a small problem am having. Drove my beetle home the other day after many days of every day driving to work and back. Only 3 1/2 miles to work. Car has been running great for a long time. The problem is that i went out about 3 hours later to go some where and there was nothing when i turned the key. Checked all the normal things such as fuses, grounds, coil and generator etc. All checked out and i put on some jumper cables and bam the beetle started and ran great. Well i went to where i was going and then came back out about 10 minutes later and it was dead again.

I just bump started it and it ran great home and any where else i went as long as i did not shut it off. Well i put the battery on a charger and it showed charged about an hour later but nothing when the key is turned. I again just connected the jumper cables and bam it starts.

So is it the battery is totally gone or something else. Almost ready to sell it by the way as i need the money for other things with the new house.

I've noticed that autozone does a quick load test where advanced will hook it to a computer charger system and analyze all the cells. I've had them tell me different things on the same battery FYI. I had a bad battery that I had purchased at autozone and I took it to advanced. They told me it was bad and to go across the street to see if it was under warranty. I went to autozone and they told me it was good. It was a battle but I got it replaced!

If you are hooking the jumper cables up to the battery post and everything works as it should, you've most likely got a bad connection between the ground post on the battery and the ground cable OR a bad battery.  I usually have my batteries checked at Auto Zone because it's close to home . . . the Advance Auto in LaFayette closed and moved to Chickamauga a couple of years ago.  From what Nick said, it sounds like Advance has the best system for checking the battery.  But if your battery is causing the problem you described, I would think a simple load test would show it bad.

There may be another problem, but you gott'a rule out the easy stuff first.

had the battery load tested etc and it could not take a charge at all. So a new battery was installed and it starts like a champion. So it is ready to sell and with all the looks at it in the forums and no bites on it i can not believe no one is came to look at it.. May have to do a partial sell and trade and see what happens.

I know how you feel.  I can't sell my Allison.  Hell ,nobody has any money. I wonder why ? I'm starting to think about just parting it out.  I had a Preacher from N.C. come buy and wasn't out of his $100,000 RV 2 min's before he started "Nitpicking" it apart . A little nick here, some dust on the hood, no floor mats, exhaust muffler was to low to the ground, on and on he went. After about 45 min's of his bitching I told him to hit the damn road. Gezzz

Hell, nobody has any money. I wonder why?

Ummm . . . don't get me started on that subject.  If America doesn't wake up and make smart decisions this coming November . . . well, the Mayans may have been right.