Freelander drains battery overnight

Can anyone offer some ideas regarding severe battery drain. My Freelander TD4 SE 2002 (manual gearbox) starts and runs perfectly on a fresh charged battery and all equipment and every switch seems to operate ok - all seems normal. Next morning nothing - no interior lights, no dash display, no starter, dead battery. Shove in a fresh charged battery and everything is fine. No doubt you are all thinking "duff battery - get new one". Already done that. The existing is the Bosch Silver 74Ah and is only 2 years into 5 year warrantyand had it tested and it passed ok. I bought a new Varta Silver 77Ah and confidently installed it - next morning - same problem. Recharged it, reinstalled it - nothing next morning. The starter motor is new and was fitted for me in August by the Volvo dealer who does my servicing. Only thing I know is a bit "dodgy" is the aftermarket stereo where many of the buttons don't work and the drop panel is not very secure. Problem started when I used the washer pump to empty the washer bottle during a 20 minute drive cos I wanted to stick undiluted in. Next morning it wouldn't start. Need it sorted b4 the snow starts. What can totally kill a battery in 8 hours and yet not burn out ? Help !!

yu got heated mirrors?

check if they remain warm - tiz a known gaylander fault.

Welcome to landyzone.I have no idea what it could be,but I would disconnect the radio overnight just to rule that out.

Set it on fire and the problem will go away.

How to find the cause for an slow draining battery

Many Land Rovers are plagued by the 'flat battery' syndrome, especially the newer ones. After some days of not being driven the battery is dead flat. Under normal everyday driving those sympthoms do not appear.

The problem is in most cases a slow drain somewhere. It does not take that much to empty even a large battery over 3 or 4 days. An simple underhood or interior light is more than enough. But how to find it?

First make sure your battery is ok and fully loaden. Even a new battery is sometimes faulty. Drive to your local parts store and have them check your battery with an load tester.

If this is ok make sure your electronics don't mind being disconnected. Ask your dealer or have a look in your owners manual. Elder petrol engines (except new shape RRs) and all diesels except the TD5 are no problem.

Disconnect the positive clamp on your battery but take care not to touch the body metal with the spanner when doing this.



Now connect an small light between the + terminal and the clamp. Put the clamp on a rag so it can't touch the sheet metal. If any drain is present the light will glow. Or you can check the amount of drain with an small ammeter. An drain of 300mA (0.3A) can be tolerated. Next pull the fuse for the clock and the radio. Still any current flowing (light on)? More details on current drain figures can be found here - http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/battery-drain-few-ideas-97870.html

Ok, so you really have a problem. Now start pulling the fuses in the fuse box one by one until the light goes off. This is the circuit in which the problem lies. Check your manual or the indications in the cover of the fuse box to see which systems are connected to that fuse.

The next steps depend on the systems concerned. Try disconnecting each one of the parts connected in the circuit. Again it's the same - when the light goes out you've found the problem.

Even better than a light bulb is an buzzer. Many people have one of those annoying little rascals lying around. Use it.

In very new vehicles there are so many electric and electronic gadgets that problems are very common. Especially the immobiliser / alarm is known to be a can of worms. Those have best been left to an qualified auto electrician - not necessarily your Land Rover dealer.

The Mad Hat Man said:

How to find the cause for an slow draining battery

Now connect an small light between the + terminal and the clamp. Put the clamp on a rag so it can't touch the sheet metal. If any drain is present the light will glow. Or you can check the amount of drain with an small ammeter. An drain of 1-2 Watts can be tolerated. Next pull the fuse for the mechanic clock and the radio. Still any current flowing (light on)?

.

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Not knocking this Flops [am impressed ] just a small correction of terminology and i know you understand the 1-2 Watts but using the Amp feature then about 0.7 amps is correct [Porky spotted the small error] eeze er furra bread

thanx folks for showing how to test for a fault, been having probs recently with my transit /convoy, but i have got round problem by disconnecting battery every night and re-connecting next morning and alls been fine, if i left battery connected on a really cold night/morning ,my van wouldn't start

sorry Minge - but Porkies gorrit wrong - shud be 0.3Amp, not 0.7Amp - I refer you to this - http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/battery-drain-few-ideas-97870.html

n8rbos said:

thanx folks for showing how to test for a fault, been having probs recently with my transit /convoy, but i have got round problem by disconnecting battery every night and re-connecting next morning and alls been fine, if i left battery connected on a really cold night/morning ,my van wouldn't start

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Thats not a good idea on a ****lander,if your tailgate glass is frozen stuck,you'll have to fork out or fix the regulator when the stupid thing recalibrates .

The Mad Hat Man said:

sorry Minge - but Porkies gorrit wrong - shud be 0.3Amp, not 0.7Amp - I refer you to this - http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/battery-drain-few-ideas-97870.html

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fink he used P=VXI on your 1-2 watts fing but you got his drift

OldIrishWulf said:

Thats not a good idea on a ****lander,if your tailgate glass is frozen stuck,you'll have to fork out or fix the regulator when the stupid thing recalibrates .

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true but in this really cold weather there is fools starting frozen motors with the wiper motors on but frozen solid and wonder why smoke comes outa the bonnet nuffer wun that is funny is the reverse and turn on rear wipers. . . . .loads of them fooked . . . . . . . . . .

If you wanted to be a bit safer you could disconnect the earth and put the light in that wire, then if it accidently touch your car bodywork it wouldn't go bang.

Thanks for all the good advice guys - I am going to work through the suggestions this evening. Have been in work 50 miles away all day and limited amount of time tonight in the dark but I am going to make a start.

Well - took out totally dead battery from yesterday and stuck in a fresh one. Checked starts & runs fine. Confirmed that it has got heated mirrors (roasty toasty after a couple of minutes) but I locked it up and left it 10 minutes and heated mirrors were stone cold so I guess that's not the problem. Connected my old Gunsons Digimeter 320 between battery clamp and battery with switch set to Amps and probe lead in the correct socket - reading 0.00 (maybe bust, not used on amps in years, but works on volts) I will try it tomorrow with a bulb (KISS = keep it simple stupid). In the meantime removed fuses 1 (heated mirrors), and 9, 11 (Audio system) as the main possible culprits and we shall see what tomorrow brings !!!!!

set to how many Amps fsd? - 1.0, 10?

Digimeter only has one setting for amps - marked max 10A. It should be autoranging. May treat myself to a new meter from Maplins tomorrow lunchtime. This Gunsons is 20 years old so I guess it doesn't owe me anything. Thanks for maintaining interest in the thread Mad Hat Man.

there is a meter called a simpson meter [tounge tester] you can get them to measure dc ,very good as it just clamps around the cable [no need to dissconect, but they are exspensive [Porky has wun]

how big is porky ? he looks like buck toothed black and white jack russell.

OldIrishWulf said:

how big is porky ? he looks like buck toothed black and white jack russell.

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eeze er furra bread

Removing the 3 fuses made no difference - fresh charged battery sucked dry by morning as usual. The reason my old Gunsons Digimeter was reading 0.00 is because the current drain blew the fuse in the meter. Continuity tested the 10Amp fuse and it's dead but I will stick a new fuse in sometime. Looks like current drain is greater than 10 Amp which explains why the battery is killed so quickly. Bought a new multimeter from Maplins UT58 - looks like it will do all I need but somebody had a shunt on the M56 at the start of the rush hour out of Manchester so didn't get home until 8.00 pm. Too late to do anything tonight by the time had something to eat and walked the dog.