Dealer techs, especially the high end German badges, are trained to repair in a corporate approved manner. This means no terminal repair, but replace the entire harness with NEW factory part. If part is no longer available from factory, car is unrepairable. This is corporate's guidelines, not necessarily dealerships choice in the matter. Now an indy shop is different. I just replaced the battery fuse box and rewired the AC/cooling fan power supply on a 2000 Beetle. HAPPY CUSTOMER, his car was repaired, HAPPY TECH, he paid me.
Finally a competent comment. I service advised for 7 years, mostly at Toyota. The techs always want to help the customer, but there’s so many operating procedure guidelines from the manufacturer, that they end up making people mad by just doing their jobs. It’s sad that nobody understands this. The way I put it when I had an outrageous estimate over something I knew could be fixed for so much less is I told the customer that the manufacturer supplies parts to put that component in your car in new/factory condition which isn’t always necessary. I would recommend a shop next door who was highly rated and I would always get a firm handshake for being honest and be done with it. Dealers really should stick to servicing and repairing newer cars because after that, the parts catalogue and pricing is unreasonable.
Funny thing is many buyers are going to japanese or american vehicles or going to euro repair shops for billions in net loss. I bet 95% of euro auto corp execs cant change a tire and get manucures. Hence why european cars are loosing thier apeal.
Agree, Lexus has told me the same thing. If their supply chain doesn’t provide the parts anymore, the car is unserviceable… even if someone else has the correct parts. You just need to find someone else to do the work.
Absolutely true, we aren't allowed to do repairs like this even if we want to, we have to "do it the right way" and replace the harness. The instrument cluster draw likely is only the cluster lighting up with the door open, it will turn off after some time causing no parasitic draw. Aftermarket radios are nice to solve radio involved parasitic draw problems until you start running into immobilizer problems, you can not do anything with these beetles(program keys, remote fob learning, adapting many parts) without disconnecting the aftermarket radio. If you don't know this you can end up chasing your tail into oblivion just trying to adapt simple components, just a heads up! Very good video.
Too many dealerships try the 'your vehicle is unfix-able, but we'll make you a sweet trade in deal if you purchase a new car' scam. Recently, my neighbor (a female senior citizen) had brought her spotless 2006 Toyota Camery to the dealer for an oil change and a complaint of a braking issue. After the oil change, she was presented with a list of over $8,000.00 in "necessary repairs". They recommended she accept a trade in offer and purchase of a new car. Thankfully, she told them she would like to go home and think it over. She showed me the list which included among other things, major oil leaks (head gasket, rear main seal), all new front end parts, etc. (I crawled under her car and found no signs of any fluid leaks). They did note that there were no issues with her brakes (her only complaint) but that she would need the brake fluid flushed at her next oil change. I had her take her car to my mechanic for a complete inspection of her vehicle. The result? NONE of the items noted by the dealer were valid. The car needed front brakes and clean brake fluid. It cost her around $200.00 as opposed to over $8,000.00. Needless to say, she now is a regular customer of my mechanic.
That "we have to replace X entire assembly cuz liability" is getting more and more common. Not a big deal for us, but really screws over unknowing people, and people that are stuck having to go somewhere.
The dealers, especially VW/ Audi etc will only “repair” with new factory parts. This is what you get when the lawyers rule a company. All the more reason why Right to Repair is a critical issue. More and more, it’s becoming questionable who actually owns your car. Do you own it, or are you just paying to use it?
@Bill Moran Very good observation, Bill. Totally agree. Cars are almost like cellphones now, where you are forced to replace them after x number of years. I hate it and drive my cars until the wheels fall off. I have a VAG-com to service Audis. Its necessity proves your point as to the importance of the Right To Repair issue. Without that VAG-com tool, working on those cars outside of the dealership is pretty much impossible.
Speculating that the parasitic drain caused a flat battery on several occasions- and the car was jumped and run with the alternator doing the job of charging a fully dead batter- hence very high current across that terminal connection. That was when it melted the insulation etc. If the battery has some charge remaining, it may get warm but not excessively hot. Lesson- charge a dead battery with a dedicated charger, don't rely on the car's systems to do that from a fully discharged state.
no. that cable running from alternator + post and the crimp connector and nuts holding the fuses is VW issue since gen4. all golfs, jettas, audis, seats and skodas, basically all across the same platform that utilize the fuse fox on top of the battery. for the parasitic draw, my bet is on door lock mechanism micro switches, all dead and the car never goes to sleep.
@@zochpeter Peter...you nailed it my 02 Beetle had a MAJOR meltdown and no one would even look at it. I decided I wanted to keep it as I have a pickup to daily drive ....I wound up spending 6 months sorting it all out. Spent hours on the forums learning what to do. But I narrowed it down to the drivers door latch begining the avalanche of problems. That wire from the alt to the battery is barely adequate at best mine melted at the alternator post as I had cleaned the fuse box side much earlier. The alt actually took fire while my son was driving ! Flames and everything. It was the dead of winter at night so maximum draw....everything was turned on. A new alt didnt fix it however much damage was done....the cluster malfuntioned...the body control module acted up and more. The battery grounds to the body under the battery box ! Out of sight its rarely considered...on an older car its always corroded bad. The is also a major junction in the footwell behind trim by your left foot. On mine the sunroof drains were clogged and and water was getting behind the dash and down there. Those connectors were badly corroded too. The list goes on and on but I had zero to lose except my time and eventually located and cleaned ALL the grounds under the dash....replaced the ECU with a used but immoblizer deleted. With the used replacement cluster the keys dont work....an pirate VagTac was unable to extract my pin codes. I even built a proper ECU test bench for it.....no luck. Now its just purring...never ran better....really enjoyable little car because I've gone through it completely upgrading and fixing.. But I believe the door module was at least the trigger for all this
@@stuartbear922 Thanks Stuart...I've been around machinery and vehiches all my life. This one was almost out of my reach trying to figure it out. Thats why there are so many really nice Beetles in the wrecking yards. People are not to bother repairing them. Its a shame because up and running its a fun car. Just full of "bugs" .
I worked at a Nissan dealer in the early two thousands. If a car came in under warranty with a bad ABS sensor connector we were not allowed to repair or splice in a new connector. The entire ABS wiring harness had to be replaced because of liability concerns. Dealers are fair game for law suits because they have deep pockets. Unfortunately that's one reason they want to replace rather than repair components.
Also, attorneys tend to find that most folks on a jury have no idea about fair auto repair procedures, OEM or not which allows those same attorneys to make up stories and situations that will sway them into thinking the car dealership is god and didn't do gods work. Brakes are never an area to skimp on, ever.
That’s a BS line from the dealer… Dealer can always give you the option to repair and a release of any liability waiver for the repair. The repair portion of dealers are usually a separate business from the sales side. The real issue is that the dealer makes a ton of money for the parts and the hours to repair.
@@captaindunsell8568 I was referring to warranty work. I'm sure Nissan would rather pay one half hour to repair a harness connector but we had to replace the whole harness and it cost them 6 hours of labor. Liability waivers aren't worth the paper they're printed on. A court will always side with the consumer. Our current shop (not a dealer) installed a customer supplied used transmission. It failed after 6 months. We were forced to fix it even though the customer signed a so called waiver stating we weren't responsible for a customer supplied part. He took us to small claims court and said he didn't understand the document he signed. The shop is always at fault in the real world. Judges don't have a clue.
With the economy in the tank, novice backyard mechanics appreciate your videos. Not everyone can afford dealership or independent shop rates. You take time to explain your troubleshooting thought process which helps owners understand the dozens of complicate stems in our vehicles.
It's just not the financial cost-it's also about competency or negligent or intentional low morale screwing over the repair. I've seen many videos on UA-cam's where the channel has found a bolt that was replaced or a wire was broken in half for this and that was loose after another mechanic worked on the vehicle.
Correction...radio.😋 seriously though I'm surprised he could just put in an aftermarket unit because some late model cars now integrate critical vehicle functions into the radio.
@@InsideOfMyOwnMind yes your right. Heard stories about BMW. ( Bring My Wallet ) Cars. Replacement of factory radios will give you a no crank or no start.
Sometimes you have to be careful with some shops and salvage yards. I went to a salvage yard looking for a used head. This salvage yard does not allow you to pull part so you need to wait in lobby. The guy comes out with a head with bent valves and tried telling me it's not bent and questioning if your a mechanic.
I've had nothing but drive ability issues lately that seemed like simple fixes but the systematic diagnostic troubleshooting procedure found the problems much faster and saved the customer and me time and money not having to replace a fuel pump or drop a tank on these totally rusted to F Northwoods vehicles. You have helped me become so much better at accurately diagnosing crank no starts and driveability issues by making it fun to go thru the procedure because its a surefire way to find the problem and repair it vs firing the parts cannon, especially when it comes to anything under the vehicle, like fuel pumps. Always check for power to the pump BEFORE opening that Pandora's box of rusted straps, lines, rust in the eye, etc. Thanks a lot Ivan!
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics I can't afford not to. Even if the parts cannon seemed to fix the problem, it could still come back if the root cause isn't found and repaired. It's a road map to success and no come backs.
Not sure I need to add this, but also, as well as power, check the grounds. I Was surprised to find an alternator with a bad ground. You would think those large mounting bolts would do, but not on 1 car I worked on. And a fuel pump. The pump was bad, but so was the grounding wire to the frame. ( the pump did draw 10 amps continusly, a good ground was important.) A friend bought a used truck. Lots of paperwork in the glove box for misfiring, from several service stations. It was a bad ground, engine to frame. Bad grounds don't usually smell or taste bad, some don't even look bad, but they sure effect electrics.
Seeing melted wires on the fuse box on top of the battery is fairly common with these and something they tell you to look for when diagnosing electrical problems and that dealer knows this. I used to trust dealers until I started watching UA-cam repair videos.
