Fastbiker

New Member
I’ve just bought another defender 90, it’s a 1998 300 tdi CSW, the guy who I got it from was in his late 70s, not that it matters we all make mistakes. Apparently he fitted a battery the wrong way round ie positive to negative and so on, and it was only on a second apparently. The problem now is the battery is discharging over 24/36 hours, I thought it might be the battery so I fitted a 100 amp battery from my other landy and yep it’s discharging as well. I hate electrics and have next to no idea. Any advice/ suggestions will be appreciated.
 
Probably best to take it to a dedicated auto electrician because they can check most components quickly.

I had the same done to a car when the garage apprentice decided to swap my battery for his during a service. The first thing I noticed was that the clock was dead, but it soon became apparent that the alternator was also deceased. With bits of it melted I can see that that's just one way to to create a small short.

With that in mind it wouldn't be a bad idea to disconnect the battery while you're not using the car. Small shorts can get worse and cause fires.
 
Cheers guys, it’s going to a auto electrician then.
I did check the wiring that I could see and couldn’t see anything wrong but the alternator is only pushing out 11.3 volts at the battery on tick over and it should be just over 14 volts I believe, so it definitely needs a new one.
 
Most likely the alternator Diode has been damaged, this is a one way switch to send power to the battery, if it is damaged current will flow backwards.
 
I don't disagree with any of the above, but, if you're going to diy, then a low current DC clamp ammeter over one of the battery leads and keep pulling fuses until you see the numbers change.

I don't have the wiring diagram in my head, but, I suspect, the alternator runs though one of the maxi fuses on the bulkhead / engine bay fuse box.
 

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