Hi
I have a 1998 convertible with a few problems. The car is only used once a week max and sit's under a cover all winter with Battery disconnected. The worst being, the battery drains after 3/4 days. This is a brand new Battery (2nd one in a few months) I have read various post's on this forum so I have ordered a multi-meter in order to see what amp loss I am getting and carry-out a fuse test, I will report my findings when meter arrives. (incidentally, I have always left my lights set on auto, I understand this can sometimes be a cause of Battery Drain. Now switched off). If anyone has got any ideas regarding the battery drain, please share. The lesser fault (maybe connected) is that my nearside indicator flashes fast on dash only (lamp flash is normal). Not a massive problem but very annoying, any idea's anyone? As a last point, whilst searching through forum, I've noticed that another issue with these cars is leaking power hood pumps and the repair kit available. Mine works fine and always has (owned car for 8 years) but is it a good idea to fit this kit before a problem arises? Some have stated that the 97/98 models did not have this issue. Can anyone confirm. My date of manufacture is March 1998.

Thanks in advance for any replies

D 5UTY

 

Hi
Have connected multimeter and getting a reading of 11.1. Does this mean anything to anyone please?

 

According to the manual this is an indication that an indicator bulb is broken.


About the multimeter. Thats probably the voltage in the battery.


To test for the powerdrain, keep the car turned off and set the multimeter in "Amp" mode. Then take out one fuse at the time and measure the socet with your multimeter. there you can see how much current each fuse is using. If you fint anything using a lot och juice it is worth checking.

 

Thanks zecretw for reply.

The bulb in the indicator is flashing at normal speed so I assume the bulb is not blown (i will try a new bulb anyway) it's the dash light that flashes and click's quickly. I have disconnected battery and performed a reset by touching positive and negative cables, when re-connected the indicator works normal for 4/5 flashes then reverts back to quick mode again.

With regards to battery drain, I am quite sure that I did have it set on amps (set on DC up to 200ma's). I was getting the reading 11.1. I had multimeter connected in series between the negative battery terminal and the negative cable. The only mistake I made, was not to manually switching off boot/trunk light but doubtful that it would draw 11.1 amps?

I will try again this weekend and pull each fuse to check for any deviation. Not great with electrics so out of my comfort zone.
Will report back but If anyone can see that I'm making any obvious mistake, please help!

Regards


D5 UTY

 

Any of the 6 or 8 indicator outer bulbs could be broken.


If it was set to 200mA the Reading was 11.1mA = 0.0111A*12v=0.13w! That is like what the Clock is using.


Seems ok to me.

 

Be aware that bulbs do not have to be blown before they cause problems. I've had a couple of cases where a turn signal bulb still lit up normally but had a crack at its base between the metal and the glass. The vehicle recognized this and caused the turn signal indicator on the dashboard to flash much faster than normal as yours is doing. New bulbs solved the issue....

 

Thanks jon89 and zecretw for your replies. Will replace all bulbs this weekend. Tempted now to just connect battery back up (just been fully recharged overnight) and see how she starts over the coming week. Will keep finger's crossed and will update the post.

Thanks Again

 

Replaced all bulbs, all working Great!! think one of the tiny wing indicator bulbs was faulty. Thanks for input. With regards to battery drain. Hooked up multimeter again and was getting 11.1 reading again on 200ma's. When I manually switched off boot light with a screwdriver, the reading dropped to 5.5. This would appear normal. I tested my Volvo C70 and was getting a reading of 8.2 so the jags was pulling less power than the volvo. Will keep battery connected and see how she starts over the next week or so. One thing I never mentioned in original post was that when I replaced battery (a few weeks ago) I also purchased a solar trickle charger, which sat on my dash and plugged into cigarette lighter. I'm thinking that this charger may possibly be faulty (instead of charging battery, it may be draining it!). Curiously, one evening I looked noticed the electric Ariel was up even though car had been sat all day. I'm thinking the charger may have been causing my problems. I will let you know how things go.

Thanks again

 

Thanks for the follow up, I've added resolved to your title.
Is the cigar lighter live with the ignition off?

 

Hi

Car has been starting great everyday so far. One thing I have learn't, These beast's love to be used. Thanks again for your replies and advice. To answer your question norri, the cigarette lighter is not live when ignition off. I also sprayed some WD40 in the key barrel just in case the flap was sticking open. Hopefully, I've covered all possibly avenues.

D5 UTY

 

It wasn't really a question, I was surmising that the solar charger wouldn't charge anything if the lighter socket was dead.