paul-n Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Hi all Nice forum , hope to find some help here for my problem , and maybe help someone else in the future ? Story so far Bought a secondhand Outback 1997 with 80k on clock [ in UK] auto Drove it home Sunday last - 40 miles wife drove to work mon - 8 miles tue - 8 miles and wed 8 miles in garage till Sunday [ yesterday ] battery to low a voltage to start car. charged it Sunday 9am - 9pm 2.5amps to 2amps so left on overnight disconnected mon 7:30am still taking 1 amp but now bubblying gentle. quick look with amp meter in neg lead before connecting battery showed 0.5amp discharge. car started ok when back home from 8 miles to work battery a healthy 12.8 volts and alternator giving 14.5 when engine running , self discharge now showing 0.3 amps. so at 0.5 amps a 48 ampere battery would be flat in 96 hours [ 4 days ] and at 0.3 amps a 48 ampere battery would be flat in 160 hours [ 6.6 days ]. neither of these figures look good ! as a uk car the only things i can think that are active with no key in the car are the keyless entry system and the imobillizer ? by the way the car is left unlocked in the garage ? questions:- 1) what should the self discharge be ? 2) can i disable the keyless entry system as it the old one that only works from < 3 ft and so is useless ! sorry for long post can anyone help ? Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Hi Paul, Welcome to the forum. Good to have someone from the other side of the pond here. Looking over your discharge readings you definately have a problem. I'm not sure what the spec is for your car but when there is a discharge of more than 80 milliamps on any system I want to see why that is so. To help locate the trouble area, pull fuses one at a time to see if you can find the trouble circuit area by watching the current meter. Be sure that nothing is on when you do this so you don't get sent down the wrong trail. The current will drop when you pull the right fuse. The alternator could also be the problem if there is a problem with an internal blocking diode. If you can't find the problem pulling the fuses check the alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtsmiths Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Noobie ... hmmmmm. Are you sure that your parking lights aren't on? Check the little 'Subaru Virgin' rocker switch on top of the steering column. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 If the parking lights were on I think the current load would be more like 3 amps, rather than 300 milliamps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtsmiths Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 If the parking lights were on I think the current load would be more like 3 amps, rather than 300 milliamps. Yeah, well I do numbers just fine thank you! It's decimals that give me pause ... that must be why I'm a thousandaire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewd Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Hi all Nice forum , hope to find some help here for my problem , and maybe help someone else in the future ? Story so far Bought a secondhand Outback 1997 with 80k on clock [ in UK] auto Drove it home Sunday last - 40 miles wife drove to work mon - 8 miles tue - 8 miles and wed 8 miles in garage till Sunday [ yesterday ] battery to low a voltage to start car. charged it Sunday 9am - 9pm 2.5amps to 2amps so left on overnight disconnected mon 7:30am still taking 1 amp but now bubblying gentle. quick look with amp meter in neg lead before connecting battery showed 0.5amp discharge. car started ok when back home from 8 miles to work battery a healthy 12.8 volts and alternator giving 14.5 when engine running , self discharge now showing 0.3 amps. so at 0.5 amps a 48 ampere battery would be flat in 96 hours [ 4 days ] and at 0.3 amps a 48 ampere battery would be flat in 160 hours [ 6.6 days ]. neither of these figures look good ! as a uk car the only things i can think that are active with no key in the car are the keyless entry system and the imobillizer ? by the way the car is left unlocked in the garage ? questions:- 1) what should the self discharge be ? 2) can i disable the keyless entry system as it the old one that only works from < 3 ft and so is useless ! sorry for long post can anyone help ? Paul Sounds like your alternator is the problem. This happened to me with my old bronco. One of the diodes in the alternator was bad, so it could never hold a charge. Get your alternator tested! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenSisters Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 14.5 volts output sounds good to me unless I'm missing something. Start pulling fuses to try to locate the drain. To be sure, have the alternator and battery checked. I had fits over a battery I thought was good. How old is it? Original? Get a new one. A bad battery can screw up a good alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royboy159 Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Hey Paul----Welcome "aboard":) A keyless system that only works up to 3 feet? Might be the first system to disconnect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetterFan Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Chech out that alternator. I know that most battery drainage problems are related to alternators. I had the same problem with an ATV of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-n Posted April 19, 2005 Author Share Posted April 19, 2005 Hi all done a little more diagnostics but only more confused ! this moring battery is a healthy 12.6 volts and the discharge is only between 0.01 and 0.02 amps [ 10 - 20 ma ] imobilzers led i assume. wife comes home lunch time discharge back to 1/3 amp , removed all fuses in engine compartment fuse box one at a time , only one made any difference and discharge went up to 0.8 amp and something chirped when fuse put back in discharge then went back to 1/3 amp. took it for a battery test , it tested ok [ not suprised really ] discharge still 1/3 amp removed alternator earth and feed wires on it still 1/3 amp. So tackle the dashboard fuse box next. keyless system is a infra red one not radio and handbook warns of poor performance and it may not work at all with tinted windows ! it says Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Well hopefully you will find something when you check the other fuse panel Paul. Three hundred millamps is too much. It is interesting the problem seems intermittant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-n Posted April 19, 2005 Author Share Posted April 19, 2005 Hi all Thanks for your help , i may have found the cause of all my woe ? Pulling all the fuses one at a time out of the inside only 2 made a small reduction to the current the Radio and the Cigar - electric mirrors looking in the handbook none of these should work without the key being in the ignition in the ACC position. But i was able to turn on the radio and adjust the door mirrors and turn on the mirror demist. time for a cup of tea ! [ well I am english and you need to distance yourself from the problem to help the brain] i then realised I was testing for this fault with the key in the ignition and it was in the ACC position , but that was the postiion the key was removed from when i drove home from the battery test. THE LOCK IS SO WORN THE KEY CAN BE REMOVED IN THE ACC POSITION !! we are new to the car and had not realised we were not leaving it in LOCK !now I [ and you ] can see why there is anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 amp discharge at all times ! loads of accessories were live ! quizzing the wife she had noticed that sometimes she needed to turn off the radio before leaving the car and other times she did not , obviously last night i removed the key with it in LOCK and so the discharge was 10 - 20 ma but when the wife came home it was removed in ACC and we were back to 1/3 amp same when i took it for the battery test. just removed key properly and we are back to 10-20 ma , need to keep a eye on it for the rest of the week but the diagnosis matchs all the symptoms regards paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtsmiths Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Capital! A deduction worth of Sir Conan Doyl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 It sounds like you found the trouble Paul. You may want to think about replacing the ignition switch so the problem can't happen and leave you stranded somewhere. The amount of current draw you were seeing seemed kind of odd. It makes more sense now. Whenever you do this kind of test you need to make sure that nothing is on and the key should be removed for the switch, and in your case, the switch in the lock position. Will that be with one lump or two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Clark Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 time for a cup of tea ! [ well I am english and you need to distance yourself from the problem to help the brain] regards paul I do fancy a cup of tea, me wife's mum is from Bury St Edmunds, but I tend to use cold beer to distance meself from a problem! Jolly good your problem is solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royboy159 Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Hey Paul---Amazing what can be solved if you use a meter. Cars were made with keys that could be removed with the engine running. Guess it created more problems than benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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