Odd electrical gremlins

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customknight

Active Member
Posts
164
Location
Cheshire
Hey guys,

Next problem!

My battery has been discharging irregularly for a while and I've simply dealt with it. However yesterday it was dead in the morning. Jumped it, got to work ok. Tried to start it late that day. Dead. Jumped it and went to a friends house 15 mins away. Immediately after stopping it tried restarting. Dead. Jumped it again an moved 2 meters and died while reversing. Jumped it and it did EXACTY the same thing twice more. Got it on to his drive and out of the way and went back to it ten minutes later. Started fine with no jump. What the hell can drain a battery like this?

When I say dead I mean almost completely dead. Only thing that indicates life is the beep beep from the dash. No dash lights, no central locking, no boot latch power. Nothing at all but the beep.
 
If the battery is actually drained then a duff alternator is a possibility. But I'd be checking battery wiring first, putting the jump leads on might have camouflaged a bad connection.
 
Alternator checked out fine, battery was at 20% due to being jump started repeatedly due to the power drain!

Looking for new RF modulator as I have intermediate version. :jaw:
 
Had a similar problem on my td5 defender, put a new battery on , that didn't help still had random power drain for months. It would drain it in under 3 hrs. After months of head scratching I realised it was actually not charging as opposed draining.sotook the earth lead off the battery cleaned the points where it connected to the chassis and gearbox put some Vaseline on them , reconnected it and haven't had a problem for over a month

Hope this helps
 
jaygti said:
Had a similar problem on my td5 defender, put a new battery on , that didn't help still had random power drain for months. It would drain it in under 3 hrs. After months of head scratching I realised it was actually not charging as opposed draining.sotook the earth lead off the battery cleaned the points where it connected to the chassis and gearbox put some Vaseline on them , reconnected it and haven't had a problem for over a month

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Yeah i was going to say it's not possible for a battery to be dead then 2 minutes later start the car.
You have a duff connection somewhere, probably a poor earth connection to the chassis or possibly a duff battery terminal.
 
Battery likely. I had a motor once where the battery sediment had built up and occasionally shorted out the cells (my unproved theory). It was intermittant. Sometimes had to shake the bloody car first before starting it. People thought I was nuts, especially at garages after filling with fuel :eek: Changed battery and it was sorted.
 
customknight said:
Battery has been replaced and yet still it goes flat! Need someone who can drain test the battery or explain to me how to do it?! :mad:
Click to expand...

Go to a battery dealer and ask them to shunt test it. You can't do that with a multimeter. Even new batteries sometimes have weak cells.
 
customknight said:
Battery has been replaced and yet still it goes flat! Need someone who can drain test the battery or explain to me how to do it?! :mad:
Click to expand...

Have you had a meter on the new battery to establish it is flat or are you going on the fact it wont turn the starter over?
I still suspect dodgy earth connection or duff terminal, As i said earlier a battery cant be flat then 2 minutes later start the car.
Check the earth strap from the battery to the chassis make sure connections are free of corrosion and tight. then check Earth to fusebox and earth to engine.
Quick, easy and free before you start delving futher.
 
Haha, I can see you're an optimist. I haven't had time to do it but equally I haven't had a flat battery either and the only thing I'm doing differently is putting the suspension to access height EVERYTIME I leave the truck. I heard it clicking away one night when I came out of the house to go to the local shop so every since I've left it at access height.
Might be nothing, might be everything. But as soon as I can ill do the test!
 
customknight said:
Haha, I can see you're an optimist. I haven't had time to do it but equally I haven't had a flat battery either and the only thing I'm doing differently is putting the suspension to access height EVERYTIME I leave the truck. I heard it clicking away one night when I came out of the house to go to the local shop so every since I've left it at access height.
Might be nothing, might be everything. But as soon as I can ill do the test!
Click to expand...

If you're suspecting that the EAS is flattening your battery then removing the delay relay (the tall black one under the passenger seat) should prevent it operating with the engine off.
 
Datatek said:
If the EAS is flattening your battery, the battery is fecked and has little capacity.
Click to expand...

+1. However there is a service bulletin i recall reference diesel vehicles of a certain vintage, were the delay relay causes battery drain. Think a resistor is added to cure this, but can't find it at the moment.
 
OK, so how is a brand new TESTED battery fecked and how do I prove it?

Any info on that resistor info would be great as it's definately the EAS. I've conducted various test and everytime it is left at any other height than access, the battery goes flat.
 
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