At 11:29 that's a fuse. They get hot, often VERY hot, in normal use. Thermal cycling can work joints and develop fretting corrosion over time, just like vibration. Deoxit was a great call. A fresh terminal and a proper crimper would have been even better but I'm so glad you avoided solder!
That "liability" is a cop out. They may have thought there was a short to ground somewhere else that caused the insulation burn at the terminal. That shows how little they understand about circuits or how outright dodgy they are - neither is a good look.
I agree. Although to be fair, I do see how they wouldn't want to risk replacing the terminal especially if the tech didn't have a good understanding of what caused it to burn up. While you or I or Ivan would have realized the connection was simply bad and got overloaded when the alternator was trying to recharge the dead battery, the tech may have been thinking "if I modify the wiring (potentially against policy?) and for some reason the car burns down and burns down someone's house or garage, I will probably lose my job". Legally, replacing the entire harness with a new, unmodified one is a much safer bet because then if something happened the liability would fall on the manufacturer of the harness rather than the tech unless it could be proven that the tech didn't install it properly. Of course it's also totally possible that they were just being shady assholes.
They didn’t think there was a short to ground. They knew exactly what caused that wire to melt. In the early 2000’s we were replacing those wires weekly, including the fuse box. What they could have offered was to get a used wire from a pull apart scrap yard. Either way, a dealer can’t perform sub par repairs due to liability issues.
@@volpswagen_marco Looks like that particular harness had about 6 wires. Even if VW sold the harness, they would probably want somewhere around $750 plus for a new one. Probably replace all the wires and and fittings for less than the labor to R&R the thing.
@@MrRShoaf actually it’s 1 direct wire to the alternator, so 749$ lol. On some later models they put a fusible link in the wiring…. That wasn’t replaceable, so the whole wire still had to be replaced.
It is sad that so many repairable vehicles get scrapped. Often the owner just needs one reason to get rid of it. Thanks for renewing my faith in humans being able to fix mechanical and electrical problems.
Yeah, but remember it's important that we devote enough resources to keep manufacturers making cars that dealers can tell owners are crap after 10 years. Oh, and to employ dealer mechanics who seem to think their job description is something different from the dictionary definition.
Don't slam dealers yet , I worked for few dealerships . You in your own garage can do whatever you want , dealer makes repair , anything happens to the car /even NOT related/ and hordes of lawyers are on your door steps because you're BIG dealer and they know that you will loose . Imagine if this car caught on fire , "door might've not open" , see where I'm going with this ? Could give you crazy examples of that . What bothers me is that dealer "offered" to take the title of this vehicle . Hmmm , perfectly good car for someone ? As for your logical and very smart thinking , fantastic channel !!!
Haha, dealer says junk the car, client says i got ivan on speed dial, dealer says shit, that's money gone for him! Ivan chuckles, gets the deal with almost no NPR fixes saves client money and saves car from going Landfill. Fixes all the client complaints and client is happy, great video!! 👍 many thumbs up!! I hate air injection stuff! Always leaks! Speaking from experience!! Wow that is one toasty wire! I remember seeing Humble Mechanic's video about being a common problem with poor connection at the crimps. Vw suffered from it.
Hey Ivan! Always nice to watch your videos! I had exactly the same thing happening on my car,also based on mark 4 Vw Golf. I caught it before destroying my fuse panel. My way of fixing it was to cut the cable at the end of the insulation,as it was long enough and crimping another style of lug for 400V industrial applications, a tube style beefy copper lug,crimped with a hidraulic crimper.Everithing done on the car. It did not make sense to me to reuse the old and flawed connector.
Great Job Ivan! You saved another car from an incompetent stealership. I have also fixed multi strand high current cables for similar issues. Multi strand does not like worrking near its limits in harsh environments. Corrosion will develop between strands and resistance causes heating to the point of failure. The best Fix I've found is: Uncrimp the wire. Separate and clean each individual strand. Clean crimp. Recrimp wire. Using a high wattage soldering iron or torch, use flux and solder so the solder wicks inside the crimp. Apply liquid insulation to any strands exposed to air. The goal is to make that area airtight to minimize the environmental effects.
Well done Ivan, you have become the euro repair man. I do believe you will be the go to man. That dealer sounds like my local dealer. My dealer couldn't change the spider gears in my GM truck rear-end. I said, do they sale replacement gears? He said yes, but we don't know how to get them out. What? Long story cut short. After I got them out, I took to his counter and he said, oh you got them out. How did you do that? I said what's it worth to you? Long story short, I got a discount for info.
Spider gears in a GM rear axle? Seriously? Get me something more difficult!! If those dealer "techs" can't get them out, they shouldn't be working on cars & similar vehicles!!!
the Toyota stealership tried that with my wife , you need a new car your 86 Celica blew a timing belt all the valves are bent , so I went in there and asked for varsol , I flipped the head over and poured varsol on all the cylinders they didn't leak through , they put it back together free of charge , I never showed them my HD and auto red seal mechanics license ,I was going to save that for court , lol.
You don't usually see this kind of high resistance terminal failure in cars, you see it more in residential AC breaker panels. Specifically, the actual connection has failed (overloaded, high heat) and melted the cable insulation. NEC (AC power distribution) refers to the mechanical connections as terminal ratings and it has to be compatible with the wire insulating rating. The term terminal in this case includes all connections and device ratings (may be a fuse, breaker or a bus bar with a housing, and the materials they are mounted in, like plastic, etc.). The wire insulation and all the "Terminal" connections must meet the required ampacity of the circuit including any derating. Derating (an NEC term) addresses unique conditions in which the wire (insulation) and terminals (and by extension devices) reside. For example, there would be a derating for a cable and terminal that operate at an elevated ambient temperature, like in the engine compartment. To me, It looks like this is actually a terminal design flaw from the factory. You could measure the overall resistance on the circuit accurately if you had a high current digital low resistance ohmmeter like the Megger DLRO100X (100 Amps), which is unfortunately very expensive. To do the test you would have to disconnect the battery and alternator and test the resistance (momentarily) of the compete circuit (wire + terminals (fuse)) at an amperage below the fuse rating representing normal operation, perhaps 60 Amps. I think in this case what you would find is the overall resistance (heat generated) of the circuit will exceeded the temperature rating of the "Terminals". So, what does this mean. It means that, in the long run, replacing the factory harness, as suggested by the dealer, will not fix the problem. The dealer's concern about liability (meaning vehicle catching fire) is probably prudent. You would have to replace the cable and the terminals, which would mean upgrading to a new fuse block for this circuit. The fuse rating would be the same but the "Terminals" will have the proper ampacity so as to not over-temp the connection.
My mom has an old rusty Gran prix and she always took it to the dealer until they told her it needed $7K in repairs and suggested she drove it to the junkyard. She finally came to her senses and now goes to the guy down the street who fixed what needed fixing and it runs fine.
Congrats on your troubleshooting skills. You're thorough & conscientious...hard to find now days. Truth be told it's a numbers game (time/$$$) for the most part, the love & the art is gone...we are conditioned to have a disposable mentallity. The dealership work on flat rate pay scale that will convert a hungry young tech into a parts chamger or a butcher.. .sad really. Process of elimination is 🔑 to success. My wife own a VDub Beetle vert. 2.5L calls me on way home that the check engine light was flashing & the car was running rough...told her it's misfiring you'll make it home...sure enough 2 & 4 misfiring cause brittle connectors & the hose that runs front - back to the evac valve was cracked off. Replaced hose & depinned the coil harness & installed new connectors. Unfortunately these cars are designed to run at certain temps & all the plastics break apart like clock work right after you pay them off : ( it's an engineering marvel & ingenious marketing. Congrats again on your channel..wish you contimued success.
When I clean burnt/corroded wires like that I use a fine wire wheel in a drill. It (+deox) will get every side of every strand. You just have to use the side of the wheel spinning away from the wire. Another great vid, Ivan!
I find it sad that technicians at dealers like this are not even allowed to perform simply repairs like this. To tell a customer they should junk their car simply because of a bad wire connection is madness. A repair like that is just basic stuff that every tech should be capable of doing. And I don't buy the liability excuse they gave for not being able to do the repair without a new wire, surely a competent tech should be more than capable of making good such a repair safely? Of course they should disclose the facts to the customer - cannot source a new wire, but we could repair your old one, the customer would be happy. And even if a new cable was available, it would have been yet another example of the throw away mentality - why fix something when you can just throw it away and buy a new one. And if you think things are bad now, just wait until EV's rule the road, cars being junked early will be the norm. I live in the UK, and i would guess that well over half the cars on our roads at the moment are over 10 years old, and still going strong. Can not see that happening with EV's. Car production rates will at least double.
Original connection I=V/R, R=V/I ~ 2.5 milli Ohms. New connection 0.03/50 = 0.6 milli Ohms. A well executed crimp ( using the correct die and force) is supposed to form a bunch of gas tight compression welds between the terminal and the copper. A crimp connection is supposed to be a better connection than solder but I wonder what a little flux and solder would have done in place of all that fluid film?
I have a 2000 new beetle 2. Liter and I do not have an air pump my car runs fine I did have an issue with it running to lean and that was to do with a cam sensor.
wire crimps have a high failure rate. Often they have pinched insulation instead of a puncture. I have always improved things when fixing it by cleaning the wire, and cleaning the lug if it is not heat destroyed and soldering the lug onto the wire. Will never corrode or fail again.
My wife had a 1999 Jetta that was throwing a code for the mass airflow sensor. I found a cracked plastic vacuum line that ran behind the intake to the brake booster The lines were sold as an assembly for about $200.00 at the dealer. An L-shaped 5/8" molded hose from NAPA fit the barb fittings nicely, and I added two zip ties as "clamps" for insurance. It was still working great when we sold the car six years later. $13.00. The $40.00 scan tool and some Internet searches have saved me a fortune.
