I have a problem with a battery drained of power on my Peugeot 306, If I leave the car 2 to 3 days then start the engine it labours to fire up but is ok when it does start. But if I leave the car for a week or more I have a dead battery, I know it's not the battery because it's brand new and nothing is left on lights,radio etc. Anyone have any clues what the problem might be or what I should test,it's been doing this for the last 6 months.
Len
Immobiliser? Do you own a voltmeter/ammeter?
It has a Peugeot immobiliser but don't know if that affects it. I can borrow a tester if I need to.
Maplin do multimeters for just £5.99 Code N20AX. Worth getting for the toolbox.
Bucket
Pull the postive clamp off the battery, and measure the current flow. If its anything significant (work out amp-hours and see if its a reasonable indicator of your fault) then consider splitting the feeds from the clamp (assuming they're bolted to the clamp, that is, to isolate the circuit. One possibility is the diodes in the alternator allowing leakage current back through the alternator to ground.
Basically, you're looking at a case of determining circuit by circuit where the fault lies. If you can't isolate the fault at the clamp, move to the fuse-box, and pull individual fuses and using a couple of prongs insert the multimeter across the terminals of the fuse holder to isolate the cause of the fault.
Not a painfull or labourious job, but you'll probably ache from spending an hour curled up in the footwell with torch, meter and pad of paper.
Mike
The immobiliser in some models can draw an annoying amount of current.
Seconded. Lidl occasionally have them at 3.99 each too. I bought 6 or so.
The diode leaking will cause the alternator light to glow on the dash with the ignition turned off.
Please don't top post.
Dave
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