Hi

Car completely drained new battery in four days. Need to do the fuses hokey cokey!

Following the suggested routine by gizze here
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/post452842.html#452842

but not sure I fully understand which cables and how?

"Close all the doors apart from boot, passenger door and bonnet.
Then use your fingers to close the locks on the boot and the passenger door, and put something heavy on the bonnet catch (or you might be able to disconnect it)."

I can do this, but the interior lights stay on because the passenger/boot doors are open ?

"undo the big red cable on the bulk head, the jump point, and test the drain on that. That will tell you if the alternator is drawing current when it shouldn't be"

I can do this, assuming it doesn't matter which side of the jump point I undo - the one with the big 19mm nut or the one in the battery bay - 13mm ? And then assume I put the meter between the cable and where I undid it from?

"Then undo the battery negative and put the meter across that cable and the negative on the battery and watch its reading"

This where I get stuck. If I undo and remove the battery negative cable, there is no power to the car so the shut down routine will stop? Does it mean connect the meter between the negative earth cable and the negative battery post? If I do so the startup routine may cause a surge (also because it is cold my FBH seems to kick in, don't want to melt the meter cables)

Once I get my meter setup correctly (e.g. across the right cables/points) I should be happy pulling fuses.

All help/guidance/correction gratefully received  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Last edited by Joe90 on 1st Jul 2018 1:27pm. Edited 1 time in total

New Information for leak in LM: the alternator often is the fault, have changed three of them at three older L322, battery now always full. L405 SDV8 2017 + Lancia Flavia Coupe 1964 + RRS L494 3.0 SDV6 + C220CDI Convertible 2021

"This where I get stuck. If I undo and remove the battery negative cable, there is no power to the car so the shut down routine will stop? Does it mean connect the meter between the negative earth cable and the negative battery post? If I do so the startup routine may cause a surge (also because it is cold my FBH seems to kick in, don't want to melt the meter cables)"

You need an ammeter with a range upto at least 10A, a lot of multimeters have this built in.
As the car progressively shuts down again after initially inserting the multimeter you can move the multimeter/ammeter to a smaller range to allow more accurate testing.

Worked for me when I did it many moons ago.

As ^ I would test for drain down through the alternator at rest before anything else.
I would also get the battery itself tested.

I got nothing back on the alternator cable test.

My drain could have been my own fault / other problem I have with remote central locking. I noticed that if i turned the key in the lock the wrong way, I got a locking/clunking sound, but the interior lights stayed on. Maybe I didn't notice and they just stayed on till the battery ran dry.

Thanks NDFI for reassurance about battery disconnection / drain test procedure. I will give it a whirl  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

@ Meerbusch

I am getting intermittent funny noises from the left front of the engine bay. However, alternator still kicking out 14 volts (same number as ever) .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

I’ve not tried this but it should work.
If you connect your ammeter between the negative terminal on the battery and a good earth point but leave the main earth cable connected until the car has virtually shut down after about 20 minsures and then remove the battery earth cable from the body while leaving the ammeter in place, that will give you a reading for what drain you have without waking the fatty back up again and roasting your meter
You can then start pulling fuses

Make sure you have access to both fuse boxes. You can switch off the interior lights with the switch on the light by the rear view mirror.
The push switch for the glove box you can tape into position so it thinks it is closed. Leave doors unlocked.

I threaded the cables for the multimeter from the battery up through the gap between bonnet and bulkhead, and left the MM on the windscreen. Closed the boot. Walked away, came back periodically to monitor the change in drain. I didnt see much of a drop after the first 30 seconds or so.

I traced a 2amp drain earlier this week to the cover of the diagnostic port. Try removing the cover for the port and see if that lowers the drain.

Think my multimeter is knacked, can only read volts

New fancy one and clamp meter ordered.  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

^^^

FLUKE combo?

,

nah, I'm a cheapskate  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

I have got a couple of these clip on ammeters.
They are so old, I think my dad bought them but they are beautifully easy to use and still available on eBay.

Click image to enlarge

Just stuff to be aware of if you are looking for a drain:

Do these clamp meters need to be positioned under the bonnet? Does anyone know whether opening the bonnet/leaving the bonnet open will trigger an activation of the BCM or other systems?

I opted not to use a clamp meter, so that I could close the bonnet and run the probe wires from the multimeter between bulkhead and bonnet and up towards the windscreen so that I could close the car up, bonnet, doors etc and still monitor the drain.

Good luck, do let us all know what you find please?
Mark

Just disconnect the bonnet button

Yes, you cannot read the clamp meter from inside the car through the windscreen. .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

I only looked for mine for a few seconds, and a friend suggested that they had done away with such troublesome things so I didn't look any further. How is the search going Joe90 did you check opening the diagnostic port to see if that reduced the drain?

OK, some amps results from my clamp meter

Engine running for a couple of minutes then switch off

Amps Time
10 ish - 10 secs
8 ish - 15 secs
5.1 - 3 mins
1.47 - 5 mins
1.28 - 4 mins
0.75 - Red P Light goes off

then I realised I hadn't locked the car
Locked car

Amps Time
3.8 - 1 min
1.72 - 1 min
1.61 - 19 mins
1.04 - Red P Light goes off and stays at 1.04

Will run another test in the morning....but looks like a 0.5 amp drain somewhere .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999