I had a parasitic dram of some sort with my 2006 Jetta 2.5. $2000 later it was fixed. BUT they didn't tighten the connection on the alternator and I made it a half hour away before it couldn't keep the battery charged enough and the car just wanted to stop. I am glad it was only on back roads where it wanted to die and not the highway which would have been more dangerous. They replaced the battery free because that one was their fault. The module that cost so much to find and replace was J578 or something like that. I may have paid more in labor for them to find the bad part really. Electrical problems like this with pretty much any car are a nightmare to track down.
"Engine is in a state of extinction"---was that really a poor choice of wording? After all, it IS a VW. And is repairing a bad connector really a dealer liability issue? I think it's more of a "there's no money in it for us" issue....
@@ziggystardust6856 Like anything else, if it´s maintained properly it will last. But I seen a few too many timing chains stretch on properly maintained vehicles in general. And that timing chain on that VW 2.5, expensive parts and expensive time. Timing chain is on the back of the engine on the 2.5 so remove transmission or engine to service timing chains. I would much rather VW´s 1.8N/A engines over the 2.5 and I'm not even a VW fan.
Yo @$$ is silicone insulation. Silicone can take high temperatures. That jacket is PVC. A good crimp fuses the wires together. So that crimp was never any good if it came out stranded. The right crimping tool for large gauge wires is speciality equipment. You want a ratcheting one. Hydraulic is too expensive. You need a fused crimp to keep air out of the connection.
My parents bought me a brand new 1977 VW Rabbit with a 4 speed manual when I graduated High School. That car was made so cheaply that I was always fixing something. New car warranties were only 12 months or 12,000 miles back then. I was out of warranty and my car started overheating on the way home from work one day. I thought that it might be the sending unit, but the fuse panel was so cheap that it melted a little bit from the fan's current load and caused the fuse not to make contact. I purchased an entire new fuse box. I also noticed that the radiator was bulging at the end and it turned out that the cheap plastic split inside and now was leaking. I really loved my Rabbit and I drove it for just over 5 years. I next purchased a new 1982 Honda Accord sedan with a 5 speed manual. In the 6 years that I owned that car I needed an interior lightbulb and a water pump that an extended Warranty paid for.
Sometimes the valve gets stuck open and hot exhaust gas goes to the pump killing it. That is why all the test for Secondary Air Pump should be done with engine cold and not run the car too long. Valve is $60 and pump is like $400. So you don’t want to kill the pump while testing it. Also the vacuum solenoid goes bad and causes a failure. But that is even cheaper. Bavauto used to have a testing how to on their website.
@@johnaclark1 i had one exactly like this, same year, 0171 and 0411 codes. Ended up the air pump was good, however the plastic air pipe was corroded and broken underneath the battery. Makes me question if this air injection system actually helped reduce these cars' emissions in the long run, as they're all broken now, running lean!
The pump is there to heat the catalytic converter faster. And they tend to fill with moisture that turns in to water, and especially in cold climates they froze and broke. On one car that broke the new pump in one year, I drilled a small hole to the housing of the replacement pump to let it drain.
Great work Ivan, and please keep it up. I learn a huge amount of good info from your methodical diagnoses. Don’t pay too much attention to the obnoxious commenters like the one you pinned….some people are just angry and miserable and want to drag everyone else down with them.
I had a call recently for a no-start on a beetle with a 2.5. The factory exciter wire to the starter was barely on. I read up finding it’s a common issue with these particular cars. Fix was running a new female connector for the trigger wire. Fyi in case you run into a no crank no start!
Very sad the dealer determined the lug was an "unrepairable" item. That is disgusting! To suggest that was a reason to write-off the car is abhorrent. If as you said they said they would take the vehicle off the customer, I can see what was going to happen next, and none of that would involve going to the crushers. This should be an reportable matter to VW head office in America & Germany, as well as your consumer protection authority. I am sure they would like another dig at VW, especially after the diesel-gate issue.
Lol, calling the head office they will probably be laughing at you. The more new cars a dealership sells the higher the bonus they get from the mothership. Selling you a new car makes them more money than the repairs. I think that's obvious and although I don't agree that the car should be written off for a bad connection unfortunately it's something you'll see across dealerships of any brand because that's how most dealerships operate. Their incentive for selling you a new car rather than fixing it is that simple.
PHAD is exposing a time-honored, 'stealership' conspiracy. SA convinces customer the car is hopeless, and introduces him/her to salesman. Sales offers "more than fair 😊" (NOT) credit for the "junker" because, of course, they are all a bunch of philanthropists. Dealership sells a car to sucker AND gets a trade-in dirt cheap. Trade-in gets prepped by same shop that said it was junk, and it's on the used car lot in 1-4 weeks priced in KBB retail excellent range.
Kenwoods are usually pretty decent but particularly on the budget Chinese radios they also have a high parasitic draw. Seen some go as high as 20mA. That's about the same as an aftermarket remote starter. A quality aftermarket radio shouldn't be higher than 5mA. As for the cluster, maybe something takes time to go to sleep? And don't forget to lock the doors, BCM typically goes to sleep sooner when car is locked.
Yeah, but I had one of these. VW did such a terrible job with the plastic chemistry. Mine was literally falling about faster than I could replace things. They are junk and VW should be ashamed.
Volkswagon looooves their plastic! 😐👎 I just sold my 1999 ALH TDI with 245000 miles. The plastic pieces were brittle. It was my spare car and it served it’s purpose. No complaints here. The new owner was happy to get it. He has others just like it for parts cars.
Another great diagnosis and fix Ivan! Typical to hear from the dealer that they don't carry parts for older vehicles and up sell you to get a new car. Thankfully there's the likes of Ivan that can get these old cars running again. Cheers!
Dealerships sell disposable cars with lifetime oil since they can't get anyone to work in the shop. Bet a salesman condemned that car but even they'll be gone for good soon enough. Fascinating.
You definitely should have made that a good solder joint and shrink-wrap to prevent re oxidation at that point. This will definitely come back due to electrolysis
Solder joints in a hot vibrating environment could be a bit questionable compared to a joint held by pressure (crimp). Something about solder being brittle, and once the solder cracks then a quick electrical open circuit or a hot one. Not saying no solder joints are ever used in aircraft, but there is a popular mantra - the proper way to use solder in an aircraft is to use none...
Hey that's not a real Beetle. Everybody knows their engines are in the boot not under the front hood! LOL. Nice fix my friend. I am betting the stealership took one look when you arrived with the owner.. They said CRAP she with that wise gut from PHAD. We aren't getting that car. LOL
I worked at vw from 2015-2020 and saw tons of alternator harnesses melt the fuse tray. Usually due to age and oxidation throughout the whole harness, it was cheaper and better in the long run to just replace the harness. There are tons of aftermarket options for this. I see aftermarket ones installed all the time. Also the clusters are common to have a poor connection via data-bus to the radio and ecm. If that connection is disturbed, it will cause an indefinite power draw at the cluster will never completely go to sleep due to missing data-bus signal from radio that is used for security/immobilizer.
Amazing that they want to junk a car because of a bad crimp. You can buy most connectors with pigtails directly from VW, I would be surprised if this is not the case for this thick wire. Even if a pigtail is not available from VW, there are plenty of other options apart from restoring the old eyelet. BMW dealers often just quote an amazingly high price if they don't want to work on a car anymore, but just stating that there is no solution is just next level.
You can take a faulty car to ten different dealers and expect ten different quotes, the only constant is your getting ripped off by all of them. They're all using the same business model, their moto is "the customer is stupid otherwise they will not bring it here"
Great job. Won't waste my breath in casting my disdain on the dealers, most of us know what their main motivation is. Never heard of an air injection pump? Do most cars have these?
During initial start up when the engine is cold it’s running in open loop, the engine is running rich and the computer isn’t using the O2 sensors. Some raw fuel gets into the catalytic converters, which increases pollution and is bad for the cats. The A.I.R system pumps fresh air into the exhaust, which helps burn off the fuel in the cats. It should shut off as soon as the engine goes into closed loop.
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics Just like "auto stop/start" is especially on SUV's and Jeeps that would typically be in situations that require a fully 100% of the time running engine.
You have to lock the car and close the hood and everything and wait for half an hour to check the amp draw. Leave the meter connected all along. The European cars take some time to into sleep mode, once they are take the reading again.
I deal with these alternator wires all of the time. I pull the harness out, separate the alternator cable from the a/c and alternator signal wires, and I make a new cable, wrap everything back up with tessa tape. Very simple.
Ivan: I bought that thermal camera on your recommendation; thanks! Quick tip: if you hit the trigger once to take a picture, it asks if you want to save. You can just hit the trigger again to confirm, without having to use the "enter" button on the back. Simplifies things, and it's particularly helpful if you're using it in the dark, where you can't see the button labels or locations that well.
One quick comment on this…VW/Audi products will often keep some accessories (like the radio) powered on when the key is in the ignition, even if the key is off. It was hard to tell from the video, but it looked like when you were doing your testing for the draw, the key was in the ignition. Just something to keep in mind. I recommend removing the key entirely when doing parasitic draw testing on any vehicle.
I can do that with my Passat , if you leave the fob in the slot then the radio will remain powered up until you pull the keyless fob out, but that will not allow the main lights to stay on as they will stay in daylight running mode so the cluster might have an issue. Someone did mention about the charging lead could have fried due to jumping starting the Ugly Bug on a dead battery, I have not seen that on mine and I did let the battery go dead last year and that required jump starting, personally I would have checked the alternator to see that the clutch on it had not jammed and thus was over charging which could be a reason for the toasty wiring.
