E30 Zone

Hello zoners, i am new to this place and i have aquired an e30 325, basically i have a problem here, that is really getting on my nerves.
Its obvious what the problem is but its how to find it and cure it .
Im parking the car up at night and when i come to it in the morning, the battery either struggles or is as flat as a pancake. Obviously its draining, but how do i start to check the fault? and where do i start looking?
what tools would i need, test bulb/screwdriver?

badly wired stereo ?
badly wired alarm ?
mobile phone wires ?
Boot interior lights ?

I am seriously baffled and i cant see anything out of the ordinary apart from the things above which i have not checked yet.
Looks like ill be calling an auto electrician because i am disconnecting my battery every night which automaticly means the alarm is no good!
Any help would really be appreciated guys.

thank you

Olly.

amp meter inline with the positive

check what the reading is
and pull out fuses one by one
till it drops
then investigate this circuit

check that the glovebox light isnt on permanently

also knackered heated screens have been known to cause probs if your batterys weak also

where do i buy an amp meter from datonyb ?

So all i should be looking to do is, lift up the bonnet. Pull out the fuses, one by one and pop the meter on and see whats happening, yes?
Thank you

Olly.

Thanks daz.

What happens when the rear heated screen is fudged? does it still continue to draw power whilst not even on or something?
i will check the glovebox too.

thank you

Olly.

amp meter from halfrauds or machine mart

heard of starter motors drawing current when they shouldnt also..

as said, check interior lights and rear screen

Mine drained the battery, turned out to be a fuggered fuel pump relay so the pump was permanently priming.

Yet again, thank you for all of this help.
Atleast i have a few things to go at now. I hope to nip this little problem in the butt a.s.a.p

thank you

olly.

could also be the interior light or the boot light.

disconnect alternator overnight and try car in morning....but is it a known good battery to start with?..then start pulling fuses

datonyb wrote:amp meter inline with the positive

NEGATIVE LEAD !!

gcorky wrote:disconnect alternator overnight and try car in morning....but is it a known good battery to start with?..then start pulling fuses

apparently its a new battery

Olly.

oh, don't go on a mission for a dedicated amp meter (ammeter) as a multimeter will be a lot more useful in the long run (volts, amps, ohms etc). oh, when it's connected (inline for measuring current - amps) don't crank the engine it over or you'll melt the multimeter!

Buy yourself a meter, open the driver's window, loosen but do not remove the battery negative terminal, clip the black meter lead to the earth point on the RH suspension turret, set the meter to a current range of about 2 amps, push the red probe of the meter vertically down into the centre of the battery negative terminal, and carefully lift the battery terminal clamp up and off the terminal, keeping the meter probe firmly in contact.
Turn the meter range down (if not auto ranging), until you get a sensible reading.
Normal current for an E30 is 30 - 50 mA. Anything more than 90mA needs investigating.
Assuming you have an excess drain, put the negative battery clamp back on, and remove the two smaller wires from the battery positive terminal.
Lift the negative clamp again and check the current.
Replace one wire on the positive and check again.
Replace the other wire on the positive and check again.
Pull out the fuses one at a time in the fusebox, and check again for each one.

Thank you Brian,
sounds hard work but ill have a bash

Olly.

In practice, you don't have to go through the whole procedure. As you narrow down the leak source, you won't have to bother with some of the tests.
The reason for removing the negative clamp in this way is to maintain the connection to the battery all the time, so as not to activate an alarm/immobiliser, which will give a massive current surge and could damage your meter.
This is also the reason for opening the window.

Brianmoooore wrote:

datonyb wrote:amp meter inline with the positive

NEGATIVE LEAD !!

spose im too used to having professional meters then

ive done this many times though fella

and been a spark for a while now

a disconnected neg lead from battery will in fact become a live lead though if you think about it
basic circuit theroy

Right guys I am on my way to that very place thats loves to rip you off, Halfords. Im going to buy a meter and get on this tedious task and get it sorted once and for all.
Thank you all for your help, I will let you all know how i get on later.

