Hi all, I have a 62 beetle and for some reason the battery goes flat after 9 days of use, It was recommended to buy a bigger battery, the original was a 270CCA I now have a 380CCA and its doing the same thing in the SAME amount of time.

The regulator has been replaced, Ive been told the alternator is the next step, I was told this was common of generators?

It seems the generator is on the way out. May be somehting simple like brushes.

find your self a decent Auto Electrican and get the Electrical system checked out.

Thanks for the advice

G'day,

Couldn't help noticing this post - I have a *shudder* Audi 100 that took me ages to find a similar problem. I stopped driving it years ago and now its just taking up space on my driveway, anyway I getting off the topic!

Is this vehicle still 6V or is it 12V? Using a multimeter (digital preferably) what voltage are you getting at the battery when the engine is running and is above idle (most cars fitted with a generator will not charge the battery at an idle)? Is the battery going flat even though the car is being driven, or is the car in storage and not being driven? Does everything electrical seem to work OK or are some things acting up? What makes you think that the battery is flat (have you measured the voltage at the battery when it is 'flat' ?) It could be a bad earth which is causing a hard start and not the battery... I have dozens more questions - let me know the answers to the above and it will help to narrow it down...

R

It never ceases to amaze me how a battery will go flat so dudes are simply reccomended to get a another, (often bigger) battery without even sussing why the battery went flat in the first place.

So, you have been advised to replace your battery and after no luck the reg. and now you have a spare batteriy and reg. that are probably just fine but now laying waste.... Quite an expensive waste iffen you bought the regulator new as well!
You have been relieved of close to 200 bucks for nothing yeah?

A simple 2 minute check by an auto elec. with a multi-meter and a small jumper lead would confirm what was the issue here.
"Holler for a Marshall"..... hah! Holler for a friggin dude with a multi-meter and save the cash for what is really wrong!
irritating lesson learnt here.
I hope you are advised correctly now.
Good luck with it bloke.
L8tr
E

My mechanic said he wasnt happy with the charge, it was about 8 Volts at Idle and 12 when reving, the car is fine till 9 days, then you here click click click when trying to start it.

car is 12v

Hmmm, is the car fitted with an alternator or a generator? You make reference to both in the previous posts...

I assume (perhaps incorrectly!) that if your mechanic has made these voltage measurements that he would have checked that the connection of the leads to the contacts on the battery were tight and the leads are in good condition. Might be worth checking yourself. Check also that the earth strap from the battery to the chasis is tight and the connection is clean at the chasis end - this connection can be found right behind the battery, just follow the negative lead from the battery....

Another place to check is the earth strap between the chasis and the gearbox. These straps are often damaged when someone forgets to undo them when removing the gearbox (D'oh!). Look under the car toward the front of the gearbox (the end furthest away from the engine) for a braided strap (normally) that is connected to one of the studs on the nose cone of the gearbox and also to one of the gearbox mounting bolts. It is there? Are the bolts holding it tight? Is it reasonably clean (more than likely not!!). This could be another area causing both a lack of charge and a hard start.

It does sound like a lack of charge (are you charging the battery every 9 days to be able to start the car again or just jump starting it?) but I would speak to an autoelectrician or a mechanic who understands electronics (not all of the do in my experience!!) and ask them to test the battery charge at around the 7-8 day mark - this will tell you if the battery is getting flatter or not.

Also, do you know where the mechanic took his voltage measurement of 8V at idle and 12V when revving? Was it at the battery or at the regulator?

We will get to the bottom of this yet...

R

PS: if you need pics of these thing I speak of, just ask, it's no trouble - as you may have guessed from my username and signature I have (amongst other things) a 63 bug which is still 6V and is 100% reliable. The parts I mentioned above will be located in exactly the same place as the parts on your car...

Merry Christmas :tree

Although it is a 12V system, you need it to be charging at between 13.8V & 14.2V

sky,
has anyone checked to see if it has an earth leakage because you will not charge the battery enough if there is an earth leakage. Give me a ring after Christmas as I have 4 WEEKS HOLIDAYS bring it around and I'll look at it for it, tell you what's wrong etc. Ring me on 3287 5642.
cheers Graham:beer:beer:party:party
4 WEEKS OFF WORK WHAT WILL I DO.

Thanks everyone for your help

graham, Ill take you up on that


The voltage I beleive was checking on the regulator.

UPDATE:


Well I took the car to batteryworld for a free test, Something is draining 0.24 amp an hour, explains why its going flat, now to find what it is.

Do you have a volt meter??

Pull a fuse at a time and see what one is pulling the current