[SOLVED] Battery keeps draining (going flat) on my Fiat Ulysse. Fault diagnosis guide

[a1]

... Guys, For several months now, my battery has been going flat on my Fiat Ulysse (N reg 1996).

This was happening in the warm weather too. So what I have done is bought and fitted a reconned Alternator and a brand new battery. But it still goes flat.

My next step was to disconnect and remove the radio - just in case.

But this morning - Flat again. I am leaning to perhaps, the central locking that is draining it. Would like to test the central Locking units - but tbh, I haven't a clue on how to test them. :Blushing (TOTD?)

It is not a high spec car, like my previous Ulysses, by that I mean it only has central locking and Electric windows in the front passenger and driver's door.

My previous car had electric everything - Windows (all around) electric sunroof, central locking, heated seats, electric seats etc.

Although it starts, when battery is charged - there is; I suppose, a chance that the starter motor is draining it too?

As far as I am aware - there are no blown bulbs (I will double check this when Admin 2 gets back), because they have been known to drain a battery too.

Anyone have a clue as to what else it could be please?

 

[Apache]

It seems a bit silly a vet giving an electrician advice, but it's really just a case of logical fault finding rather than replacing expensive parts!

You need a means of seeing which circuit is drawing current, the easiest and cheapest option is something like this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217881&OrderCode=N50CY

you can still plug the fuse in the side and see which circuit is drawing the current, and work back from there.

That's what I'd do.

 

[m4tty]

Check to make sure the boot light is not staying on when boot is shut. I've come across this a few times. Hth

 

[a1]

Check to make sure the boot light is not staying on when boot is shut. I've come across this a few times. Hth

I have noticed that, on a few occasions, the boot light is off when I get in the car, but when I put the ignition on (not Today) - the boot light comes on.

Little Admins. Grrr. And Admin 2 for not checking. Grrr.

Oh Patch - you have been scoobed.

 

[switch10]

i dabble in mechanics part time, and would be leaning towards a loose or dirty earth cable somewhere. had this on a motor recently.

have you checked the new alternator is charging the battery? maybe the battery cells have gone dry? only takes one and this will allways result in a flat battery.

A starter motor shouldnt cause a battery to flat, inless you are having problems starting it?

easy way to check if its the electric windows is pull the fuse for a day or so, see if its fine then. is the alternator belt tight enough? normally you can turn it a quarter between 2 fingers? anymore and this will not charge battery.

could be the radio, however most radios only come on via a switched live so should automatically go off whne ignition is not on.

just a few suggestions

 

[a1]

Checked battery previously and results were within what were expected. (battery off of my old car is on there now - and there was never any problems with that one - it was flat this morning - sorry, forgot to add that bit).

 

[switch10]

on another note, has a aftermarket stereo been fitted? i know theres problems when they are fitted to most fiats. people use a vw wiing harness and this swaps round the permenent and switched live causing the stereo to remain on.

 

[a1]

You been on Google too, Switchy? Lol

I read similar earlier.

 

[switch10]

no this is from practice, my father was a mechanic before he passed away, so i got into it part time. and all fiats suffer with this sort of problem.

is the battery under the seat on your model? any chance you could connect volt meter to battery and start car, turn heaters,lights etc on and see if the battery is holding charge? should allways stay above 13 volts if alternators charging battery correctly

 

[a1]

no this is from practice, my father was a mechanic before he passed away, so i got into it part time. and all fiats suffer with this sort of problem.

I see, sorry Switch.

is the battery under the seat on your model? any chance you could connect volt meter to battery and start car, turn heaters,lights etc on and see if the battery is holding charge? should allways stay above 13 volts if alternators charging battery correctly

On standard engine turn over, it is 13.98V. (I will do it again later with the lights on etc).

Thanks.

 

[Andy™]

most likely something still on draining power. how long does it take to drain battery?

or it could be the alternator not charging the battery enough. whats the voltage with engine off & running?

 

[a1]

I charged the battery up and put it on the car about a week ago, Andy. (give or take).

 

[Andy™]

radio is a good one to check as already mentioned. failing that, remove fuses individually and connect ammeter accross terminals. see whats using any power

 

[a1]

[quote name='Andy

 

[Andy™]

Took the radio out several days ago mate. Still went flat. With regard to the fuses, I have ordered the item in patch's link.

completely missed patch's post! didnt even know they existed, but i have seen adapter similar to get a feed from a fuse

 

[a1]

Forgot to me mention that when I had problems with the "Heater blowers" on this car - I striped back to check everything. (several weeks ago).

