P38 2.5 D Totally Dead Electrics

Haven't been on since June as no problems.
Left her in the garage for about a month while working away : started up occasionally on visits home.
Let the battery get a bit low : Put charger on overnight. Returned to find charger tripping and electrics COMPLETELY dead. No ignition light.....Nothing.
Have checked all fuses and replaced Relay 15. Still nothing. Charger still tripping.
Any suggestions ?

Do you have a spare battery to try, would rule it out if damaged at least?

Mark Piercy said:

Do you have a spare battery to try, would rule it out if damaged at least?

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The battery is only about a year old but still worth a check. Everything had been functioning fine of the couple of very short runs (+/- a mile) I gave it recently and battery had also been on occasional trickle charges without incident. This was a sudden and unexpected development.

Have you tried the charger with the cars battery leads disconnected? If so and it still trips, the battery or charger is fooked.
If it then charges OK with the cables disconnected it might just be that the car is trying to draw more than the charger can handle. If it's only a 4 amp charger, the car can easily pull that when first switched to ignition pos 2
Process of elimination first!

Wazzajnr said:

Have you tried the charger with the cars battery leads disconnected? If so and it still trips, the battery or charger is fooked.
If it then charges OK with the cables disconnected it might just be that the car is trying to draw more than the charger can handle. If it's only a 4 amp charger, the car can easily pull that when first switched to ignition pos 2
Process of elimination first!

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Thanks Wazza.
I have a spare battery beside the charger : I take the charger off the car and onto the spare......works perfectly on the spare. Just in case draw is too much I'll try another higher output charger.....as you say....elimination

TAKdriver said:

Thanks Wazza.
I have a spare battery beside the charger : I take the charger off the car and onto the spare......works perfectly on the spare. Just in case draw is too much I'll try another higher output charger.....as you say....elimination

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It worked !!!!
Thanks a bundle Wazz. I put the heavy duty charger on it, switched ignition to pos 2 and everything lit up. The first charger is still showing that its charging on a much lower amp battery. My P38 battery must have been run right down because I've just had it on the trickle charger which hasn't been doing much. I'll keep an eye on it an check in an hour or so just to make sure all is well.
Worth passing on to others using a low level charger.
Thanks LZ once again !

The charger would probably charge the battery fine if the car was disconnected from it.
The p38 is a hungry beast when it comes to electrics so asking a little maintenance charger to power its want and charge the battery at the same time is going to be a problem.
It may well be that your BECM's not going to sleep for some reason so the car is drawing more than the charger can deliver. If that's the case, all your trickle charger is doing is slowing down the inevitable.
Keep us posted and if a good charge doesn't fix it, I'm sure everyone on here will help out getting it all sorted.

Glad you got it fixed in the end - now stick around and you may be able to help others!

If we all only ever came here when we are having problems, we would never help anyone as we would be to wrapped up in our issue to offer advice and help to others!

Just cos you have had no problems is no excuse not to pop in and help others out! - Just sayin'

You can learn an awful lot of good information by reading everybody else's problems and how they were fixed which can help if the problem arises on your car,
I've learnt about my p38 and far bit about l322`s and I don't have one and I am even help them owners out, well trying with what I have learnt and its good fun on here

Fun might be pushing it a little bit too far...

We even help out with all problems. Wives, mistresses etc etc.

Saint.V8 said:

Glad you got it fixed in the end - now stick around and you may be able to help others!

If we all only ever came here when we are having problems, we would never help anyone as we would be to wrapped up in our issue to offer advice and help to others!

Just cos you have had no problems is no excuse not to pop in and help others out! - Just sayin'

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Thanks Guys and I completely agree : I'm a bit of an old duffer and I hesitate to tell anybody how to do anything but (I) every now and then I might have something to add (ii) you learn a lot from seeing how others problems are dealt with and (iii) the wisdom, wit and social issues sometimes cause itchy brain syndrome.
I will be back daily from now on......unless I have a note from my mother.