drain on battery

[jerrers]

can anyone help - my E30 has a drain from battery when ignition switched off, which has apparently been traced to the circuit board on the instrument cluster, which i am told would be best to replace - expensive!! any thoughts please on other possible causes? am i right that components start to wear after 20 years so this sort of drain/shorting is not surprising? thanks.

[Finto_316]

i have the same problem buddy
try checking;
-does the boot light stay on when the boot is closed
-is you central locking working?

[jerrers]

thanks, mate, will look at these.

[Cypriotgeeza]

does your wiper motor work properly? because mine used to stutter and sometimes when id think it was off it was still trying to work but was jammed..

so all night it would be working= killed my battery a few times..only time i realised it was this was when i came out and the wipers were halfway up my screen

good luck

[ucpsale]

The drain can be from the si board are some of the led's iluminated / dim when ignition is off. Cheapest way to repair would be to fit new battery's to si board from maplin.

[andye30m3]

my m3 used to drain the battery if it was left for a couple of day, turned out to be the light in the boot.

[daimlerman]

can anyone help - my E30 has a drain from battery when ignition switched off, which has apparently been traced to the circuit board on the instrument cluster, which i am told would be best to replace - expensive!! any thoughts please on other possible causes? am i right that components start to wear after 20 years so this sort of drain/shorting is not surprising? thanks.

May be an idea to strip the circuit board out of the cluster and let a TV repair type guy have a look at it,or you could try a s/h cluster or board?

[Lukai]

I've recently noticed my glovebox light is always on, even when the ignition is switched off... that can't be right can it?

[Lukai]

I've recently noticed my glovebox light is always on, even when the ignition is switched off... that can't be right can it?

[Cypriotgeeza]

I've recently noticed my glovebox light is always on, even when the ignition is switched off... that can't be right can it?

I dont think it should work with the ignition off..mine doesnt..

[Brianmoooore]

I've recently noticed my glovebox light is always on, even when the ignition is switched off... that can't be right can it?

I dont think it should work with the ignition off..mine doesnt..

Change over was around mid '88, AFAIK, although of course the light should be off with the lid closed.

For the OP: Stop guessing, and get a milliamp meter connected in series with the battery earth wire, and then pull fuses to see where the excess drain is going.
Normal quiescent current is usually around 30mA on an E30, but can vary with spec.