Flat Battery

[thechairman18]

I have a 15 year old Peugeot 205.

My cars battery kept going flat, over night.

I replaced the battery, with a new one, and that went flat overnight.

I have had the new battery checked, and its OK.

I have had the charging system checked, and its OK.

I disconnect the Battery, every night, and the car starts first time.

Left it disconnected, for a week, and it started, no problem.

Anyone know of an Auto Electrician, in Pattaya,with good English, who might be able to sort the problem out for me.

thechairman18

[MikeyIdea]

Don't know anyone but what he should do is to connect up an amp meter, turn some lights on to make sure that it registers on the meter = confirm he's done it the right way, then turn off everything, and change scale, on a low scale he should still see some creeping, then pull out all fuses, creeping should stop, then put back fuses one by one to isolate where creeping is. Then starts the fun of finding the needle in a small haystack. Don't envy the guy

[stingray]

There is something drains your battery over night. something lie for examplea amplifier, or the electrnig part of a central look system, maybe just a indoor light or what ever. Buy a checking light, disconnect the battery one one side, doesn't matter if its the minus or the plus part, clip the checklight between and if it's glimming, then you have some problem. Make sure the indor lights are closed, open the fusebox, take out every fuse, each by each one, not all together. check on wich fuse you removed, if the checklight stop glimming, check on what cirquit the fuse is for. So you can narrow the problem (my english not perfect). If you have troubles to do it by your self, PM me, i'll give you my phone number, i can help you.

[seedy]

My most strange one was a glove box light switch that failed in the on position. Took me quite a while to track down !!!

[hansnl]

My son, sorry in Holland, being a specialist in car electrics and electronics, puts the following to me.

- was it also like this in the dry season?

- if not check the outer lamps if dry inside

- if not dry spray dry with water chasing agent

- spraying the wiring with the same agent may fix the problem for a longer time, if you can reach all wiring.

If that does not help, stop searching, the cheapest and most efficient way to do is to install a mass (earth) switch.

That does not fix the problem, but stops the car being a pain in the rear end of the bowels.

On a 15-year old car anything can go wrong electrically.

Older French cars do tend to have electric problems in winter and when it has rained.

After 15 years wiring gets iffy and connections get rusted, giving problems.

Fixing the problem will be a costly and time consuming business.

[stingray]

My son, sorry in Holland, being a specialist in car electrics and electronics, puts the following to me.

- was it also like this in the dry season?

- if not check the outer lamps if dry inside

- if not dry spray dry with water chasing agent

- spraying the wiring with the same agent may fix the problem for a longer time, if you can reach all wiring.

If that does not help, stop searching, the cheapest and most efficient way to do is to install a mass (earth) switch.

That does not fix the problem, but stops the car being a pain in the rear end of the bowels.

On a 15-year old car anything can go wrong electrically.

Older French cars do tend to have electric problems in winter and when it has rained.

After 15 years wiring gets iffy and connections get rusted, giving problems.

Fixing the problem will be a costly and time consuming business.

Did he learned that in some University? Every fault can be fixed, there is no need for a mass earth switch. You using those kind ow switch 35 years ago during muscle car or quarter mile racing. A ECU should not be disconectet from the Battery every day. All memories are gone, specially with the OBD1 readings and the ECU have to "learn" again. Tis is not the way to fix the problem. Cables where the isolation cames off don't drain the battery, they would create a short, causing a blow fuse. Do it the way i told you with a check light., it is easy to narrow the cirquit. Once you know the faulty cirquit you can find it easly as tere are not so many things on the same cirquit. BTW check the booth light as well.

[InterestedObserver]

A good industrial or automotive electrician with a DC (Hall effect) clamp-on ammeter/tong tester can locate the problem in short order.

[stingray]

A good industrial or automotive electrician with a DC (Hall effect) clamp-on ammeter/tong tester can locate the problem in short order.

Yes a DC Hall effect amp meter is fine, but we are in LOS, so i guess a cheching light you can buy in any hardwarestore, if not you can make one by your self. A hasll efect amperemeter is high tech for locals and most of the mecanics not even have a normal amp meter or a normal volt meter. Therefore i mentioned a normal 12 volt 2 wat sofit lightbolb with 2 cables on it would do the job.