Thanks again

Olly.

datonyb wrote:a disconnected neg lead from battery will in fact become a live lead though if you think about it
basic circuit theroy

Yes it will - but it'll only make a small spark if a lead from it touches metalwork. Short the positive terminal to earth and your meter melts if you're lucky; battery explodes if you're not!

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/ ... _drain.htm

Good link

sam325is wrote:http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/ ... _drain.htm

Good link

BAD LINK. The bulb should be placed in the negative battery lead for the reasons I gave above, and the procedure is no different from what I suggested, except for using a bulb as a crude current indicator instead of a meter.
The series resistance provided by the bulb will provide the kind of conditions that scrambles the idle settings in the engine ECU.

thank F**k i didnt use this method

I think i have found the fault guys, I was told the battery was going flat overnight and it clearly isn't.
Whats happening is the dash lights are lovely and bright, so its clear that the battery is fine and not dropping no charge. I noticed on entering the car, the alarm didnt chirp. I then proceeded to look at the alarm's l.e.d and it was'nt disarming, along with no alarm but the remote fob still opperates the doors.
How would i go about getting the alarm to disarm apart from taking the battery terminal off? Or is it highly likely that the alarm is buggered? I hope not because it seems like a very good alarm (especially for free)

Please help and thank you

Olly

P.S

I cannot start the car due to the alarm not disarming, it obviously has a built in immobilser which is clearly doing its job but not at the right time
I know if i disconnect the battery then it will be good but i dont want to do that every time i get in her.

thank you

Olly.

EuRoRiGhTnEsS wrote: Its obvious what the problem is but its how to find it and cure it .
Im parking the car up at night and when i come to it in the morning, the battery either struggles or is as flat as a pancake. Obviously its draining,

What's this got to do with an immobiliser that won't stop immobilising?

Hi Brianmoooore, Its a bit of a weird one this.
Battery is now dead.
I really dont think its the alarm causing the problem but i went to the car lastnight, alarm chirped and all was well. Came to her this morning and the alarm didnt chirp, l.e.d stayed (alarm armed) when the car was open and battery was dead. (fob wouldnt operate)
I thought it was the alarm originally but it cant be. An alarm surely wouldnt drain a fully charged battery over night ??
Now im starting to think along the lines of possibly a stater fault but she fires up with no problems.
Im 100% baffled!
Im going to ring an auto spark tomorrow because i really dont have a clue, If something is draining somewhere he/she should be able to find it. I wouldnt know where to start

Thanks

Olly.

Fault found!
Basically i opted for an auto spark
Toad alarm was connected to another previous installed alarm and immobiliser. the old alarm was none operational but the old immobiliser was still working along with the more up to date alarm, but apparently they were conflicting
That was problem 1 sorted!
Secondly i had an drain of 0.9amp and you can tell from that why the battery was going flat. The bad circuit was fuse number 21 (interior lights, glovebox and clock) Yet none of them worked apart from the clock
So at this time i have no clock, no interior lights what so ever. The auto sparkie said its probably down to a worn door button that opperates the lights, ill have to investigate.
Do you think that i should rewire the whole circuit or have the door button changed?
Its cost £60 to sort the problems out but i think it was worth it, because atleast now i can drive knowing the car is going to start the next time i come to it.

Thanks for reading

Olly.

EuRoRiGhTnEsS wrote:Secondly i had an drain of 0.9amp and you can tell from that why the battery was going flat. The bad circuit was fuse number 21 (interior lights, glovebox and clock) Yet none of them worked apart from the clock

A favourite is the boot lamp - the switch is not quite long enough and will stay on 50% of the time...

Drain of 0.9A = 10W, or one boot lamp bulb or one interior lamp.
If the door switch is faulty, then the interior light will be on, which should be fairly obvious.

Globulator wrote: the switch is not quite long enough and will stay on 50% of the time...

It's the catch on the boot (adjuster on the lid) that's not set right.

thank you brian and Globulator, I will investigate further.

Olly.