If for whatever reason it comes back and you are still having issues. Check the cluster itself, I had odd issues and it was a very odd problem. I disconnected the cluster and the terminals were wet. Believe it or not, it was a bad coolant bottle that would send coolant to the cluster through the wiring while the coolant was pressurized. The fix was a new bottle because the old one had failed at the coolant level sensor. There was no obvious leak at the sensor. Mine was to the point that coolant was starting to occasionally drip onto the floor mat. I have seen odd stuff before but I think that was up there on the list for me.
The dealer was lazy and practiced their laziness . Good work figuring out and fixing several key problems . In the process of replacing starter , alternator and battery cables with 2 gauge and grounding straps with 4 or 6 gauge wiring in the engine compartment . This is in a 1999 Chrysler Concorde . The only corrosion I have found has been on battery cables . Thanks a lot for your video
Well repaired ivan :-D That dealer is a waste of d.n.a. I don't trust crimp connections, i would have tinned every strand then crimp it and solder it. More wire surface area connected = lower joint resistance. Plus harder for dampness to creep in again.
Crimping over solder is not a good connection. Tin is not springy enough and will yield over time, loosening the joint. If you want the best long term resistance, you need to crimp and THEN solder. Beware creating a strain point though, any vibration and the wire will break right where the solder stopped wicking into the strands.
After the crimp I'd use a heat gun on the terminal and melt wax over it. I do this also for exposed threads on tie rods, ball joints, etc but instead gently heating them with propane.
Just watched this the fuse box on top of the battery is a known issue all down to corrosive fumes from the battery , don't clean terminals replace them cut back leads or replace and never try to re crimp terminal and certainly not with grips , you got all the Tec why not invest in a £40 proper crimping tool , clean as a temporary repair only
So much for junk the car. The infrared is a real super tool. I bought one that works thru my phone. The amp clamp and the multi meter got a real workout. We even saw the voltage drop across the fuse technique. What happened with the air pump. Brushes probably standing off the armature. Customer maybe elected to not fix. Expensive part.
That fuse box thing on top of the battery is SUPER common on VW's I have a mk4 golf and they are known to do this when the ac is on with the fans on and a ton of current draw. Pretty junk design but it is what it is. They're available everywhere online. Good job on fixing this one man.
It's very common on this era of VWs for the charge cable to corrode and heat up at the fuse connection. I usually replace it with welding ground cable wire. I also recommend adding aluminum paste to the connection when you replace the cable. The cluster also stays on until the time hits or you lock it. The immobiler also lives in the cluster and tells the ecu to unlock and run the car. 0.02 for what you are doing is normal. When you close everything and lock it it will drop more.
Common VW issue. In this case, I removed the terminal, trimmed & stripped the cable. I then cleaned the fusible link both ends, then fitted a new terminal by soldering & crimping. Before installing, I coated with silver paste. I also did the same with the cable from fusible link to battery terminal. Next, I cleaned all negative connections, & applied silver paste to them.
Ivan, that + cable from alternator is the #1 issue for years for VWs. If it gets too hot, the resistance gets so high that voltage drop might be at 1V or more. If Ecu sees 13.5isV or less at idle, it will increase idle RPM. And second, it is those nuts that hold the crimp connector and fuses. they oxidize. Clean those nuts and your voltage drop will be 0. for vw parasitic draw, check the door contact switches within the door lock mechanism. close/open doors and look via obd2 if the central electric/convenience module sees doors open / closed as per status. I bet the radio was OK, but all the crap just did not go to sleep because of module did not see door closed/locked
Hey Peter, thank you for the tips! Interesting point on the idle increase due to low voltage. Door ajar switches were fine, dome lights turned off. Radio was definitely toast haha
Be careful, I had an 02 Beetle with a parasitic draw caused by an aftermarket radio not letting the computers go to sleep. This is a common problem on VW sound systems.
I work for a dealer in hvac, lead tech as I’m old. We love to sell new. But don’t come back with easy fix and crying about liability. We fix to an extent where it makes no sense. Even then a cold night is time to be creative, yet safe.
GOOD IDEA to fix the alternator output lead is to REPLACE IT with a larger one that can pass more current. Sounds like a poorly designed electrical system OR you can ADD another wire in parallel to the alternator That feed terminal block can be replace with something off the shelf at a hardware store or automotive parts place Heat shrink is easy to install on those terminal wires
You make a lot of sense. When VW designed the electrics, to keep manufacture costs down, the wire (current-carrying capacity) from the Alternator, is economically JUST ENOUGH to do the job, assuming that there are no high-resistance joints. Clearly, the original crimping (by VW) certainly wasn't the best either. Many VWs of the same style will suffer this same fate. I don't just crimp heavy cables, I solder them too!
Resistance to infinity and beyond! That was I heard when you said resistance to infinity but I'm seeing Buzz Lightyear flying away in my head holding the meter. Lol
A very thorough diagnosis. At the dealer level, and had the new wiring harness been available (for whatever money), as well as the competent technician to install it (for whatever money), after a time, the same result would ensue, as the actual diagnosis came to a parasitic current draw from the radio... Much to be said for the electrical analysis showing power dissipation V(in Volts) x I(current, in Amps) before repair, then after. It would seem the radio might have been faulty for some time that led to a battery replacement.. From this point, how did the repair/replacement of the air pump go? Was it back to the dealer?
Ivan, I was going to sound off on this but it looks like everyone else already has. Thanks for showing us how to keep a cool head and systematically finding and fixing the problem. Love how you used that camera as part of the process. Pretty cool, I mean hot, well you know what I mean! Thanks for Sharing!
Good job. I had two VWs Beetles. TDI and Gas. Both ran long lives but they died a hard death. Neighbor had same type Gas Beetle and his burned up right at the same spot. It never did run correctly after the repairs. He replaced the loom too. Suspect the EGM took a hit. My 2011 Camaro SS has 17 computers in it. Good luck smelling, tasting and listening to it trying to fix it old school way. Ain't happening. Technical cars require technical tools with the caveat that one still needs to know engine theory and apply it to the diagnosis.
Have a 2006 Jetta TDI. It suddenly developed bad shifting. Took it to a dealer. They suggested a whole transmission. Took it to a local guy that works on VWs. $90 later and new fluid and 'reset' of the shifter mechanism and it's shifted perfectly since.
Hats off. Great save for customer. Question,that diagnostic cost you a lot of real time.dealer charges horrendous hourly rates . Gotta pay for the building ,wages ,advertising, the list goes on. We use an established highly recommended independent Mechanic. . He’s great and we are his for life (his or ours). Anyway,,,great job!
Dealer techs, especially the high end German badges, are trained to repair in a corporate approved manner. This means no terminal repair, but replace the entire harness with NEW factory part. If part is no longer available from factory, car is unrepairable. This is corporate's guidelines, not necessarily dealerships choice in the matter. Now an indy shop is different. I just replaced the battery fuse box and rewired the AC/cooling fan power supply on a 2000 Beetle. HAPPY CUSTOMER, his car was repaired, HAPPY TECH, he paid me.
Finally a competent comment. I service advised for 7 years, mostly at Toyota. The techs always want to help the customer, but there’s so many operating procedure guidelines from the manufacturer, that they end up making people mad by just doing their jobs. It’s sad that nobody understands this. The way I put it when I had an outrageous estimate over something I knew could be fixed for so much less is I told the customer that the manufacturer supplies parts to put that component in your car in new/factory condition which isn’t always necessary. I would recommend a shop next door who was highly rated and I would always get a firm handshake for being honest and be done with it. Dealers really should stick to servicing and repairing newer cars because after that, the parts catalogue and pricing is unreasonable.
Funny thing is many buyers are going to japanese or american vehicles or going to euro repair shops for billions in net loss. I bet 95% of euro auto corp execs cant change a tire and get manucures. Hence why european cars are loosing thier apeal.
Agree, Lexus has told me the same thing. If their supply chain doesn’t provide the parts anymore, the car is unserviceable… even if someone else has the correct parts. You just need to find someone else to do the work.
Absolutely true, we aren't allowed to do repairs like this even if we want to, we have to "do it the right way" and replace the harness. The instrument cluster draw likely is only the cluster lighting up with the door open, it will turn off after some time causing no parasitic draw. Aftermarket radios are nice to solve radio involved parasitic draw problems until you start running into immobilizer problems, you can not do anything with these beetles(program keys, remote fob learning, adapting many parts) without disconnecting the aftermarket radio. If you don't know this you can end up chasing your tail into oblivion just trying to adapt simple components, just a heads up! Very good video.
that's just crazy, how do you think the customer will view the brand after an encounter like that?
Too many dealerships try the 'your vehicle is unfix-able, but we'll make you a sweet trade in deal if you purchase a new car' scam. Recently, my neighbor (a female senior citizen) had brought her spotless 2006 Toyota Camery to the dealer for an oil change and a complaint of a braking issue. After the oil change, she was presented with a list of over $8,000.00 in "necessary repairs". They recommended she accept a trade in offer and purchase of a new car. Thankfully, she told them she would like to go home and think it over. She showed me the list which included among other things, major oil leaks (head gasket, rear main seal), all new front end parts, etc. (I crawled under her car and found no signs of any fluid leaks). They did note that there were no issues with her brakes (her only complaint) but that she would need the brake fluid flushed at her next oil change.
I had her take her car to my mechanic for a complete inspection of her vehicle. The result? NONE of the items noted by the dealer were valid. The car needed front brakes and clean brake fluid. It cost her around $200.00 as opposed to over $8,000.00. Needless to say, she now is a regular customer of my mechanic.
Nice 👌
That pretty cheap brakes and brake flush for $200 bucks
@@elephant1992 brakes for a Camry are not all that expensive so depending on labor rate sounds about right
Goes to show you that dealers don't have your best interest at heart. They want you to junk a car over a bad crimp. Thanks for taking us along, Ivan!
