Draining battery via fuse 21 & 28

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eric
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Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: Scunthorpe

Post Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:23 pm

Hello folks

I've got a 'H' plate 318iLux that has had a terrible habit of draining the battery with an end result of the car not starting, had a look at it today and found:

0.42A draining through the fuse box, so I started pulling fuses until this dropped, pulled fuse 21 and the drain dropped to 0.2A, continued this until I pulled fuse 28 which stopped the drain completely.
Aided by the fuse guide on the tech section of the website:
fuse 21 is for interior/glovebox/boot lights (none of which were on) torch??, clock, radio memory, on-board computer.
fuse 28 is for cig lighter, motor driven aerial & independent fuel-burning heater??

I can't see any problem leaving these out for now as I don't smoke, the radio is fed from its own cables (done before I got the car), the aerial isn't motor driven, The only thing I haven't got a clue about is this independant heater thingy?!? Does Anybody know what it is?

Cheers and apologies for the long post (easier to explain it all in one go) & thanks

Eric
Martinaston
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Location: London

Post Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:26 pm

The torch is the rechargable one that goes in the glove box, have a look in it to see if any metal objects are touching the terminals.
Other than that as you have identified the problem circuit's i don't know what anyone could add except trace the wires and see what they are connected to.
I would surgest it's some piece of equipment because if it was a straight short it would blow the fuse.