New Beetle electrical help!

[ice_wolf]

My 2000 Beetle is almost paid off so it has decided to start breaking on me. It has developed an electrical problem that has been ongoing for the last 2 months. It started with the accessories (turn signal, wipers, radio, heater, ect.) all stopped working. I got that traced down to the ignition switch. There were two wires on the wiring harness to the switch that were nicely toasted. I re wrapped the wires and put a new switch in and everything was fine for a week. Now all the stuff that wouldn't work before has constant power. I take the key out and the windows work the heater works the wipers work the blinker work all the stuff that shouldn't work. I have tried to isolate the problem and so far I have re wired the ignition switch (Cut off melted connector and burnt wires and re soldered new wires in place). I get the same result. I have also checked the ignition switch itself and that checks good. I also checked the load reduction relay with a value over 300k ohms across the switched portion and 75 ohms at the coil side. Whether the relay is in or out I still have over an amp draw at the battery and the battery goes dead, however with the relay out the accessories in question won't work which was to be expected. The parasitic drain I have isolated to the 110 amp fused link on top of the battery. My current wiring diagram does not cover the wiring from the battery and I believe the problem is between the battery and the fuse/relay boxes. I could be wrong. Any body see something like this before? If so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ice_wolf]

Just a quick update. Still have a one amp draw with all fuses pulled and all relays pulled goes down to .5 amps. When power is connected I get a click from the alarm module. Is there any other relays somewhere that i am missing?

[65comet]

Though I love this forum, not a lot of beetle people come in. Try newbeetle.org or vwvortex.com forums as additional resources.

[veedubmechanic]

Replace the fuse pannel on top the battery. IF it has an amp draw it will melt soon, very common.

[ice_wolf]

Thanks got it figured out. Not sure how but the new switch I got a month ago went bad already. You can manually take the switch out and use a screwdriver and turn the switch 1/16th of an inch and everything powers down normal. Installed the key will not turn off the power. Completely different type of failure then the first switch. Guess this is gonna be an issue. Better buy a spare.

[Franco2112]

Are you buying the ignition switch from VW or after market type? When replacing parts for VW's, OEM original VW parts are the best.

[ice_wolf]

In my experience, OEM parts are often made by aftermarket companies. Vw does not have a specific plant that makes electrical switches. They are subcontracted out. In this case, the OEM switch failed catastrophically worse then the aftermarket part. Then again, you can't expect much from a cheap plastic switch that they use in everything from a Skoda to a Porsche. I'd rather buy one at $15 twice with no warranty then a $120 dollar part from the dealer that says vw on it and also has no warranty. No warranty means they have no faith in the product.