That "we have to replace X entire assembly cuz liability" is getting more and more common.
Not a big deal for us, but really screws over unknowing people, and people that are stuck having to go somewhere.
The dealers, especially VW/ Audi etc will only “repair” with new factory parts. This is what you get when the lawyers rule a company. All the more reason why Right to Repair is a critical issue. More and more, it’s becoming questionable who actually owns your car. Do you own it, or are you just paying to use it?
@Bill Moran Very good observation, Bill. Totally agree. Cars are almost like cellphones now, where you are forced to replace them after x number of years. I hate it and drive my cars until the wheels fall off. I have a VAG-com to service Audis. Its necessity proves your point as to the importance of the Right To Repair issue. Without that VAG-com tool, working on those cars outside of the dealership is pretty much impossible.
@@kastooMcFry Truth.
@@volvo09 yep have to replace that piece
Speculating that the parasitic drain caused a flat battery on several occasions- and the car was jumped and run with the alternator doing the job of charging a fully dead batter- hence very high current across that terminal connection. That was when it melted the insulation etc. If the battery has some charge remaining, it may get warm but not excessively hot. Lesson- charge a dead battery with a dedicated charger, don't rely on the car's systems to do that from a fully discharged state.
no. that cable running from alternator + post and the crimp connector and nuts holding the fuses is VW issue since gen4. all golfs, jettas, audis, seats and skodas, basically all across the same platform that utilize the fuse fox on top of the battery. for the parasitic draw, my bet is on door lock mechanism micro switches, all dead and the car never goes to sleep.
@@zochpeter Peter...you nailed it my 02 Beetle had a MAJOR meltdown and no one would even look at it. I decided I wanted to keep it as I have a pickup to daily drive ....I wound up spending 6 months sorting it all out.
Spent hours on the forums learning what to do.
But I narrowed it down to the drivers door latch begining the avalanche of problems.
That wire from the alt to the battery is barely adequate at best mine melted at the alternator post as I had cleaned the fuse box side much earlier. The alt actually took fire while my son was driving ! Flames and everything. It was the dead of winter at night so maximum draw....everything was turned on. A new alt didnt fix it however much damage was done....the cluster malfuntioned...the body control module acted up and more.
The battery grounds to the body under the battery box ! Out of sight its rarely considered...on an older car its always corroded bad. The is also a major junction in the footwell behind trim by your left foot. On mine the sunroof drains were clogged and and water was getting behind the dash and down there. Those connectors were badly corroded too. The list goes on and on but I had zero to lose except my time and eventually located and cleaned ALL the grounds under the dash....replaced the ECU with a used but immoblizer deleted. With the used replacement cluster the keys dont work....an pirate VagTac was unable to extract my pin codes. I even built a proper ECU test bench for it.....no luck.
Now its just purring...never ran better....really enjoyable little car because I've gone through it completely upgrading and fixing..
But I believe the door module was at least the trigger for all this
@@davidburman451, you could get a job training VW techs. Or, fix up Beetles as a hobby business. You learned the car, the system and the faults!
@@stuartbear922 Thanks Stuart...I've been around machinery and vehiches all my life. This one was almost out of my reach trying to figure it out.
Thats why there are so many really nice Beetles in the wrecking yards. People are not to bother repairing them. Its a shame because up and running its a fun car. Just full of "bugs" .
Nope. This is a common fault on ALL VAG with that fuse box over the battery.
I worked at a Nissan dealer in the early two thousands. If a car came in under warranty with a bad ABS sensor connector we were not allowed to repair or splice in a new connector. The entire ABS wiring harness had to be replaced because of liability concerns. Dealers are fair game for law suits because they have deep pockets. Unfortunately that's one reason they want to replace rather than repair components.
Also, attorneys tend to find that most folks on a jury have no idea about fair auto repair procedures, OEM or not which allows those same attorneys to make up stories and situations that will sway them into thinking the car dealership is god and didn't do gods work. Brakes are never an area to skimp on, ever.
Ahh... the blood sucking liars... er lawyers strike again.
That’s a BS line from the dealer… Dealer can always give you the option to repair and a release of any liability waiver for the repair. The repair portion of dealers are usually a separate business from the sales side. The real issue is that the dealer makes a ton of money for the parts and the hours to repair.
@@captaindunsell8568 I was referring to warranty work. I'm sure Nissan would rather pay one half hour to repair a harness connector but we had to replace the whole harness and it cost them 6 hours of labor. Liability waivers aren't worth the paper they're printed on. A court will always side with the consumer. Our current shop (not a dealer) installed a customer supplied used transmission. It failed after 6 months. We were forced to fix it even though the customer signed a so called waiver stating we weren't responsible for a customer supplied part. He took us to small claims court and said he didn't understand the document he signed. The shop is always at fault in the real world. Judges don't have a clue.
That's actually federal law no repairs on abs harness
With the economy in the tank, novice backyard mechanics appreciate your videos. Not everyone can afford dealership or independent shop rates. You take time to explain your troubleshooting thought process which helps owners understand the dozens of complicate stems in our vehicles.
complicated systems in our vehicles?
It's just not the financial cost-it's also about competency or negligent or intentional low morale screwing over the repair. I've seen many videos on UA-cam's where the channel has found a bolt that was replaced or a wire was broken in half for this and that was loose after another mechanic worked on the vehicle.
Somebody at the dealer wanted this car probably for their kid and thought I would just give this customer line of crap to get his car for nothing
The Dealership saw you Ivan and
was like Damn, we can't Bull Crap
this guy!!!! Nice fix and no parts
required!!!
Haha
Correction...radio.😋 seriously though I'm surprised he could just put in an aftermarket unit because some late model cars now integrate critical vehicle functions into the radio.
@@InsideOfMyOwnMind yes your right. Heard stories about BMW. ( Bring My Wallet ) Cars. Replacement of factory radios will give you a no crank or no start.
Sometimes you have to be careful with some shops and salvage yards. I went to a salvage yard looking for a used head. This salvage yard does not allow you to pull part so you need to wait in lobby. The guy comes out with a head with bent valves and tried telling me it's not bent and questioning if your a mechanic.
I've had nothing but drive ability issues lately that seemed like simple fixes but the systematic diagnostic troubleshooting procedure found the problems much faster and saved the customer and me time and money not having to replace a fuel pump or drop a tank on these totally rusted to F Northwoods vehicles. You have helped me become so much better at accurately diagnosing crank no starts and driveability issues by making it fun to go thru the procedure because its a surefire way to find the problem and repair it vs firing the parts cannon, especially when it comes to anything under the vehicle, like fuel pumps. Always check for power to the pump BEFORE opening that Pandora's box of rusted straps, lines, rust in the eye, etc. Thanks a lot Ivan!
Great comment, glad you are using the scientific diagnostic method with great success :))
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics I can't afford not to. Even if the parts cannon seemed to fix the problem, it could still come back if the root cause isn't found and repaired. It's a road map to success and no come backs.
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics
No
Not sure I need to add this, but also, as well as power, check the grounds. I Was surprised to find an alternator with a bad ground. You would think those large mounting bolts would do, but not on 1 car I worked on. And a fuel pump. The pump was bad, but so was the grounding wire to the frame. ( the pump did draw 10 amps continusly, a good ground was important.) A friend bought a used truck. Lots of paperwork in the glove box for misfiring, from several service stations. It was a bad ground, engine to frame. Bad grounds don't usually smell or taste bad, some don't even look bad, but they sure effect electrics.
Seeing melted wires on the fuse box on top of the battery is fairly common with these and something they tell you to look for when diagnosing electrical problems and that dealer knows this. I used to trust dealers until I started watching UA-cam repair videos.
At 11:29 that's a fuse. They get hot, often VERY hot, in normal use. Thermal cycling can work joints and develop fretting corrosion over time, just like vibration. Deoxit was a great call. A fresh terminal and a proper crimper would have been even better but I'm so glad you avoided solder!
That "liability" is a cop out. They may have thought there was a short to ground somewhere else that caused the insulation burn at the terminal. That shows how little they understand about circuits or how outright dodgy they are - neither is a good look.
I agree. Although to be fair, I do see how they wouldn't want to risk replacing the terminal especially if the tech didn't have a good understanding of what caused it to burn up. While you or I or Ivan would have realized the connection was simply bad and got overloaded when the alternator was trying to recharge the dead battery, the tech may have been thinking "if I modify the wiring (potentially against policy?) and for some reason the car burns down and burns down someone's house or garage, I will probably lose my job". Legally, replacing the entire harness with a new, unmodified one is a much safer bet because then if something happened the liability would fall on the manufacturer of the harness rather than the tech unless it could be proven that the tech didn't install it properly. Of course it's also totally possible that they were just being shady assholes.
They didn’t think there was a short to ground. They knew exactly what caused that wire to melt. In the early 2000’s we were replacing those wires weekly, including the fuse box. What they could have offered was to get a used wire from a pull apart scrap yard.
Either way, a dealer can’t perform sub par repairs due to liability issues.
@@volpswagen_marco
Looks like that particular harness had about 6 wires. Even if VW sold the harness, they would probably want somewhere around $750 plus for a new one. Probably replace all the wires and and fittings for less than the labor to R&R the thing.
@@MrRShoaf actually it’s 1 direct wire to the alternator, so 749$ lol. On some later models they put a fusible link in the wiring…. That wasn’t replaceable, so the whole wire still had to be replaced.
@@volpswagen_marco
Easy enough to add one or even a regular fuse. It ain't rocket science.
The last time I drove the Volkswagen Beetle was in the early 1980s. Air-cooled, chain-drive, rear engine, manual transmission, and no power steering.
Nice to see other diagnosticians are still out there and making a difference :)
keep up the honourable ethos of our trade.
