slow electrical drain - please help!
 

howdy

wondering if you can provide a little assistance for me ...
Car in question is a 2006 Jetta 2.0T ~85,000km

A couple of months ago, i went to the car after a weekend of not using it and the car doesn't start. fine, the battery is stock and 5 years old or so whatever. boost it, take it to the shop, they run their tests against the alternator, cables, etc. determine it's the battery. fine. buy a new battery and away we go.

fast forward about 2.5 months - same thing happens. i don't have time to take it to the shop and 3 weeks later (after another extended absence from the car) it won't start and requires boosting again. i take it to another shop - run the same tests, and they think it's a bad battery. back to the original shop, they run their tests and determine it's a good battery and that the problem is a slow electrical leak. they show me the results of the battery tests and it shows as good.

OK - so here we are and i can accept the fact that the original shop is right. a little bit of research on what to do with a slow electrical drain leads me to a plan. here it is:

- turn off the car, close doors, pop hood. let the car sit for 1 hour
- hook up a voltmeter in series to the battery
- note the standing drain on battery
- start pulling fuses one by one until the drain drops significantly - and presto you've found your faulty circuit and saved yourself $500. hooray.

here's are my questions:
1/ is this a good approach?
2/ should the meter be attached to the + or - terminal of the battery?
3/ are there circuits i absolutely should not pull?
4/ any particular order - should i start with the fuses under the hood or inside?
5/ and the really big question is: the internal fuses are inside the drivers side panel, and i can't get at them without opening the door. wouldn't this whole plan be blown if i open the door and activate some of the modules & circuits that i want to test when they're in their power-down mode?

any other thoughts would be welcome. i'm no mechanic, but i'm not a moron. i'd like to save as much time & $$ by doing as much myself.

thanks in advance,
graham