[WarpSpeed]

None of the above applies with today's modern cars and the computers and electronics I.E. clocks, they have now there is always some voltage drain while the car is shut off. You need to know what the maximum drain is supposed to be and how much you are draining now and disconnect the battery postive cable and place it between the 2 to measure the drain. Based on the speed at which the new battery seems to die from the sounds of it you have a dead short somewhere and it's likely on the power feed side of the fuse panel so it isn't blowing the fuse.. It is grounding to the body and is intermittently contacting it at different times, it WILL be a bitch to locate unless there is some obvious wear or separation of the wiring harness...

What needs to be done is the fuses removed one by one and an ohm meter placed on the power feed terminal to see which one is draining the voltage from the other end by checking it's continuity but only after a good close inspection of the visible wiring harness.. Begin with any electrical features installed or repaired here along with any possible wiring if you have had any accidents that would require repair close to wiring even before you purchased the car possibly if you purchased it used. Also have them search for burned, melted, chaffed or blackened wires.. Good luck! There's a lot of mechanical things I would purchase a car with but not an electrical nightmare and many are common here as the Thais only vaguely know (or care) about anything to protect electrical repairs and installations other then tape and even rarely use that..

It is all too common here to lengthen a hot wire with a simple splice that has not been properly insulated and thus since it is not factory often fuses or relays are not used and a dead short develops over time.. As well wires are improperly pushed under moldings etc. with a screw driver or some other sharp tool and the insulation compromised or the wire pinched and eventually wears through from vibration etc.

Edited January 29, 2010 by WarpSpeed

[chanthas]

Hi

another possible fault it COULD BE , a faulty alternator,what happens is this sticks on drawing vast amount of power when ignition is off,

usually when you have faulty alternator the battery light stays on when engine is running, but would not in this case misleading you to think it was ok,its worth a shot just disconnect the alternator overnight,reconnect in morning if it starts thats your problem,i have had this type of problem

many times before,turned out to be faulty alternator.

[stingray]

Hi

another possible fault it COULD BE , a faulty alternator,what happens is this sticks on drawing vast amount of power when ignition is off,

usually when you have faulty alternator the battery light stays on when engine is running, but would not in this case misleading you to think it was ok,its worth a shot just disconnect the alternator overnight,reconnect in morning if it starts thats your problem,i have had this type of problem

many times before,turned out to be faulty alternator.

Yeas, if a diode in the alternator would leaking. Forget about the "Ometer" option. Practically you can't check out electiral cirquits with that kind af fault on a car with a Ohmmeter.

As a poster obove mentioned: New cars allways drain some little power. But this one is a 15 year (registered) old Peugeot 205. So maybe it was imported 15 years ago, but manufactored in the 80ties. there isn't much electronic on that car.

[chanthas]

Hi

another possible fault it COULD BE , a faulty alternator,what happens is this sticks on drawing vast amount of power when ignition is off,

usually when you have faulty alternator the battery light stays on when engine is running, but would not in this case misleading you to think it was ok,its worth a shot just disconnect the wiring to the alternator overnight,reconnect in morning if it starts that's your problem,i have had this type of problem

many times before,turned out to be faulty alternator.

reason for duplicate post edited Edited January 30, 2010 by chanthas

[WarpSpeed]

Hi

another possible fault it COULD BE , a faulty alternator,what happens is this sticks on drawing vast amount of power when ignition is off,

usually when you have faulty alternator the battery light stays on when engine is running, but would not in this case misleading you to think it was ok,its worth a shot just disconnect the alternator overnight,reconnect in morning if it starts thats your problem,i have had this type of problem

many times before,turned out to be faulty alternator.

Agreed, I was going to mention this, starter motors with faulty solenoids or voltage regulators are a big problem too boiling the battery and causing it to go bad or just being a drain on an internal hot spot while the car is off..

[WarpSpeed]

Hi

another possible fault it COULD BE , a faulty alternator,what happens is this sticks on drawing vast amount of power when ignition is off,

usually when you have faulty alternator the battery light stays on when engine is running, but would not in this case misleading you to think it was ok,its worth a shot just disconnect the alternator overnight,reconnect in morning if it starts thats your problem,i have had this type of problem

many times before,turned out to be faulty alternator.

Yeas, if a diode in the alternator would leaking. Forget about the "Ometer" option. Practically you can't check out electiral cirquits with that kind af fault on a car with a Ohmmeter.

As a poster obove mentioned: New cars allways drain some little power. But this one is a 15 year (registered) old Peugeot 205. So maybe it was imported 15 years ago, but manufactored in the 80ties. there isn't much electronic on that car.