It is sad that so many repairable vehicles get scrapped. Often the owner just needs one reason to get rid of it. Thanks for renewing my faith in humans being able to fix mechanical and electrical problems.
Yeah, but remember it's important that we devote enough resources to keep manufacturers making cars that dealers can tell owners are crap after 10 years. Oh, and to employ dealer mechanics who seem to think their job description is something different from the dictionary definition.
haha...if you have a crack pipe, you will get a lot of sensors reading incorrectly...that's what I heard anyway!
You gotta go go go on zee cracky rock
Crack pipe! LMAO
Crackalac
Don't slam dealers yet , I worked for few dealerships . You in your own garage can do whatever you want , dealer makes repair , anything happens to the car /even NOT related/ and hordes of lawyers are on your door steps because you're BIG dealer and they know that you will loose . Imagine if this car caught on fire , "door might've not open" , see where I'm going with this ? Could give you crazy examples of that . What bothers me is that dealer "offered" to take the title of this vehicle . Hmmm , perfectly good car for someone ? As for your logical and very smart thinking , fantastic channel !!!
Dealer take it on trade and it gets sent off to an auction house. And the cycle continues.
Haha, dealer says junk the car, client says i got ivan on speed dial, dealer says shit, that's money gone for him! Ivan chuckles, gets the deal with almost no NPR fixes saves client money and saves car from going Landfill. Fixes all the client complaints and client is happy, great video!! 👍 many thumbs up!! I hate air injection stuff! Always leaks! Speaking from experience!! Wow that is one toasty wire! I remember seeing Humble Mechanic's video about being a common problem with poor connection at the crimps. Vw suffered from it.
We all need Ivan on speed dial 😁
@@davakil absolutely! 💯💯
Hey Ivan! Always nice to watch your videos! I had exactly the same thing happening on my car,also based on mark 4 Vw Golf. I caught it before destroying my fuse panel. My way of fixing it was to cut the cable at the end of the insulation,as it was long enough and crimping another style of lug for 400V industrial applications, a tube style beefy copper lug,crimped with a hidraulic crimper.Everithing done on the car. It did not make sense to me to reuse the old and flawed connector.
I hate the crooks at the dealership. They wanted a free car. For an easy fix. Your a very knowledgeable guy. Good work.
Great video Ivan ! On the instrument cluster, maybe it has some sort of electrical issue; you know, a _Bug_ of some type.🤣
👌😂🤣
Great Job Ivan! You saved another car from an incompetent stealership. I have also fixed multi strand high current cables for similar issues. Multi strand does not like worrking near its limits in harsh environments. Corrosion will develop between strands and resistance causes heating to the point of failure. The best Fix I've found is: Uncrimp the wire. Separate and clean each individual strand. Clean crimp. Recrimp wire. Using a high wattage soldering iron or torch, use flux and solder so the solder wicks inside the crimp. Apply liquid insulation to any strands exposed to air. The goal is to make that area airtight to minimize the environmental effects.
Well done Ivan, you have become the euro repair man. I do believe you will be the go to man. That dealer sounds like my local dealer. My dealer couldn't change the spider gears in my GM truck rear-end. I said, do they sale replacement gears? He said yes, but we don't know how to get them out. What? Long story cut short. After I got them out, I took to his counter and he said, oh you got them out. How did you do that? I said what's it worth to you? Long story short, I got a discount for info.
I guess them so called TECHS are not techs. If they cannot disassemble a rear diff. It's simple task.
Spider gears in a GM rear axle? Seriously? Get me something more difficult!! If those dealer "techs" can't get them out, they shouldn't be working on cars & similar vehicles!!!
I would have reported them to GM
At least they were willing to pay for the info you gave. They may have been ignorant but fair.
Dealer tells me to junk my vehicle I will junk that brand never buy another product from the and let everyone how bad that company is.
the Toyota stealership tried that with my wife , you need a new car your 86 Celica blew a timing belt all the valves are bent , so I went in there and asked for varsol , I flipped the head over and poured varsol on all the cylinders they didn't leak through , they put it back together free of charge , I never showed them my HD and auto red seal mechanics license ,I was going to save that for court , lol.
Was it non interference? 😂
My '88 Camry was non interference.
You were a mechanic but did not replace the timing belt when it was due for replacement?
@@busman7228 I just bought it , had no history on it ,not a big deal .it ran ten more years my son owned it for 5 more years .
Ah good old ‘red’ wire virus (copper oxidizing, next is green doom). Common on harnesses near batteries.
You don't usually see this kind of high resistance terminal failure in cars, you see it more in residential AC breaker panels. Specifically, the actual connection has failed (overloaded, high heat) and melted the cable insulation. NEC (AC power distribution) refers to the mechanical connections as terminal ratings and it has to be compatible with the wire insulating rating. The term terminal in this case includes all connections and device ratings (may be a fuse, breaker or a bus bar with a housing, and the materials they are mounted in, like plastic, etc.). The wire insulation and all the "Terminal" connections must meet the required ampacity of the circuit including any derating. Derating (an NEC term) addresses unique conditions in which the wire (insulation) and terminals (and by extension devices) reside. For example, there would be a derating for a cable and terminal that operate at an elevated ambient temperature, like in the engine compartment.
To me, It looks like this is actually a terminal design flaw from the factory. You could measure the overall resistance on the circuit accurately if you had a high current digital low resistance ohmmeter like the Megger DLRO100X (100 Amps), which is unfortunately very expensive. To do the test you would have to disconnect the battery and alternator and test the resistance (momentarily) of the compete circuit (wire + terminals (fuse)) at an amperage below the fuse rating representing normal operation, perhaps 60 Amps. I think in this case what you would find is the overall resistance (heat generated) of the circuit will exceeded the temperature rating of the "Terminals".
So, what does this mean. It means that, in the long run, replacing the factory harness, as suggested by the dealer, will not fix the problem. The dealer's concern about liability (meaning vehicle catching fire) is probably prudent. You would have to replace the cable and the terminals, which would mean upgrading to a new fuse block for this circuit. The fuse rating would be the same but the "Terminals" will have the proper ampacity so as to not over-temp the connection.
My mom has an old rusty Gran prix and she always took it to the dealer until they told her it needed $7K in repairs and suggested she drove it to the junkyard. She finally came to her senses and now goes to the guy down the street who fixed what needed fixing and it runs fine.
Congrats on your troubleshooting skills.
You're thorough & conscientious...hard to find now days.
Truth be told it's a numbers game (time/$$$) for the most part, the love & the art is gone...we are conditioned to have a disposable mentallity.
The dealership work on flat rate pay scale that will convert a hungry young tech into a parts chamger or a butcher..
.sad really.
Process of elimination is 🔑 to success.
My wife own a VDub Beetle vert. 2.5L calls me on way home that the check engine light was flashing & the car was running rough...told her it's misfiring you'll make it home...sure enough 2 & 4 misfiring cause brittle connectors & the hose that runs front - back to the evac valve was cracked off.
Replaced hose & depinned the coil harness & installed new connectors.
Unfortunately these cars are designed to run at certain temps & all the plastics break apart like clock work right after you pay them off : ( it's an engineering marvel & ingenious marketing.
Congrats again on your channel..wish you contimued success.
When I clean burnt/corroded wires like that I use a fine wire wheel in a drill. It (+deox) will get every side of every strand. You just have to use the side of the wheel spinning away from the wire. Another great vid, Ivan!
I find it sad that technicians at dealers like this are not even allowed to perform simply repairs like this. To tell a customer they should junk their car simply because of a bad wire connection is madness. A repair like that is just basic stuff that every tech should be capable of doing. And I don't buy the liability excuse they gave for not being able to do the repair without a new wire, surely a competent tech should be more than capable of making good such a repair safely? Of course they should disclose the facts to the customer - cannot source a new wire, but we could repair your old one, the customer would be happy. And even if a new cable was available, it would have been yet another example of the throw away mentality - why fix something when you can just throw it away and buy a new one. And if you think things are bad now, just wait until EV's rule the road, cars being junked early will be the norm. I live in the UK, and i would guess that well over half the cars on our roads at the moment are over 10 years old, and still going strong. Can not see that happening with EV's. Car production rates will at least double.
But think of the boost to the economy from replacing all the broken windows! I mean, EVs.
They are but the dealer wants to make more of a profit by selling parts
It is easy to do if you have a hydraulic cable crimper.
Original connection I=V/R, R=V/I ~ 2.5 milli Ohms. New connection 0.03/50 = 0.6 milli Ohms. A well executed crimp ( using the correct die and force) is supposed to form a bunch of gas tight compression welds between the terminal and the copper. A crimp connection is supposed to be a better connection than solder but I wonder what a little flux and solder would have done in place of all that fluid film?
I have a 2000 new beetle 2. Liter and I do not have an air pump my car runs fine I did have an issue with it running to lean and that was to do with a cam sensor.
wire crimps have a high failure rate. Often they have pinched insulation instead of a puncture. I have always improved things when fixing it by cleaning the wire, and cleaning the lug if it is not heat destroyed and soldering the lug onto the wire. Will never corrode or fail again.
My wife had a 1999 Jetta that was throwing a code for the mass airflow sensor. I found a cracked plastic vacuum line that ran behind the intake to the brake booster The lines were sold as an assembly for about $200.00 at the dealer. An L-shaped 5/8" molded hose from NAPA fit the barb fittings nicely, and I added two zip ties as "clamps" for insurance. It was still working great when we sold the car six years later. $13.00. The $40.00 scan tool and some Internet searches have saved me a fortune.
