Td5 battery drain through glow plugs

Hi I have a 2002 defender td5 I have a on going problem with battery going flat, I have narrowed it down to the glow plug relay, it all works fine turns on before starting and goes of when started but when I turn of engine sometimes the relay will operate and stay on this can happen anytime from 5 minutes to a hour after engine is turned off until battery flat, sometimes will not happen at all. Any advice

hi the glowplug relay is switched on by the ECU providing an earth. I would check the wire from relay to ecu first as it could be shorting out somewhere

Many thanks for your time to reply I will look in to that tomorrow

+1 for @adrian hogg
ECU controls the neg feed for the Glow plug relay check for shorts (or partial shorts) to earth of that wire / circuit

Until you find and sort the problem I would pull the relay, I have never needed to use the glowplugs on my TD5, just turn the key and starts first time.

That could be why my glow plug relay is removed from my td5 too then. Sounds like it could be common.

Does the light on the dash still illuminate without the relay?