Sorry to differ but computers and advanced electronics have been in cars for 25 to 30 years now..

[stingray]

Hi

another possible fault it COULD BE , a faulty alternator,what happens is this sticks on drawing vast amount of power when ignition is off,

usually when you have faulty alternator the battery light stays on when engine is running, but would not in this case misleading you to think it was ok,its worth a shot just disconnect the alternator overnight,reconnect in morning if it starts thats your problem,i have had this type of problem

many times before,turned out to be faulty alternator.

Yeas, if a diode in the alternator would leaking. Forget about the "Ometer" option. Practically you can't check out electiral cirquits with that kind af fault on a car with a Ohmmeter.

As a poster obove mentioned: New cars allways drain some little power. But this one is a 15 year (registered) old Peugeot 205. So maybe it was imported 15 years ago, but manufactored in the 80ties. there isn't much electronic on that car.

Sorry to differ but computers and advanced electronics have been in cars for 25 to 30 years now..

Not in Thailand and not a Peugeot 205! Peugeot 205 still have carburetors on it (except the 205 GTI), but there is no GTI in Thailand. We not talk about BM or Benz. Honda and Toyota came in 1991, in their Accords and Coronas, Corrollas and Civic came even later, 1994 up.

Edited January 31, 2010 by stingray

[WarpSpeed]

^So you are of the mistaken opinion that only cars with fuel injection require computers??

[stingray]

^So you are of the mistaken opinion that only cars with fuel injection require computers??

I try with my limited english. There four types of fuel injection. 1. The "trottle body" ones, they call in Europe Cetnral Fuel in jection, it works like a electric carburetor, they have a ECU, like american cars or Opel Corsas or Kadetts, in the 80ties, but they are not carburetors, the are trottle budy injections. 2. The K Jet Tronic, fully mecanical one, like Audy and VW and Mercedes Benz in the 70 ties and 80ties days (no ECU, so far as i know). 3. The D- Jet tronic, like old Opel Commodore in the early 70ties, they had a ECU. 4. The L Jettronic (Bosch), like todays Audy, Opel, etc. it calls also Mluti point fuel in jection ,therefore you can see on some Landrover Discoverys the "MPI" Logo. There are some cars with electronic ignition and with carboretors. like american cars in the 70ties. Those cars don't have any ECU. I worked on american cars ONLY in my life before the "Paradise of Thailand". So, i'm not a Peugeot Mecanic, but i'm quite sure this Peugeot 205 have a carburetor on it, unless (what i mention in my erlier post), if it was a 205 GTI (I for injection). It coud be a different motor maybe or with a trottlebody fuel injectioin. But if it have a carburetor there is no ECU.

[thechairman18]

Right folks,

Here we go.

I went round to see a fellow BM ,from another Forum

After doing numerous tests, assisted by his son Mick, he came to the conclusion that there is a fault with the alternator.

Also the car is over 20 years old, and has been, shall we say 'modified', or rather fuc_ked about with, and there are wires here there and everywhere.

The a/c has been 'hot wired', the radiator fan comes on, when the ignition is switched on, etc, etc.

At the BM's suggestion, I went to a garage, that deals in Alternators.

They tested it, and checked it over, and, agreed, that there was a fault with the alternator.

Although Thai's like to fleece Falangs, they told my TGF, that they wouldn't do the work, as it would be like opening a can of worms, ie, fix one thing, and it upsets something else.

They couldn't guarantee the work, and I would never be away from their door

Best thing to do, either keep disconnecting the battery every night, fit an isolator switch , and run it till it dies.

Thanks for the interest shown.

Thanks to all who have replied to this thread,

Happy motoring.

Ken

thechairman18

[ignis]

Not in Thailand and not a Peugeot 205! Peugeot 205 still have carburetors on it (except the 205 GTI), but there is no GTI in Thailand.

Err sorry have seen both the PEUGEOT 205 1.6 GTi and the 1.9 GTi here

There is a 1.9 GTi For Sale not far from me, but has exchange engine, has a 1.6 Toyota engine.

[stingray]

Not in Thailand and not a Peugeot 205! Peugeot 205 still have carburetors on it (except the 205 GTI), but there is no GTI in Thailand.

Err sorry have seen both the PEUGEOT 205 1.6 GTi and the 1.9 GTi here

There is a 1.9 GTi For Sale not far from me, but has exchange engine, has a 1.6 Toyota engine.

So it's f...ed up. Engineswap in a FWD car is a mess for sure