I had a parasitic dram of some sort with my 2006 Jetta 2.5. $2000 later it was fixed. BUT they didn't tighten the connection on the alternator and I made it a half hour away before it couldn't keep the battery charged enough and the car just wanted to stop. I am glad it was only on back roads where it wanted to die and not the highway which would have been more dangerous. They replaced the battery free because that one was their fault. The module that cost so much to find and replace was J578 or something like that. I may have paid more in labor for them to find the bad part really. Electrical problems like this with pretty much any car are a nightmare to track down.
"Engine is in a state of extinction"---was that really a poor choice of wording? After all, it IS a VW. And is repairing a bad connector really a dealer liability issue? I think it's more of a "there's no money in it for us" issue....
I call it "Chinglish", odd Chinese to English translation.
Sounds accurate, that model is discontinued. :P
that 2.5 is the best modern VW engine in terms of reliability.
@@MTLeopold
But that engine is in a ton of VWS. They can go 20 years using the same engines!
@@ziggystardust6856 Like anything else, if it´s maintained properly it will last. But I seen a few too many timing chains stretch on properly maintained vehicles in general. And that timing chain on that VW 2.5, expensive parts and expensive time. Timing chain is on the back of the engine on the 2.5 so remove transmission or engine to service timing chains. I would much rather VW´s 1.8N/A engines over the 2.5 and I'm not even a VW fan.
Yo @$$ is silicone insulation. Silicone can take high temperatures. That jacket is PVC. A good crimp fuses the wires together. So that crimp was never any good if it came out stranded. The right crimping tool for large gauge wires is speciality equipment. You want a ratcheting one. Hydraulic is too expensive. You need a fused crimp to keep air out of the connection.
Off course dealers say such things. There is a bigger profit margin in new cars.
My parents bought me a brand new 1977 VW Rabbit with a 4 speed manual when I graduated High School. That car was made so cheaply that I was always fixing something. New car warranties were only 12 months or 12,000 miles back then. I was out of warranty and my car started overheating on the way home from work one day. I thought that it might be the sending unit, but the fuse panel was so cheap that it melted a little bit from the fan's current load and caused the fuse not to make contact. I purchased an entire new fuse box. I also noticed that the radiator was bulging at the end and it turned out that the cheap plastic split inside and now was leaking. I really loved my Rabbit and I drove it for just over 5 years. I next purchased a new 1982 Honda Accord sedan with a 5 speed manual. In the 6 years that I owned that car I needed an interior lightbulb and a water pump that an extended Warranty paid for.
I would love to have seen more about secondary air injection pump. I haven't owned anything like that. I also had no idea the bug was 5cyl.
It's a common problem on those. They get moisture in them and seize up. Replace the motor and it's good to go.
Sometimes the valve gets stuck open and hot exhaust gas goes to the pump killing it. That is why all the test for Secondary Air Pump should be done with engine cold and not run the car too long. Valve is $60 and pump is like $400. So you don’t want to kill the pump while testing it. Also the vacuum solenoid goes bad and causes a failure. But that is even cheaper. Bavauto used to have a testing how to on their website.
@@johnaclark1 i had one exactly like this, same year, 0171 and 0411 codes. Ended up the air pump was good, however the plastic air pipe was corroded and broken underneath the battery.
Makes me question if this air injection system actually helped reduce these cars' emissions in the long run, as they're all broken now, running lean!
The pump is there to heat the catalytic converter faster. And they tend to fill with moisture that turns in to water, and especially in cold climates they froze and broke. On one car that broke the new pump in one year, I drilled a small hole to the housing of the replacement pump to let it drain.
Great work Ivan, and please keep it up. I learn a huge amount of good info from your methodical diagnoses. Don’t pay too much attention to the obnoxious commenters like the one you pinned….some people are just angry and miserable and want to drag everyone else down with them.
VW had that design for a long time and it still GETS BURNED UP. GREAT Repair and demo on the voltage drop. Thanks
I had a call recently for a no-start on a beetle with a 2.5. The factory exciter wire to the starter was barely on. I read up finding it’s a common issue with these particular cars. Fix was running a new female connector for the trigger wire. Fyi in case you run into a no crank no start!
One of the best things about this channel is good comments like this! Thank you for putting the tip out there for everyone
Very sad the dealer determined the lug was an "unrepairable" item. That is disgusting! To suggest that was a reason to write-off the car is abhorrent. If as you said they said they would take the vehicle off the customer, I can see what was going to happen next, and none of that would involve going to the crushers. This should be an reportable matter to VW head office in America & Germany, as well as your consumer protection authority. I am sure they would like another dig at VW, especially after the diesel-gate issue.
We all have known since the beginning of time about dealerships but it's still sad to see it reconfirmed over and over and over........
Lol, calling the head office they will probably be laughing at you. The more new cars a dealership sells the higher the bonus they get from the mothership. Selling you a new car makes them more money than the repairs. I think that's obvious and although I don't agree that the car should be written off for a bad connection unfortunately it's something you'll see across dealerships of any brand because that's how most dealerships operate. Their incentive for selling you a new car rather than fixing it is that simple.
@@arnobruynen6073
But "old" is only a three letter word.
Reporting it to VW head office is useless. They are just as corrupt.
PHAD is exposing a time-honored, 'stealership' conspiracy. SA convinces customer the car is hopeless, and introduces him/her to salesman. Sales offers "more than fair 😊" (NOT) credit for the "junker" because, of course, they are all a bunch of philanthropists. Dealership sells a car to sucker AND gets a trade-in dirt cheap. Trade-in gets prepped by same shop that said it was junk, and it's on the used car lot in 1-4 weeks priced in KBB retail excellent range.
Kenwoods are usually pretty decent but particularly on the budget Chinese radios they also have a high parasitic draw. Seen some go as high as 20mA. That's about the same as an aftermarket remote starter. A quality aftermarket radio shouldn't be higher than 5mA. As for the cluster, maybe something takes time to go to sleep? And don't forget to lock the doors, BCM typically goes to sleep sooner when car is locked.
Amusing, power draw from the radio and vacuum/intake leak from loose intake hoses is the exact issue I have on my '06 2.5L beetle.
Also, make sure you got the right adapter for the radio so you don’t put voltage on the K line and fry your or anyone else’s scan tool!
Thanks Ivan i hope you are having a nice Christmas off diagnosing 🔧🔧HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your family 😷🥳🥳🎉🎉☃🍻🍻
Yeah, but I had one of these. VW did such a terrible job with the plastic chemistry. Mine was literally falling about faster than I could replace things. They are junk and VW should be ashamed.
So glad I kept my old bugs. 74 and 79. Very basic and very easy to maintain. Having a good and honest mechanic makes a big difference
Ivan. On the cluster. I'm willing to say it's where the cluster is connected to the harness. Remember the Chevy clusters had those issues?
Yeah they are Quacks they don't have mechanics with experience because they don't want to pay them #1 reason to said JUNK IT
Volkswagon looooves their plastic! 😐👎
I just sold my 1999 ALH TDI with 245000 miles. The plastic pieces were brittle. It was my spare car and it served it’s purpose. No complaints here. The new owner was happy to get it. He has others just like it for parts cars.
Back in 1998 my daughter got her first car and it was a 1988 Jetta. That was my lasting impression working on that car. All the plastic was brittle!
Another great diagnosis and fix Ivan! Typical to hear from the dealer that they don't carry parts for older vehicles and up sell you to get a new car. Thankfully there's the likes of Ivan that can get these old cars running again. Cheers!
Dealerships sell disposable cars with lifetime oil since they can't get anyone to work in the shop. Bet a salesman condemned that car but even they'll be gone for good soon enough. Fascinating.
You definitely should have made that a good solder joint and shrink-wrap to prevent re oxidation at that point. This will definitely come back due to electrolysis
Solder joints in a hot vibrating environment could be a bit questionable compared to a joint held by pressure (crimp). Something about solder being brittle, and once the solder cracks then a quick electrical open circuit or a hot one. Not saying no solder joints are ever used in aircraft, but there is a popular mantra - the proper way to use solder in an aircraft is to use none...
Yeah most automotive manufacturers do not recommend solder joints, a good crimp will outlast a solder.
Hey that's not a real Beetle. Everybody knows their engines are in the boot not under the front hood! LOL. Nice fix my friend. I am betting the stealership took one look when you arrived with the owner.. They said CRAP she with that wise gut from PHAD. We aren't getting that car. LOL
I worked at vw from 2015-2020 and saw tons of alternator harnesses melt the fuse tray. Usually due to age and oxidation throughout the whole harness, it was cheaper and better in the long run to just replace the harness. There are tons of aftermarket options for this. I see aftermarket ones installed all the time. Also the clusters are common to have a poor connection via data-bus to the radio and ecm. If that connection is disturbed, it will cause an indefinite power draw at the cluster will never completely go to sleep due to missing data-bus signal from radio that is used for security/immobilizer.
Amazing that they want to junk a car because of a bad crimp. You can buy most connectors with pigtails directly from VW, I would be surprised if this is not the case for this thick wire. Even if a pigtail is not available from VW, there are plenty of other options apart from restoring the old eyelet.
BMW dealers often just quote an amazingly high price if they don't want to work on a car anymore, but just stating that there is no solution is just next level.
You can take a faulty car to ten different dealers and expect ten different quotes, the only constant is your getting ripped off by all of them. They're all using the same business model, their moto is "the customer is stupid otherwise they will not bring it here"
Well done Ivan. I really enjoy hearing your thought process as you diagnose. Thanks!
Thank you. Another excellent video on electronics diagnosis. Dealerships, always looking out for themselves.
Great job. Won't waste my breath in casting my disdain on the dealers, most of us know what their main motivation is. Never heard of an air injection pump? Do most cars have these?
It's a stupid emission device for cold starts...
I've never heard of those either 🤔
During initial start up when the engine is cold it’s running in open loop, the engine is running rich and the computer isn’t using the O2 sensors. Some raw fuel gets into the catalytic converters, which increases pollution and is bad for the cats. The A.I.R system pumps fresh air into the exhaust, which helps burn off the fuel in the cats. It should shut off as soon as the engine goes into closed loop.
