strange electrical problems

[sasilverbullet]

My son's 02 diesel beetle is draining the battery after it sits about three days. We just replaced the battery about three weeks ago. Symptoms are occasionally when we turn the car off we'll hear a hum from the left front speaker and when you turn the lights on we hear a low frequency buzz out of the left front speaker. Charging system is functioning correctly. Three days ago we disconnected the radio and that got rid of the first hum. We tried to start the car today and it would barely turn over.

Sounds like some strange electrical gremlin. Any ideas where to start?

 

[friendly_jacek]

this is a tough one. did you search on VW specific forums?

 

[mechtech2]

Put ammeter in series with either battery cable.
Yank fuses to determine which leg is at fault.
Proceed from there.

 

[Garak]

I agree to check with the VW/Audi forums, particularly with respect to the speaker hum. In my Audi, the speaker/amplifier assemblies would power up, even with the radio off, when the vehicle was started. Still, to this day, I don't know if that's normal for them or not.

 

[sasilverbullet]

I checked on a VW forum - there's a big problem with the higher end radio amp called Monsoon. They short out inside and drain the battery dead. I removed all the connections to the Monsoon amp and I'm charging the battery up overnight. I'll fill you all in later tomorrow if that fixed the problem.

Thanks for all the suggestions!