Draining Battery Still...

Hey guys,
sorry to start a new post but i thought i would start a fresh on this one. The problem with my golf mk1 1.3L Cabby was that i had an onboard fire in the dashboard on a dodgy bit of wiring that was not fused. It was for an old parking light or something, very very annoying!!! Since then my battery was draining over night (the alternator works). I replaced the battery after getting it tested and thought that would be it. After replacing the battery i did the battery drain test, i.e. with a test light and voltage metre to see if anything was drawing current when the ignition was off from the negative battery lead and the negative battery point! When i did it this time it was draining power, but when i removed the fuse 3 (CD player) it stopped, so i thought fine, if i disable that circuit there would be no draw (which there wasnt) and the battery would keep its charge and it did for one night, but probably because it was a new battery.

But now the problem seems to intermitent. I drove it the other day (its so nice!) then once parked left it for a bit, then came back and checked the draw on the battery. It was drawing power using 12v and a lot of current without the fuse in on 3. But then after about 10 minutes of testing and looking it stopped drawing without me doing anything and still without the fuse in, but then when i did  put the fuse back in it started drawing again. So i drove away thinking it was fine, left my car over night and it was DEAD again veyr very annoying.

Can anyone think why this is such a weird problem. can someone suggest any more tests i can do to check what is going on with it? Im at uni at the mo so i cant take the entire dashboard off but i have taken pieces off and i cant see any other messed up wiring. But the problem did only start after the fire.

After reading a lot the boot light problem came up - i can see the switch (on the left - little spring thing) but i cant see any lights coming off it, jst an earth wire and a wire going to the front of the car - any ideas on this? Im really racking my brains - could this be connected.
THANK YOU very much for any help, im trying to learn here.

it just seems like a terrible intermittent paristic draining problem, Could it be the alternator or starter motor? if so could i test for these?

Cheers
Charlie

Are you sure its not a duff battery ? Even new ones can be faulty ? Do you have 14+volts at the battery terminals when the engine is running ? This shows only that the alternator is charging the battery . What happens if you disconnect the battery overnight ? Does it still go flat . A faulty alternator can also drain a battery over night . Plenty to go at


Cheers……………

left the battery over night disconnected and it was fine, kept its charge!! the volts are 14v when the car is running and about 10-12v when off. hw can i test to see if the alternator is the problem?
Cheers
Charlie

Try a spare ? Or disconnect that for a few nights and see what happens ?

This assumes that you have NO other electrical bits that were not originally fitted , connected .

are you sure the alternator isnt over charging the battery?