Need a mobile Auto Electrician in Wimbledon/Mitcham area, my Sister-in-Law actually, she has a 214 Rover, battery drains over the course of 2 days, recent battery! She has taken it to a local garage, and they accused her of leaving the lights on!!!!
I think it may be a dodgy alternator draining the system, but she said she 'thinks she had a new one' not too long ago. Would appreciate a number for someone with the right knowledge please,
steve, quick and easy test for the alternator, with ignition off use a non magnetic screwdriver and touch the alternater pulley and see if it has magnatised if so the diodes have gone but amazingly they still charge but drain over a few days, other than that check the boot light, prone to staying on with the boot shut
SteveCase wrote:Need a mobile Auto Electrician in Wimbledon/Mitcham area, my Sister-in-Law actually, she has a 214 Rover, battery drains over the course of 2 days, recent battery!
Don't take it as a given that the new battery is any good, I've now got 2 that will take a 1 to about 6amp charge but no more - will happily start the car for a few days before giving up the ghost - still ok for an electric fence but thats about all
Has she got a lecy arial ????? one that when you switch radio on it goes up etc ?????????
connect a multi metre on amps to the battery ( undo battery terminal and connect it between battery and lead ) watch it very close if it flickers every so often it could be the relay for the arial stuck this happened on a car I had a problem with took ages to find and about three batterys as I thought they were duff
or give us a call on 07949874684 if you do not understand the above !!!
I have used these guy alot and they will test your sister alternator while she waits and they can also repair most alternators.
They are a good bunch of guys.
Thanks again all, l am not going up there soon, so l can't test anything for her, but will get in touch with her to see what she wants to do, expect a call someone!!!!!
Disconnect the battery earth and put a 10 amp fuse between the terminal and batrtery post to see if it blows (more than 10 amp current will kill most multimeters). If it doesnt hook up ypu ammeter. with ignition off on a modern motor you should still see about 0.02 amp drain, this is normal for radio memory, clock, alarm etc. If you have more than this start pullin fuses 1 by one to see which one causes the drain to drop to a nominal value and theres your circuit. Once you have isolated the circuit finding the faulty item causing the drain should be easy.
Fingers wrote:Disconnect the battery earth and put a 10 amp fuse between the terminal and batrtery post to see if it blows (more than 10 amp current will kill most multimeters). If it doesnt hook up ypu ammeter. with ignition off on a modern motor you should still see about 0.02 amp drain, this is normal for radio memory, clock, alarm etc. If you have more than this start pullin fuses 1 by one to see which one causes the drain to drop to a nominal value and theres your circuit. Once you have isolated the circuit finding the faulty item causing the drain should be easy.
Blinding idea, I always wondered how to check for gremlins like this!