battery drain

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J

janderson41

Active Member
Posts
442
Location
Howwood Renfrewshire
Disco 300Tdi auto (jap reimport)

Twice in last 8 days car has failed to start due to flat battery,
Each time car has not been used for maybe 2-3 days at a time.
Battery is quite new.After recharging, starts fine and if i keep using it every day keeps starting.Something is draining battery, had car into garage where it was tested and found to be losing 0.55 amp with everything off.
Cannot put car into garage for about 10 days yet to be checked out.
Intend to disconnect battery nightly till I can get it into garage.
Anybody had similar or any ideas what could be causing drain?
checked as far as I can that all interior lights go off, radio off,only power on is the immobiliser which has been on car for 7 years without a problem.
when running shows 14.25v charging and with lights on, radio on, blower on drops to 13.70 charging.Battery reading 95% good.
Cannot think of anything else to say. any help, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Jim A
-------------------------
1996 Disco 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
 
janderson41 said:
Disco 300Tdi auto (jap reimport)

Twice in last 8 days car has failed to start due to flat battery,
Each time car has not been used for maybe 2-3 days at a time.
Battery is quite new.After recharging, starts fine and if i keep using it every day keeps starting.Something is draining battery, had car into garage where it was tested and found to be losing 0.55 amp with everything off.
Cannot put car into garage for about 10 days yet to be checked out.
Intend to disconnect battery nightly till I can get it into garage.
Anybody had similar or any ideas what could be causing drain?
checked as far as I can that all interior lights go off, radio off,only power on is the immobiliser which has been on car for 7 years without a problem.
when running shows 14.25v charging and with lights on, radio on, blower on drops to 13.70 charging.Battery reading 95% good.
Cannot think of anything else to say. any help, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Jim A
-------------------------
1996 Disco 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
Click to expand...

what make is the battery?
 
.55 of an amp is an acceptable current draw when car is stationary so would rule out any kind of battery drain etc...... Unless of course one of you modules ie comfort, lighting, climate is taking longer than normal to power down. Personally I would connect up an amp metre and see how long the car takes to power down obviously with all doors latched so car thinks all the doors are shut. As a rule they should take aronud 45 minutes to completely power down if not then start pulling fuses on various circuits to see if you current draw drops.... Have you had the battery properly tested with a decent drop tester???
 
Battery is a Varta E24 with 670CCA. 9 months old.
Checks were done by my local garage with a meter which gives a printout of battery condition, charging etc.
Drain was checked by removing negative terminal clamping on a clip with a digital readout which showed the 0.55amp discharge and the electrician thought that that should be down to zero or nearly there.
Reconnec ted battery this morning and instant start.
please excuse some of my terms as electrics are a foreign world to me.
only thing when i started the car this morning the radio came on.

thanks

jim A
-------------------
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
 
A 0.055amp is more like the quiescent current drain for a D1 anything larger 0.55amp I would suspect that the alternators diode pack is failing.
Remove the electrical connections from the alternator and take another reading with your meter.

You only need a 2 or 3 volt drop in the battery to stop the engine turning over.
 
Thanks for the tips and suggestions.
Big problem is we leave for a weeks holiday in Fife tomorrow.
I intend to disconnect battery each night and i will take my charger and extension with me.
Further checks will need to wait till I return.
will update in probably 2 weeks time.

thanks agin

Jim A
-----------------
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
 
janderson41 said:
Thanks for the tips and suggestions.
Big problem is we leave for a weeks holiday in Fife tomorrow.
I intend to disconnect battery each night and i will take my charger and extension with me.
Further checks will need to wait till I return.
will update in probably 2 weeks time.

thanks agin

Jim A
-----------------
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
Click to expand...

When the garage tested the amp draw did they check the amp draw at each of the fuses to eliminate what circuit was at fault?
 
Started with fusebox beside battery with no changes.
Suggestion was to bring back in and leave with them.
This I intend to do after we come back from our holiday.


cheers

Jim A
--------------------
1996 300 Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
 
janderson41 said:
Started with fusebox beside battery with no changes.
Suggestion was to bring back in and leave with them.
This I intend to do after we come back from our holiday.


cheers

Jim A
--------------------
1996 300 Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
Click to expand...

One of these may help


$(KGrHqJ,!qQFBGZ0GCRwBQ(,FLFi0!~~60_12.JPG


TA120 SEALEY 20 AMP STANDARD FUSE CURRENT TESTER | eBay
 
I am always a bit wary if using them. Maybe not on a 300 disco, but I know if peeps using them willy nilly on modern cars and removing fuses from ecu's etc and buggering up the electronics.
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
I am always a bit wary if using them. Maybe not on a 300 disco, but I know if peeps using them willy nilly on modern cars and removing fuses from ecu's etc and buggering up the electronics.
Click to expand...

You can't use em on a lot of modern cars cos due to lack of access space to the fusebox.

I know what ya mean though. The numeber of vehicles I go out to and check all the fuses are intact and then after much head scratching, discover a fuse is in the incorrect slot or missing altogether but nobody thought of mentioning that they had fecked about with em just before the problem started.:mad:
 
Had exact same problem with mine. Turned out it was the tow bar electrics. Water had got in behind the rear off side light cluster and corroded the after market split charge relay. Was on the verge of setting fire to it, Tryed everything you have and only found it cos i had to have the trim off in the boot to replace a bulb!!! Drove me feckin mad for months :banghead:
 
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