(Disclaimer: I don't know anything about vans / electrics but am doing my best to learn - apologies for any obvious mistakes...)
I have a 1989 1.7D van and have been trying to solve a problem with the battery draining. I have followed the advice on the wiki but no luck yet. Thought I would post here to see if anyone has any ideas for what to try next before I give up and take it to the garage...
Symptoms:
- The battery was new when I bought the van (last October; I have seen the receipts for this).
- Previously the van would sometimes fail to start if left for 2 weeks+ but a jump start would solve the problem provided it was driven regularly.
- Recently I had a few problems with the van and had to take it to the garage. One of the problems was a total loss of power, which the garage diagnosed as a problem with the alternator voltage regulator (now replaced).
- A couple of weeks ago the van failed to start. I jump started and everything worked fine that day - started and stopped van several times that day without problem.
- However a day or two later the battery was flat again. Jump started OK but now it seems that the battery drains over the course of a day or even an hour or so (or possibly isn't charging? But being able to re-start suggests it is to me.)
Attempted diagnosis:
- I followed this advice from the wiki:
Disconnect the negative terminal (earth strap) from battery, join (12v bulb and holder from Maplins £1.90) test light between battery -ve post and the now disconnected -ve Earth strap, so the light is in series between the battery and the earth strap. Ff you have a light showing, it means you have a drain. Remove each fuse in the fuse box one by one till the light goes out, this tells you which circuit the problem is on. it is then a case of finding the fault on that circuit. Make sure the interior door light is turned off so its not showing a false reading
- When connected, the light came on (so I have a drain, I assume). I removed each of the fuses in turn but the light stayed on throughout.
A few pictures to show the testing process in case I am doing something obvious wrong:
https://goo.gl/photos/89TFsTK6z89dFBkx9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://goo.gl/photos/cuaNMk9yEXFnungF6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://goo.gl/photos/QfqBwN9y4wAiRzXQ6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Does anyone have any idea where I should go next from here? Would it be worth investing in a multimeter to do some more checks?
Thanks in advance for any help.
R