Battery drain issue...y

[AshK]

My car has recently developed a problem of the battery draining rapidly. She hasn't seen much use recently as I now have a company vehicle for my commute and there was also a knocking sound coming from the wheel which turned out to be 4 loose bolts courtesy of my local MOT tester - but we won't get into that.

Anyhow, after recently discovering it was just a loose wheel I thought "happy days, I'm back on the road", took her out the for the day and ordered some new sofas, brought her home, the missus took her to work the next day with no problems. The following day she calls me frantically saying it wouldn't start, the lights were permanently on, blah blah blah she just didn't know what she was doing - or so thought.

Turns out something is wrong. The instrument cluster is constantly lit with the green dipped-beam symbol showing even though the lights are not on and the switch is off. I cracked open the fuse box next to the battery as I could hear a relay clicking rapidly. Pulled all the relays one at a time and none seemed to be the culprit and this clicking never went, now it comes and goes but there is a constant 2.4A draw on the battery. I've managed to reduce that draw down to 0.4/0.5A by pulling 2 10A fuses from the box, namely F5 and F6 which seem to cover A LOT of stuff after looking online at the wiring information. I am also yet to discover what is causing the addition 0.5A draw, but I haven't accessed the fuse box behind the glovebox yet. Also, with these 2 10A fuses removed the instrument cluster is still lit up.

Does anyone have any idea what it could be before I start tearing my car to pieces looking for a fault? I'm thinking the UPC is at fault perhaps.

 

[Pav]

i'd say a faulty alternator but you would have checked that...think this is beyond my technical knowledge....hope you get to the bottom of it...

 

[AshK]

I have only checked it by putting a multimeter on the battery with the engine running and got a healthy reading. I'm not really sure how to "disconnect" the alternator from the battery to check its not drawing with the ignition off. Anyone know?

 

[AshK]

Also these are the things covered by the fuses that were drawing almost 2A collectively: F5 & F6

 

[Foxspeed]

is the air con pump clutch working ie clicking on/off?

are the drains clear of water - if not could be getting damp on the uch body computer?

 

[AshK]

is the air con pump clutch working ie clicking on/off?

are the drains clear of water - if not could be getting damp on the uch body computer?

I haven't tried to air con to be honest. Seems strange that there are two fuses/loads both drawing fault current of ~1A with the ignition off. Not to mention the additional 0.5A I am yet to find. Damp UCH certainly seems to be a legit explantion, although I would obviously not like that to be the case unless I can dry it out. Is there anyway to test the UPC unit under the bonnet for faults? As that's where th fuses are located along with the chattering relay.

 

[Foxspeed]

uch is in the dash...the under bonnet "fuse box" is the interconnection box..

got to remove glovebox to get to it - maybe worth having a look - could be a short/melted wires etc

 

[AshK]

uch is in the dash...the under bonnet "fuse box" is the interconnection box..

got to remove glovebox to get to it - maybe worth having a look - could be a short/melted wires etc

Thanks for the advice

 

[AshK]

Just had a thought, may be completely unrelated but literally the day before I started having these electrical difficulties, this little spring fell down from the cavity behind the dials/steering wheel into the drivers footwell while I was driving. Anybody know what it could do? And if it may have anything to do with my issue? Don’t know if I mentioned but the dash lights stay on permanently as well as the dipped beam headlights, albeit very dim as I haven’t charged the battery right up yet.