View Full Version : eg battery drains overnight. need help urgently!!
okay, first of all I have done a search. couldn't find anything
so basically my car was stolen a few weeks ago & long story short I got it back just over a week ago. when the car was retrieved the person that stole it had installed a sound system (changed the head unit & had an amplifier & sub, sub & amp cops took & I removed all the power cables etc) they also fiddled around with my indicators & rear wipers. that's pretty much the only changes that have been made that has relations to the electrical side of things. so after I got it back I was able to drive it home (without barrel as it was broken off) & I've left it overnight the battery would die, I thought it was just getting flat but I had it checked by my mechanic & he said the battery is fine, but the negative terminal was lose so fixed that. drove it home last night & tried to start it up in the morning with no success, the starter motor barely turned over.
so is there anyone that has an idea what this might be? the car was running 100% fine before this incident.
oh & before I took out all the wiring I've also notice that my battery was fiddled with & the person that install the sound system was running another earth wire from my battery to the chassis (which I've also removed) as I'm not really a sound system guy i thought it was strange to run another earth cable but yeah..
has another experienced their battery dying over night even after a long drive to try charge the battery?
any chance that if a head unit was wired wrong with could drain the battery?
forgot to say that the alarm was also removed but had some wiring left behind which i didn't bother to touch
Bludger
25-02-2012, 11:09 AM
this is a self diagnosis only problem.
we can't help you over the net.
You must find what's draining it.
A good step is returning all wiring back to pre stolen spec. (sounds bad)
that way, you're able to turn off all accessories and stuff....
this is a self diagnosis only problem.
we can't help you over the net.
You must find what's draining it.
A good step is returning all wiring back to pre stolen spec. (sounds bad)
that way, you're able to turn off all accessories and stuff....
pre stolen as before it got stolen, or did you mean how it was after it got stolen before i removed all the wiring?
& how do you turn off all accessories? sorry a bit hopeless when it comes to electrics, more of a hands on mechanic type lol
Bludger
25-02-2012, 11:22 AM
something is draining your battery, find it.
boot light, amp not turning off, small short somewhere.
Drifter995
25-02-2012, 11:29 AM
probably amp not turning off, unless you mean you ripped out all the amps and stuff...
Maybe chuck that extra earth on the battery.. might help a bit perhaps
IV73CI
25-02-2012, 11:55 AM
Insulate the wires that has been cut off and ripped out.
Most likely a wire that has power on it has been shorted and is causing ur battery to drain out.
Make sure no wires are touching ground or other wires.
Except ground wires which are suppose to be grounded .. Lol
probably amp not turning off, unless you mean you ripped out all the amps and stuff...
Maybe chuck that extra earth on the battery.. might help a bit perhaps
when i said amp i meant it as the amplifier that was used to power the sub that was taken by the cops
Insulate the wires that has been cut off and ripped out.
Most likely a wire that has power on it has been shorted and is causing ur battery to drain out.
Make sure no wires are touching ground or other wires.
Except ground wires which are suppose to be grounded .. Lol
will give that a shot. the only thing that comes to mind atm is the alarm siren.. not too sure if there's anything else. thanks for the tip
Drifter995
25-02-2012, 04:36 PM
when i said amp i meant it as the amplifier that was used to power the sub that was taken by the cops
Ah, didn't think the cops had taken it.
Hmm. Dunno then. I know my civic used to do it, and still kinda does.. but it's the alternator afaik... doesn't really do it's job...
unl3a5h
25-02-2012, 05:41 PM
they stole your car then installed a sound system for you??
hondapop
25-02-2012, 06:51 PM
If it was a direct short circuit somewhere it would flatten the battery real quick, burn out the offending wire or blow a fuse if there was one in that circuit. Seeing it's draining your battery o/nite and you're able to get it recharged and restarted and you've had it checked out as OK, then it points to something of fairly high power drain. Get that alarm checked out or any bits of the "donated" sound system that's still in there.
I wouldn't trust anyone's capabilities to wire something up correctly who's dumbarsed enough to pinch a car, keep it, and actually put in a sound system for their apparent own amusement.
IV73CI
25-02-2012, 07:00 PM
^^^the amp was taken by the cops..
Therefore that shouldnt cause any high power drain as there is no amp.. Lol
Maybe he installed a farid cap?? Lol
Do u get the battery light in your dash/cluster whilst drving??
Possibly alternatir not chargin the battery properlly...
