tried? Have you checked current draw (amps) with a multimeter while everything is off?
Last edited by BenFenner on 2015-07-16 at 20-24-22.
2015-07-16 16:27:59
#30
multimeter, remove fuses one at a time, once the voltage stopps dropping, that's the fuse/accessory to beat with a hammer.
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