Battery drain

Schotten · 26th October 2009, 19:40

I've been checking out other threads, with not much luck. Battery will drain if left for 1/2 days. The car is run regualry during the week for at least 600 miles, but park up on Friday night, do 10-20 miles on Sat morning, nothing Sunday, by Monday it's dead. This has been getting progressively worse over the past year (the battery is 2 years old, and tested as OK). The local ex Rover dealer suggested first the battery just needed a charge, then a few months later the alternator needed replacing (£300+ gulp!!), then only 2 weeks ago everthing was ok again!!? I've had these problems since the dreaded plenum drain blocked and flooded the ECU and glow plug relay (replaced at time) about a year ago. The ECU was drained and dried out along with wiring loom, all seemed ok, but thanks to the alarm being triggered in May and a rather inept 'assistance' of a jump start (got the + & - mixed up) from a passer by which killed my sat nav!! I've now taken it out of car (red light was out...for good), but I've noticed that the High-line circuit is still drawing about 1.17amps with everything off. Now could this be the problem or should I investigate the ecu/glow plug relay for problems, could a faulty diode in the alternator cause it to 'drain' the battery when the ignition is off? I've tested the voltage output at idle about 14.5v so ok there. Any thought out there? Sorry for such a long post and my lack of input over the passed few months, stresses of new manager and work in general!!! Any help appreciated.:lol:

chunkytrucker · 27th October 2009, 09:42

hi, i had a similar problem so ill tell u my findings in case it helps. battery was flat on my tourer suddenly so i naturally took itto my pal who told me it needed a battery!! turned out it wasnt the battery as such but something was draining it, after much searching i discovered that the problem was the tv/video unit under the boot floor, i have the hi-line system. since disconnecting the blue plug from it (which disables the video screen) i have had no probs with the battery at all. i took the readings with a multimeter, when the plug is connected and the car is assleep the drain is 0.46-47 which i presume is too high. however when the blue plug is dissconnected and the car is assleep the drain drops to 0.13-14 which i presume is acceptable.all this means is that we dont have the screen in the car working which aint such a problem, you get to know where the preset stations are on the radio , if i come across a reasonable price one i may invest. of course this may be of no help to you but i thought i would let you know.
i can of course connect the blue plug if we go off for the day and then unplug it overnight.
sorry i do waffle on a bit!!!

baxlin · 27th October 2009, 09:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunkytrucker

i can of course connect the blue plug if we go off for the day and then unplug it overnight.

I think I'd've put a switch in it somewhere by now..........................

26th October 2009, 19:40	#1
Schotten Loves to post 75 Saloon Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Glasgow Posts: 332 Thanks: 8 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts	Battery drain I've been checking out other threads, with not much luck. Battery will drain if left for 1/2 days. The car is run regualry during the week for at least 600 miles, but park up on Friday night, do 10-20 miles on Sat morning, nothing Sunday, by Monday it's dead. This has been getting progressively worse over the past year (the battery is 2 years old, and tested as OK). The local ex Rover dealer suggested first the battery just needed a charge, then a few months later the alternator needed replacing (£300+ gulp!!), then only 2 weeks ago everthing was ok again!!? I've had these problems since the dreaded plenum drain blocked and flooded the ECU and glow plug relay (replaced at time) about a year ago. The ECU was drained and dried out along with wiring loom, all seemed ok, but thanks to the alarm being triggered in May and a rather inept 'assistance' of a jump start (got the + & - mixed up) from a passer by which killed my sat nav!! I've now taken it out of car (red light was out...for good), but I've noticed that the High-line circuit is still drawing about 1.17amps with everything off. Now could this be the problem or should I investigate the ecu/glow plug relay for problems, could a faulty diode in the alternator cause it to 'drain' the battery when the ignition is off? I've tested the voltage output at idle about 14.5v so ok there. Any thought out there? Sorry for such a long post and my lack of input over the passed few months, stresses of new manager and work in general!!! Any help appreciated.:lol:

27th October 2009, 09:42	#2
chunkytrucker Regular poster 2005 tourer contemporary se 1.8t Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: oswsetry,shropshire Posts: 93 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	hi, i had a similar problem so ill tell u my findings in case it helps. battery was flat on my tourer suddenly so i naturally took itto my pal who told me it needed a battery!! turned out it wasnt the battery as such but something was draining it, after much searching i discovered that the problem was the tv/video unit under the boot floor, i have the hi-line system. since disconnecting the blue plug from it (which disables the video screen) i have had no probs with the battery at all. i took the readings with a multimeter, when the plug is connected and the car is assleep the drain is 0.46-47 which i presume is too high. however when the blue plug is dissconnected and the car is assleep the drain drops to 0.13-14 which i presume is acceptable.all this means is that we dont have the screen in the car working which aint such a problem, you get to know where the preset stations are on the radio , if i come across a reasonable price one i may invest. of course this may be of no help to you but i thought i would let you know. i can of course connect the blue plug if we go off for the day and then unplug it overnight. sorry i do waffle on a bit!!!