Howdi all.
Having a problemn with the FD. Put a new battery in as the old one was killed off by the winter, or so I thought.....
New one made a hell of a difference and been spot on for 3 weeks. Drove to work one morning and all was just fine. Less than 8 hours later I had no battery at all - the dash lights almost looked as if they where not going to come on! I have not left any lights on and even took stereo face out on the laughable chance that was causing it.
I looked at the PFC and am down to 11.5 volts with ignition on and 14.0 volts after i got it started from a battery pack. Should this be around 12 and 14.4 volts respectively?
I have checked the earth on alternator and also loom plug. Made sure battery connection is ok and thats fine. Going to check water levels now. The battery also has a health indicator window which says it\'s ok so thats lying lol.
Im thinking I have developed a major drain somewhere as after 24 hours charge there was virtually no difference. Have put on another charger on to rule a dodgy charger out too.
Got to be the car and not the battery cause it\'s properly killed 2 batterys in 3 weeks (ok 1 was 3 years old) I dont have a multimeter to check anything with but shall be getting one cause I might be needing it :D
Any idears please :Typing
sounds like its using something while locked, have you locked the car with out the alarm on ??
If the battery\'s dry it means the alternator is not regulating it\'s self and requires a new one or a rebuild.
If the battery\'s boiling off and the water is below the top of the plates inside the battery then the battery will appear to be flat,
I have literally toped up low battery\'s that are flat, left them for 5 minutes and the vehicle has started
Cheers guys. :)
I attemped to check the battery but it\'s a meintenance free jobbie and has no where to gain access to see water levels.
I have tried charging the battery with the alarm off and its made no difference.
One of my chargers, once charged, lets you know weather the battery is strong or weak - after charging the old one that stays weak and so does the new one! :3Confused
Checked the battery voltage again on the Commander and with the charger on its 11.5v and just battery is reading 10.5v. Would have thought they should have been 14.5v & 12.0v?
Hmmmmmmm
just tell me the rear window demister switch is not switched to on, this is an old favourite as it drains a battery in hours even with the car switched off
It sounds like it is a short somewhere - it\'s the most likely thing that could kill a battery.
Might be worth checking cables for worn insulation etc?
Quote from: neil_jdmr;595573just tell me the rear window demister switch is not switched to on, this is an old favourite as it drains a battery in hours even with the car switched off
Did have a check - was hoping it was something as stoopid as that but unfortunately it was off....
hmmmm :confused:
Quote from: logicalChimp;595656It sounds like it is a short somewhere - it\'s the most likely thing that could kill a battery.
Might be worth checking cables for worn insulation etc?
Yeah I agree. Looking at battery readings in various states I recon im loosing 2-3 volts somewhere. Have looked through and can not see anything that would cause me any probs...
Going to ring the ol auto electrician tomorrow and see if he can come have a look
Thanks for the help folks, hopefully find something to fix ;)
Rang the auto electrician and they cant look at it till Tuesday so trying to have another go myself! Cleaned up all the earth points that I could see, which has not made a difference.
Also had a look at the sensor check on the Cammander and realised I have no idea what the values should be. Can anyone confirm weather this all looks ok?
(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/effazef/My%20FD/DSC05865.jpg)
Cheers, Ricco.
Often if something is highlighted in black it means there is a problem with it. Your fuel one is highlighted in your pic (Not sure if it is suggesting high or low) so perhaps something wrong there. Not sure if FUEL means fuel temp sensor - probably is. Maybe worth have a check about there.
Quote from: nikp;596338Often if something is highlighted in black it means there is a problem with it. Your fuel one is highlighted in your pic (Not sure if it is suggesting high or low) so perhaps something wrong there. Not sure if FUEL means fuel temp sensor - probably is. Maybe worth have a check about there.
Hi
Wouldn\'t that be your cat converter sensor highlighted in black? Is yr cat on or off? Where is the sensor? Still on your car?
Regards,
Michaelb
Nope, it\'s definitely the fuel temp sensor: http://www.apexi-usa.com/pdfInstallation/12.pdf
Page 38
Quote from: nikp;596391Nope, it\'s definitely the fuel temp sensor: http://www.apexi-usa.com/pdfInstallation/12.pdf
Page 38
Hi Mate
It is not the fuel temp sensor but the catalic converter sensor which I am on about.
Often when the cat is removed the sensor is left on the car and it may be touching something metal thus using up the battery power…
Regards,
Michaelb
Ok cheers for the info guys.
The sensor check screen was taken with the ignition on (engine not runing) so that may change things If I get another one with that in mind.