Drifter995
25-02-2012, 10:42 PM
he did say the battery was charged, but wouldn't turn the car over... perhaps there is an issue with the starter motor or the wiring between them? They could have ****ed the starter motor (assuming the battery is fine, but the car won't turn over)
IV73CI
25-02-2012, 11:58 PM
he did say the battery was charged, but wouldn't turn the car over... perhaps there is an issue with the starter motor or the wiring between them? They could have ****ed the starter motor (assuming the battery is fine, but the car won't turn over)
A stuffed up starter motor wont drain the battery overnight..
Unless your cranking it for 24hrs.. Lol.
Did u check rhw water levels in ur battery?
Drifter995
26-02-2012, 12:19 AM
A stuffed up starter motor wont drain the battery overnight..
Unless your cranking it for 24hrs.. Lol.
Did u check rhw water levels in ur battery?
No i mean he did say the mechanic checked the battery was fine (which i'm assuming meant it was charged) so either he meant it wasn't buggered, or it was working fine
If working fine, maybe starter motor being a dick
If no charge, maybe shorts as suggested earlier
the starter motor isn't the problem, it turns over even when the battery is drained. just very slow & not enough to get the engine running itself. also i've never had an issue with it & i'm guessing they wouldn't have fiddled with that seeming they did break the barrels to start the car in the first place.
the water levels are fine, the issue with the alternator, i'm pretty sure there isn't any as the battery charges after a drive or leaving it idle for 10 minutes or so (the car starts up after stopping it which i've also tried after a few hours probably around the 2/3 hour mark)
hopefully i can find out what it is, seeming this melbourne weather is horrid atm lol
dougie_504
26-02-2012, 09:30 AM
Leaving it to idle for ten minutes won't change a battery, nor will driving it for ten minutes.
Needs a good half hour or so if it's losing charge.
IV73CI
26-02-2012, 09:32 AM
Leaving it to idle for ten minutes won't change a battery, nor will driving it for ten minutes.
Needs a good half hour or so if it's losing charge.
^^x2
Yeh go for a drive to the city and back without any pitstops.
Leaving it to idle for ten minutes won't change a battery, nor will driving it for ten minutes.
Needs a good half hour or so if it's losing charge.
yeah i've done that. not really talking about whether it's fully charging or anything more of the draining instead. i've taken a look at it & by the looks of it few of the alarm wires are cut, is there any chance of knowing without using a volt meter since i don't have one atm to know that it's not sending power to the siren (which is gone of course) which may be killing it power?
IV73CI
26-02-2012, 02:43 PM
yeah i've done that. not really talking about whether it's fully charging or anything more of the draining instead. i've taken a look at it & by the looks of it few of the alarm wires are cut, is there any chance of knowing without using a volt meter since i don't have one atm to know that it's not sending power to the siren (which is gone of course) which may be killing it power?
The wires that go to the siren are only sender/trigger wire.
The rest of the wires that comes out of the siren are +pos to the battery terminal (this wire charges the back up battery) on da siren. And the other is just ground. And sometimes 1 wire that u can cut and tuck to male the siren louder.
But if u dont have a backup batt siren.. Then u will have 3wires.. Which would be +pos, -neg and signal/siren trigger wire.
zhong
29-02-2012, 12:40 AM
Buy a Multimeter from anywhere.
Plug it to your battery when everything is off, and see what it reads. If it's less than 10V constant, the battery is in bad shape - if it's more than 11.5V constant, the battery should be fine.
What I'll check (in this order):
1. Unplug the battery, then plug it back and hear for any "clicks" in the bay.
2. Hook up the multimeter on the battery terminals, and see how fast it's "counting down".
3. Start unplugging fuses from the driver kick panel - ACC, INTERIOR LIGHT, BLAH BLAH. Keeping in mind you keep watch of the multimeter.
4. Clean cut all the wires that have been messed with - to ensure it isn't shorting anywhere (make sure you cut them ONE at a time if you still have your battery plugged in).
Why?:
1. Might be a stuffed Aircon Compressor unit - this happened to me and took me 3 days to find it. (I unplugged the signal wire, and my voltage went right up. Mind you, I did also change my alternator)
2. If it's counting down slowly, and doesn't really stop - it means something is draining the battery.
3. This is the process of elimination, it somewhat narrows it down to which "circuit" it's draining from - giving you a better chance to find it.
4. Ensuring that your not putting power through something constantly for no reason.
Goodluck.
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