What I found was burnt out relays and that someone had poked a cable into the fuse carrier and then into the block connector where the switched live was. :_|

Got rid of that cable and re-made a proper one. CHanged the Relays and their holders and all was well for a while.

Oh gawd, I forgot the readings that I just took on my car.

There wasn't much of a change when I tested from engine off to engine start up. (IIRC)

Sidelights and Headlights weren't too much of a drop either?

With lights on and Heater blowers on too, (and hazards) it was somewhere in the region of 13.49V?

I will double check these Tomorrow.

ALSO: There are FOUR side lights in the rear of a Fiat Ulysse / Peugeot 806 / Citreon Synergie. There were only two working (two outer ones). The two in the actual tail gate (boot) itself were out. So I popped off the boot interior cover and the n/s one was faulty (re-sat the lamp in and it worked), went to the other side and the lamp had gone so I changed that.

Then I changed the dim lamp in the second of the two number plate lights. Much better...

... Hang on a mo - the n/s tailgate lamp was not working. Tried all ways to get it to work, but it didn't. Ending up changing the holder and the lamp. Job done in that repsect.

Re-checked all interior and exterior lamps and all is well with them.

Hopefully, it was the dodgey lamp and holder that was the problem? Time will tell.

 

[Apache]

We had an old Suzuki Vitara that had a lot of DIY electrical work done, she would last overnight, but battery was flat after a week. That's when I bough the device I linked to see where the current was going. Turned out to be the headlights, but this had been tapped into many times.

In the end I cheated and bought a battery isolator that I fitted on the wing - crude but effective. If you found the faulty circuit you could put that through an isolator?

It was a simple switch that I just diverted the positive battery terminal through,

http://cpc.farnell.com/_/438/battery-isolator-switch/dp/CP03036

A cheat I know

 

[a1]

Also fogot to say that when I first bought the car, I had a quick look in the storage compartments on the rear (Both n/s and o/s) which are laso used to store the jack.

I noticed that the cable (rear lights etc) and been tampered with. What I mean is that they had blue connectors still attached. The ones that are used to add tow bar cabling etc. I meant to have another look at that to see what the score was.

---------- AUTO MERGE Post added at 17:29 ---------- Previous post was at 17:27 ----------

We had an old Suzuki Vitara that had a lot of DIY electrical work done, she would last overnight, but battery was flat after a week. That's when I bough the device I linked to see where the current was going. Turned out to be the headlights, but this had been tapped into many times.In the end I cheated and bought a battery isolator that I fitted on the wing - crude but effective. If you found the faulty circuit you could put that through an isolator?

It was a simple switch that I just diverted the positive battery terminal through,

http://cpc.farnell.com/_/438/battery-isolator-switch/dp/CP03036

A cheat I know

If I am not mistaken, Patch - there may be a battery isolator on there? Can't swear to it though.

I know that there is an emergency fuel cut off under the bonnet.

 

[PC Electrics]

If you are still getting 13.5v at the battery with th eengine idlng and most of the accessories on, then this says your alternator is okay and able to provide suffient "juice".

However, if you've flattened your battery several times it is highly likely it is knackered now and probably unable to hold its charge. (I recently had this after the wife left the map reading light on whilst we were on holiday).

Try charging your battery and then leving it disconnected when the car isn't in use to see if it still discharges.

With a freshly charged battery you need to try and measure the quiescent current drain. Set up a mulimeter in the positive line, set the bonnet switch to its closed position (with the bonnet up) and lock the car in the usual way. Wait 5 mins (could be up to 20 tho') for the ECUs to go to 'sleep'. The drain should be no more than a few milliamps (50 mA abs max). Any more and you need to check circuit by circuit where the drain is occuring. If the quiescent is okay, then I'd say it's the battery again.

---------- AUTO MERGE Post added at 18:02 ---------- Previous post was at 18:00 ----------

Oh and bear in mind that if the ********yte is below 5C it is unlikely the battery will accept any charge, so bring it into the house somewhere warm to charge it up.

---------- AUTO MERGE Post added at 18:03 ---------- Previous post was at 18:02 ----------

e-l-e-c-t-r-o-l-y-t-e

 

[Apache]

---------- AUTO MERGE Post added at 18:02 ---------- Previous post was at 18:00 ----------

Oh and bear in mind that if the ********yte is below 5C it is unlikely the battery will accept any charge, so bring it into the house somewhere warm to charge it up.

---------- AUTO MERGE Post added at 18:03 ---------- Previous post was at 18:02 ----------

e-l-e-c-t-r-o-l-y-t-e

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