There is currently no cat on the car.
I have just got another battery to play around with so I will put that on tomorrow and do another picture of the sensor check to see the difference and also another one when its running.
Ill get into the boot and remove the inspection cover for the fuel pump and have a look over the wires there, see what its all like.
While im on it then, It would be good to know what all the abbreviations mean, here is what I have so far.....
I know other stuff on there like FPR is fuel pressure regulator but dont understand what it is checking (on or off) so left them blank
PIM : ? Voltage
VTA1 : ? Voltage
VTA2 : ? Voltage
VMOP : Oil Metering Pump Voltage
WTRT : ? Voltage
AIRT : Air Temperature Sensor Voltage
FUEL : Fuel Pump Voltage
O2S : Oxygen Sensor Voltage
STR : ? ON/OFF
A/C : Air Conditioning ON/OFF
PWS : ? ON/OFF
NTR : Neutral Gear ON/OFF
CLT : ? ON/OFF
ELD : ? ON/OFF
HWL : ? ON/OFF
FPD : ? ON/OFF
FPR : ? ON/OFF
APR : ? ON/OFF
PAC : ? ON/OFF
CCN : ? ON/OFF
TCN : ? ON/OFF
PRC : ? ON/OFF
Cheers, Ricco.
The CAT is cat temp
HWL is emmisions control on the inlet manifold
PAC is port air control
CCN is charge control
might be a problem inside the aulternator..... bro is an AA man and he whent out to a mini & found the aulternator was at fault & was drawing 2 amps even when everything was off & car locked!! this would kill the battery in about 3 hrs!!
Jono
Hmmmm yeah sounds rather similar with the alternator. Best go down to the leccy bloke and have her checked out, you never know what they might find...
Ok so I put new battery on today and have the following (Big thanks to Andy for sorting me out there :)) :
Battery voltage with and without engine running is 12.0v and 14.2v respective so that looks good. It is still highlighting the fuel voltage at the same 4.98v - What readings are other people getting for this??? (running engine or just ignition)
Also did another sensor check without engine running and with....
(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/effazef/My%20FD/DSC05868.jpg)
(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/effazef/My%20FD/DSC05867.jpg)
Cheers for thos other sensor codes Ash. Got a couple more when I was pressing switches too....
PIM : ? Voltage
VTA1 : ? Voltage
VTA2 : ? Voltage
VMOP : Oil Metering Pump Voltage
WTRT : ? Voltage
AIRT : Air Temperature Sensor Voltage
FUEL : Fuel Pump Voltage
O2S : Oxygen Sensor Voltage
STR : ? ON/OFF
A/C : Air Conditioning ON/OFF
PWS : ? ON/OFF
NTR : Neutral Gear ON/OFF
CLT : Clutch Sensor ON/OFF (Clutch engaged/ disengaged)
ELD : Electrical Load ON/OFF (such as rear demist & lights)
HWL : Emmisions control ON/OFF (inlet manifold)
FPD : ? ON/OFF
FPR : ? ON/OFF
APR : ? ON/OFF
PAC : Port air control ON/OFF
CCN : Charge control ON/OFF
TCN : ? ON/OFF
PRC : ? ON/OFF
Without engine running you should be getting as close to 12V as possible. With engine running then you might see readings around 13.5-14V but not sure what the FD ones kick out. A multimeter should pick up any drop in voltage, might be a good idea to check this when its cold and when hot. Temp does play a factor in wriggly amps and something may be breaking down with temp. I would also turn everything off and see what the voltage is then,turn things on one at a time and see what current they are drawing. Does sound like a dodgy alternator but even someone from somewhere like KwikFit will be able to tell you.
Hey,
I was wondering about the ELD sensor on the Apexi, as I had a dead battery the other day after leaving the car over the weekend. Jump started it and everything now seems fine, even started again the next day, but looking at the Commander the ELD sensor is permanently lit, even turning everything I can think of on and off. Sure it wasn\'t like that before. :/
Might just be getting paranoid, but driving back from work the battery voltage started strongly at about 14.4V but was slowly creeping down during the journey until it was at 14.0 by the end. Anything to worry about? What\'s the best way to diagnose any of these problems?
Cheers,
.
Mike
Nothing to worry about at all mate. Those figures are perfectly fine
cool, cheers. It was more that it was dropping down slowly as I was driving, but figure I\'m getting paranoid :)
Still not sure what caused the dead battery in the first place though, which is why I was wondering about the ELD light.
could it be the light in the boot? might be stuck on for some reason