Power Drain

Hi everyone,
Becky's Valver is eating its battery, after 2 days of not being used its as flat as a witches nipple. I'm useless with electricity, any clues where I should start looking for a solution would be much appreciated.

 

Sounds like you have a nasty drain, if no good with this sort of thing take it to an auto electrician who will find the drain and put it all right for you.

 

I have a baby due in 8 weeks and no money for an auto electrician, so I really need to get this car working myself as it was purchased to be used as our "family car".

Also if I just give in and get a man in I will never learn how to fix it wil I?

 

battery

if the battery looks old,i would put in a new one mate,,,we have fitted loads in work,,,the cold weather really knackers them if its down on capacity,and get someone to check the charge rate with a multimeter,tones,

 

This was on my "to do" list, anyway,but I had the battery checked and its fine.

Are there any particular earth points I should be checking or any common faults leading to power drains on an ABF? The alarm system (scorpion 5000) has now died due to me taking the battery off overnight to charge it, would this somehow cause a power drain?

 

Still no luck finding the cause of this drain, so its booked in for a check on Tuesday. After leaving the battery off again for about 24hrs, the alarm and remote C/L started to work again today though good old VW's if you leave them long enough they will fix themselves!!!

 

That could be it, I noticed today that the light in the glove box light comes on when you close it. Does it not go off when the ignition goes off?

 

You can test for current draw by disconnecting the battery negative lead and putting an ammeter across the two terminals and monitor what it reads

 

I went through all this a few months ago and thought it was just my 89 GTi, peed me off having to keep jump starting it after 2 days even with a big new battery. Other people with much newer cars were having problems too. Go on ebay and buy a battery isolator from tompomone - sorry no pic but they cost a fiver, I got a couple in case I lost a top bit. All you do is disconnect negative on battery, fit his thingy, attach your negative to his thingy and away you go! One and a half minutes to fit and it works by turning the plastic thing on top one way or another. You must remember to turn it back on before starting car as it will blow a fuse so I put something on drivers's seat to remind me. It might seem a pain to have to lift bonnet before and after but it's easier than a flat battery.

 

If you do this, have your alarm zapper ready as when you turn it back on it will scream also radio will need resetting.

 

Thanks for the advice Granny, but its my pregnant girlfriends car, I really need it fixed before baby arrives. There's no way she'll deal with opening the bonnet every time she starts/stops the car. Also disconnecting the battery killed the alarm once already, it is thankfully working again now and I would like to keep it that way.

@Jonny
Yeah OK was too cold and miserable last night, I'll go and check today...

 

just a quick one ... i had this and it stumped me for ages but it turned out to be the boot light had reversed somehow and was coming on when boot shut instead of going off... hope this helps

 

Thanks reidy,Will check that,

Right, Glove box light goes "OFF" when ignition is off so its not that

Edit:

Checked the boot light and its not that either

 

Being useless with electricity I don't know what it should be reading, there will be some draw I presume (stereo memory, alarm, clocks?) can anyone tell me as I might have access to a multi-meter today

 

It actually does not disconnect the battery but isolates it thus stopping any drain. I can appreciate she will not want to keep putting the bonnet up and down though in her conditon. Maybe once things have settled she would find the turning of a switch easier than being stranded. I just wanted to help.

 

Well I took the negative off yesterday to test current draw, and there doesn't seem to be any,

but now the alarm and remote C\L have packed in again and its immobilised, so unless it rectifies itself today (I've left the battery off for 24hrs again), I will tow it to an expert on Tuesday and let him try and sort it

Thanks to everyone for their help!!!

@Granny racer, I actually think your idea is a good one, especially if we lose the alarm/immobiliser, they make great security devices too. But my mrs will not accept it, no matter how logical the argument for one would be, she wants it back to working how it was or "I'm gonna sell the ****ing thing and buy another one" as she so eloquently put it

 

Right final update just to let you know what happened, I took it to RPM motors in Malvern (Paul there is a great bloke, knows his stuff and always sorts out a good deal) he took the alarm ecu apart, and noticed that if you twist it, it started working again, but when you let go, it packed up... So he checked the solders and repaired a few, put it all back together and hey presto!!!! Its all working again!!!!

The power drain was coming from the alarm, apparently one of the alarm relays wasn't working right because of the dodgy solder joints and that was when I lost the conversation. I don't think I'll ever understand car electrics way too complicated