PLEASE HELP! power drain

[Sugar79]

on a clio p-reg 1.4RT automatic

The battery goes flat after 10hours.. so we replaced the battery and its still doing it.. alternator tested and charging

Found out that there is a constant drain of 3amps..

There is no boot or glove box light on and radio and lights are off..

Pulled out all the fuses and relays out one by one and that did not stop the drain.. sometimes the starter gets jammed too, think because of the battery not being up to full charge (maybe??)

Anyone any ideas??

please :S

thanks

 

[Sugar79]

anyone?

 

[Da]

alarm? 10 hours is pretty quick tho so maybe it's something more substantial...?

What was connected when this drain was measured?

 

[Sugar79]

well it only has the renault immob..

Butwhat else could drain it thats not on any of the fuse circuits??? :S

starter maybe? does keep jamming up

EDit: one of the amp meters.. by the RAC man.. was reading 3amps

 

[Da]

any amps or in car sound system etc? For 3amps @ 12v your looking for a sizeable amount of power. What was connected when drain was measured?

 

[Sugar79]

the car is completely standard, no amps and it has the renault radio..

the RAc man had a amp meter and one by one he took out the fuses and relays and the drain never stopped..

 

[Da]

if i remember correcty the main fuses are in the engine compartment anyway, so taking out the fuses from the dash will only narrow it down. It could be that a relay in the engine bay is stuck/faulty causing a trickle current to be flowing at all times, hence the starter motor. The two are probably linked.

 

[Sugar79]

the RAC man took the fuses out of the engine bay first then the ones under the glove box then the relays, and the current didnt change.. i was wondering if the starter was faulty.. it only jams tho when the battery is low tho..

 

[Da]

Ah i see. When the battery is low the starter will jam as there isn't enough current to fire it correctly.
As for the current drain, where did he measure it?

 

[BrianR]

Can you say exactly how he measured this "drain"
What equipment did he use ? was it a clamp on meter by any chance?

Daz is right, thats the equivalent of a 36 watt bulb burning. No stuck relay will draw that.

 

[Sugar79]

he left the possitive terminal on the battery and connceted the possitive side of the amp meter to that and then he took the neg off the battery and connected the neg part of the amp meter onto the neg termal (not on the battery)

if that makes sence lol :S

 

[Sugar79]

Can you say exactly how he measured this "drain"
What equipment did he use ? was it a clamp on meter by any chance?

Daz is right, thats the equivalent of a 36 watt bulb burning. No stuck relay will draw that.

he did have a clamp meter but it was faulty (low battery) so he didnt use it.. think its one of those DMM's

 

[Da]

I'm not 100% but with all the fuses removed all I can think of is the fusible links at the starter although i'm not even certain on that car. It would explain things a little though.

 

[BrianR]

I'm not 100% but with all the fuses removed all I can think of is the fusible links at the starter although i'm not even certain on that car. It would explain things a little though.

What you thinking Daz, starter solenoid stuck on ? it would burn out the fusible link in under a minute.

 

[Da]

I'm not 100% but with all the fuses removed all I can think of is the fusible links at the starter although i'm not even certain on that car. It would explain things a little though.

What you thinking Daz, starter solenoid stuck on ? it would burn out the fusible link in under a minute.

Not too sure Brian tbh, the two seem linked I'm just trying to think of a reason why?
:S

 

[BrianR]

he left the possitive terminal on the battery and connceted the possitive side of the amp meter to that and then he took the neg off the battery and connected the neg part of the amp meter onto the neg termal (not on the battery)

if that makes sence lol :S

Yes that makes sense, hes put his DVM in series with the battery which is the correct way to do it.
Did you actually see the reading? was it definately 3 amps.
Sorry to press the point but self ranging DVMs can be easily mis-read
3.00amps 300Ma 30.0Ma can easily be confused

 

[Sugar79]

is the starter the only thing on the clio that has not got a circuit that goes threw the fusebox/relays???

Edit well iam not very good at understanding those readers but the RAC said it was drawing 3amps

 

[BrianR]

is the starter the only thing on the clio that has not got a circuit that goes threw the fusebox/relays???

No, nearly all the circuits have a fuse and many have a relay.

 

[Djw John]

mm weird one, will have a think!

 

[Da]

If you can get hold of a wiring diagram, it should be possible to trace all the units which are;

a) connected to live while the ignition is off.

and

b) not protected by the fuses you have removed.

One of these will be the culprit.

 

[JAY172]

the starter motor and alternator are linked directly to the battery via the main starter cable. there are no fuses or links. Anything else on the car has a fuse so if they were all removed that eliminates everything else,however on a p plate clio isnt there also a fuse box under the scuttle panel trim. did he remove those?

 

[BrianR]

Sorry, I gave up with this board @ 2300 last night, I wore the F5 button out trying to get it to reload.

I think you have us here Sugar, we give up.....whats the answer :lolup:

Seriously though, anything that is drawing that much current, must get hot, and there is nothing I can think of that wouldn't stop working if it was drawing that current.

For example, if it was your boot light the most it would drain is +- 300mA (milli-amps) Most batteries would cope with this overnight.

If say, a 300w audio amp was not turning off with the head unit, +- 500mA
A well charged good condition battery might cope with this overnight.

As I said above, 3Amps is the equivalent of leaving 36 watts of lights on (2 brake lights would be 42 watts, just as an example)

Your rear screen would draw a lot more than 3 amps, but disconnect it and see what happens. Check the cooling fan isn't stuck.

What, if any, electrical items have been added to the car.

I am grasping at straws now, but nothing else makes sense.:S

 

[Sugar79]

well its been down the garage all morning now and they cant find a drain now!!

WTF?? this is crazy.. something is making the battery flat and no one knows what it is lol

they are gonna keep it till tuesday and see if it goes flat..

I did notice that the colder it is outside the more chance it has of going flat.. which made me think it was the battery, but putting a new battery on has not solved the problem..

this is crazy :S

 

[Da]

it could be a charging system problem. Is the car harder to start after a long journey? If there's no drain, new battery fitted then that only really leaves a problem in the charging system.

 

[Sugar79]

apparently the alternator charges fine.. thats been tested twice now.

 

[Da]

I'm baffled then! :S

 

[Sugar79]

me too

 

[BrianR]

Add me to the list, doesn't make sense.

 

[JAY172]

if an alternator faults it can actually draw current from a battery when at rest yet still charge the battery ok when running.

 

[BrianR]

Alternators are fitted with a big diode in line to stop this happening.

 

[Sugar79]

Re: PLEASE HELP! power drain *updated*

Well just an update.. The garage had the car for quite a few days now and have done check after check on it and can find nothing wrong

Driving it home yeserday I got the usual soaking from the leaking sunroof and that got my thinking, since the sunroof is a electric one could the water on the electrics be causing a connection???

I took all the plastic surround off (by the interior light) and found that the interior light half was dry but nearer to the sunroof was soaked, expecially the sunroof switch which was filled with water so I was wondering if this could be the problem??

I did put some sealent around the ariel bit few months ago so am thinking it must be the sunroof which is leaking.. but which bit?? is it useally the seal which goes???

 

[BrianR]

Its probably not doing the electrics any good but it is not going to account for a 3 amp drain, if it was, your problem would be a fire, not a flood....:S

 

[Sugar79]

oh dear and i was hoping that might be the problem