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics Just like "auto stop/start" is especially on SUV's and Jeeps that would typically be in situations that require a fully 100% of the time running engine.
You have to lock the car and close the hood and everything and wait for half an hour to check the amp draw. Leave the meter connected all along. The European cars take some time to into sleep mode, once they are take the reading again.
I deal with these alternator wires all of the time. I pull the harness out, separate the alternator cable from the a/c and alternator signal wires, and I make a new cable, wrap everything back up with tessa tape. Very simple.
Love the way you show them up with a no parts required including the crimp connector
Ivan: I bought that thermal camera on your recommendation; thanks! Quick tip: if you hit the trigger once to take a picture, it asks if you want to save. You can just hit the trigger again to confirm, without having to use the "enter" button on the back. Simplifies things, and it's particularly helpful if you're using it in the dark, where you can't see the button labels or locations that well.
Cool!
My experience with VW dealers is, they want to sell new cars, not fix the old ones. And if possible, they will hidden damage it.
Great job and great video. This car actually seemed quite nice as well so good to see it saved.
Customer: Can you replace my signal bulb?
Dealer: We no longer carry that. Lets get you in a new car.
There are no parts for VW Beetles that can NOT be had.... As for "Dealers" and HOA's ,avoid them like the plague!
One quick comment on this…VW/Audi products will often keep some accessories (like the radio) powered on when the key is in the ignition, even if the key is off. It was hard to tell from the video, but it looked like when you were doing your testing for the draw, the key was in the ignition. Just something to keep in mind. I recommend removing the key entirely when doing parasitic draw testing on any vehicle.
I can do that with my Passat , if you leave the fob in the slot then the radio will remain powered up until you pull the keyless fob out, but that will not allow the main lights to stay on as they will stay in daylight running mode so the cluster might have an issue.
Someone did mention about the charging lead could have fried due to jumping starting the Ugly Bug on a dead battery, I have not seen that on mine and I did let the battery go dead last year and that required jump starting, personally I would have checked the alternator to see that the clutch on it had not jammed and thus was over charging which could be a reason for the toasty wiring.
If for whatever reason it comes back and you are still having issues. Check the cluster itself, I had odd issues and it was a very odd problem. I disconnected the cluster and the terminals were wet. Believe it or not, it was a bad coolant bottle that would send coolant to the cluster through the wiring while the coolant was pressurized. The fix was a new bottle because the old one had failed at the coolant level sensor. There was no obvious leak at the sensor. Mine was to the point that coolant was starting to occasionally drip onto the floor mat. I have seen odd stuff before but I think that was up there on the list for me.
Wow that's nuts lol!
Shout out to Crutcfield for the radio and harness?
Yup!
Great videos as always. For the headlights at 13 amp power usage, I would go with LED headlights to kill off some amps used.
The dealer was lazy and practiced their laziness . Good work figuring out and fixing several key problems . In the process of replacing starter , alternator and battery cables with 2 gauge and grounding straps with 4 or 6 gauge wiring in the engine compartment . This is in a 1999 Chrysler Concorde . The only corrosion I have found has been on battery cables . Thanks a lot for your video
Good morning Ivan. How's life treating you? Hope all is well
Your a pretty smart cookie. Restivo
Not a big fan of crimp connections. Why not solder it?
Well repaired ivan :-D
That dealer is a waste of d.n.a.
I don't trust crimp connections, i would have tinned every strand then crimp it and solder it.
More wire surface area connected = lower joint resistance.
Plus harder for dampness to creep in again.
Crimping over solder is not a good connection. Tin is not springy enough and will yield over time, loosening the joint. If you want the best long term resistance, you need to crimp and THEN solder. Beware creating a strain point though, any vibration and the wire will break right where the solder stopped wicking into the strands.
@@jessicav2031 That is just what i said, tinned clean wire +crimp +solder.
@@zx8401ztv Sorry, I must have misread your comment. My mistake :)
@@jessicav2031 "sorry" Accepted, Now slap yourself with a wet fish for reading too fast lol :-D
After the crimp I'd use a heat gun on the terminal and melt wax over it. I do this also for exposed threads on tie rods, ball joints, etc but instead gently heating them with propane.
Just watched this the fuse box on top of the battery is a known issue all down to corrosive fumes from the battery , don't clean terminals replace them cut back leads or replace and never try to re crimp terminal and certainly not with grips , you got all the Tec why not invest in a £40 proper crimping tool , clean as a temporary repair only
So much for junk the car. The infrared is a real super tool. I bought one that works thru my phone. The amp clamp and the multi meter got a real workout. We even saw the voltage drop across the fuse technique. What happened with the air pump. Brushes probably standing off the armature. Customer maybe elected to not fix. Expensive part.
That fuse box thing on top of the battery is SUPER common on VW's I have a mk4 golf and they are known to do this when the ac is on with the fans on and a ton of current draw. Pretty junk design but it is what it is. They're available everywhere online. Good job on fixing this one man.
In all fairness, you are greatly appreciated for your sharing of knowledge.
It's very common on this era of VWs for the charge cable to corrode and heat up at the fuse connection. I usually replace it with welding ground cable wire. I also recommend adding aluminum paste to the connection when you replace the cable.
The cluster also stays on until the time hits or you lock it. The immobiler also lives in the cluster and tells the ecu to unlock and run the car. 0.02 for what you are doing is normal. When you close everything and lock it it will drop more.
This is outstanding diagnostics. Bravo.
Common VW issue. In this case, I removed the terminal, trimmed & stripped the cable. I then cleaned the fusible link both ends, then fitted a new terminal by soldering & crimping. Before installing, I coated with silver paste. I also did the same with the cable from fusible link to battery terminal. Next, I cleaned all negative connections, & applied silver paste to them.
The dealer is wise, junk the car and buy something from Korea or Japan, problem solved.
Ivan, that + cable from alternator is the #1 issue for years for VWs. If it gets too hot, the resistance gets so high that voltage drop might be at 1V or more. If Ecu sees 13.5isV or less at idle, it will increase idle RPM. And second, it is those nuts that hold the crimp connector and fuses. they oxidize. Clean those nuts and your voltage drop will be 0. for vw parasitic draw, check the door contact switches within the door lock mechanism. close/open doors and look via obd2 if the central electric/convenience module sees doors open / closed as per status. I bet the radio was OK, but all the crap just did not go to sleep because of module did not see door closed/locked
Hey Peter, thank you for the tips! Interesting point on the idle increase due to low voltage. Door ajar switches were fine, dome lights turned off. Radio was definitely toast haha
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics Oooooh, it was a combination radio-toaster. That explains the high current.
must remember that.... always remember to clean the nuts ahem
Be careful, I had an 02 Beetle with a parasitic draw caused by an aftermarket radio not letting the computers go to sleep. This is a common problem on VW sound systems.
I work for a dealer in hvac, lead tech as I’m old. We love to sell new. But don’t come back with easy fix and crying about liability. We fix to an extent where it makes no sense. Even then a cold night is time to be creative, yet safe.
GOOD IDEA to fix the alternator output lead is to REPLACE IT with a larger one that can pass more current. Sounds like a poorly designed electrical system OR you can ADD another wire in parallel to the alternator
That feed terminal block can be replace with something off the shelf at a hardware store or automotive parts place
Heat shrink is easy to install on those terminal wires
You make a lot of sense. When VW designed the electrics, to keep manufacture costs down, the wire (current-carrying capacity) from the Alternator, is economically JUST ENOUGH to do the job, assuming that there are no high-resistance joints. Clearly, the original crimping (by VW) certainly wasn't the best either. Many VWs of the same style will suffer this same fate. I don't just crimp heavy cables, I solder them too!
Resistance to infinity and beyond!
That was I heard when you said resistance to infinity but I'm seeing Buzz Lightyear flying away in my head holding the meter. Lol
A very thorough diagnosis. At the dealer level, and had the new wiring harness been available (for whatever money), as well as the competent technician to install it (for whatever money), after a time, the same result would ensue, as the actual diagnosis came to a parasitic current draw from the radio... Much to be said for the electrical analysis showing power dissipation V(in Volts) x I(current, in Amps) before repair, then after. It would seem the radio might have been faulty for some time that led to a battery replacement.. From this point, how did the repair/replacement of the air pump go? Was it back to the dealer?
Ivan, I was going to sound off on this but it looks like everyone else already has. Thanks for showing us how to keep a cool head and systematically finding and fixing the problem. Love how you used that camera as part of the process. Pretty cool, I mean hot, well you know what I mean! Thanks for Sharing!
Good job. I had two VWs Beetles. TDI and Gas. Both ran long lives but they died a hard death. Neighbor had same type Gas Beetle and his burned up right at the same spot. It never did run correctly after the repairs. He replaced the loom too. Suspect the EGM took a hit. My 2011 Camaro SS has 17 computers in it. Good luck smelling, tasting and listening to it trying to fix it old school way. Ain't happening. Technical cars require technical tools with the caveat that one still needs to know engine theory and apply it to the diagnosis.
Nice job, brother! You nicely outline the difference between crook dealership part swappers and a real old school trouble shooting mechanic!
Have a 2006 Jetta TDI. It suddenly developed bad shifting. Took it to a dealer. They suggested a whole transmission. Took it to a local guy that works on VWs. $90 later and new fluid and 'reset' of the shifter mechanism and it's shifted perfectly since.
Hats off. Great save for customer. Question,that diagnostic cost you a lot of real time.dealer charges horrendous hourly rates . Gotta pay for the building ,wages ,advertising, the list goes on. We use an established highly recommended independent Mechanic. . He’s great and we are his for life (his or ours). Anyway,,,great job!