hi everyone, its been a long long time since i posted on here!

anyway, the current owners of our old Felly (now owned by sister in law, 1998 1.3 mpi pre facelift 136 engine) today had a total loss of all power. Car was sat for 1 day only. No apparent functioning of ANY electrical stuff, no warning lights, no starter, fan, anythying.

Over the phone we said to remove and charge battery, but, considering it was only sat for 1 day, and the battery is only about 6 months old i thought it a little strange, even if it was flat you would normally expect some power, enough at least for the fan and a light or so.

We actually drove it a few days ago and i gave it a good look over and it was all fine. i had no warning lights and starting was fine, even from dead cold.

If the same symptoms persist when the charged battery is put back in, what would be the next things i should start checking? im going over tomorrow armed with a Haynes and a multimeter so im ready to start probing

ooooooh just remembered, when we did drive it one time it started it sounded like the starter solenoid did not disengage properly, but it only did it once. is it possible a stuck solenoid could drain power even with ignition switch off?

Ta,

GAvin

if the starter solenoid was stuck the starter motor would be spinning constantly becuase the starter has a direct unfused connection to the battery....

1. check battery terminals are tight

2. check that you are actually getting a voltage on the battery

3.check the earth cable from - terminal on battery to engine is good and tight(passenger side)

4. check earth cable from back of engine block (drivers side) to chassis leg(drivers side)

5. does the car start from a jump start? also will it restart on it's own afterwards?

it's quite common for a battery to suddenly fail and go open circuit.. happened to my grandad last week, he drove to the post office fine, then when he came out it wouldn't go, the battery had failed in the space of 5 mins.. i went and jump started it and it was running purely from the alternator, after turning off engine it would not start again and needed to be jump started..... although in your case seeing as the battery is fairly new i'd suggest a loose earth somewhere, also try cleaning up the battery terminals etc

Edited 7 November, 201015 yr by TeflonTom

if the starter solenoid was stuck the starter motor would be spinning constantly becuase the starter has a direct unfused connection to the battery....

1. check battery terminals are tight

2. check that you are actually getting a voltage on the battery

3.check the earth cable from - terminal on battery to engine is good and tight(passenger side)

4. check earth cable from back of engine block (drivers side) to chassis leg(drivers side)

5. does the car start from a jump start? also will it restart on it's own afterwards?

it's quite common for a battery to suddenly fail and go open circuit.. happened to my grandad last week, he drove to the post office fine, then when he came out it wouldn't go, the battery had failed in the space of 5 mins.. i went and jump started it and it was running purely from the alternator, after turning off engine it would not start again and needed to be jump started..... although in your case seeing as the battery is fairly new i'd suggest a loose earth somewhere, also try cleaning up the battery terminals etc

Hey TT,

thanks man, didnt occur to me about checking earthing straps. Yeah i have had a battery blow a cell over night as well, but as you say this one is fairly new so i hope its not that. If when its charged a battery with a blown cell should read around 10v iirc? or 12.5 to 13 or so for OK.

will test the jump / stop / restart as well

also, really stupid question here - whats the preffered way to jump a car? have the engine running or not on the "live" car? honestly its been so long i forget! long live japanese reliability (now drive a mk2 MR2 )

ok the 'master' battery (car) you are jumping from, start off with the engine switched off.. connect up the red positive leads first straight to the + terminals on both batteries... then connect the black negative lead to the master battery, then connect the other end to any metallic part of the chassis or engine (engine lifting eye is a good place!) on the car with the dead battery... you do it like this to prevent damaging the good battery in the event of a short circuit somewhere on the duff car or battery... start the master car up, then attempt to start the duff car..

when you disconnect the jump leads, take off the black negative ones first

as i figured, thanks again

oops, something as simple as jump starting, ive been doing it wrong!

have always used the coloured cables the wrong way around just to be akward (heh), but pos to pos and neg to neg. been lucky i guess

i need to stop p*****g around so much..

haha. it doesn't matter what colour the cables are i've got a pair of old black welding earth clamp cables from an industrial mig welder that are about 10 metres long that i always keep in the pickup

haha. it doesn't matter what colour the cables are i've got a pair of old black welding earth clamp cables from an industrial mig welder that are about 10 metres long that i always keep in the pickup

Tom - I'd suggest a bit of red tape on one ,at both ends. Easy to be cicky.( crabtree ism) I've been driving diesels for the past few years, Transit at work and then Furby for past few years. Furby is parked up ,and I'm having fun with a felly - more fun than I had with Furby .But other day I called in to get fuel . It was only the price that made me realise I'd picked up diesel ,but not pulled the handle . (We need a "not telling gran about sucking eggs" smilie :yes: )

Edited 7 November, 201015 yr by VWD

^^

maybe you should put some green leccy tape on the fuel filler cap

Tom - I'd suggest a bit of red tape on one ,at both ends. Easy to be cicky.( crabtree ism) I've been driving diesels for the past few years, Transit at work and then Furby for past few years. Furby is parked up ,and I'm having fun with a felly - more fun than I had with Furby .But other day I called in to get fuel . It was only the price that made me realise I'd picked up diesel ,but not pulled the handle . (We need a "not telling gran about sucking eggs" smilie :yes: )

"In theory" the diesel nozzle is supposed to be bigger than the unleaded one (just like in the days of 4 star) so you'd have got wet feet. Sadly though that means you can put unleaded in a diesel..............I managed a gallon before I remembered I'd changed cars 6 months before.

Alex

^^

maybe you should put some green leccy tape on the fuel filler cap

****ily ( not a pun) been driving oil wagons a bit too long :yes:

Edited 7 November, 201015 yr by VWD

"In theory" the diesel nozzle is supposed to be bigger than the unleaded one (just like in the days of 4 star) so you'd have got wet feet. Sadly though that means you can put unleaded in a diesel..............I managed a gallon before I remembered I'd changed cars 6 months before.

Alex

Know the feeling- last week was driving an oil burner - this week a petrol head .

Know the feeling- last week was driving an oil burner - this week a petrol head .

all fixed now! and its always the simple things isnt it!

i checked all voltages, alt output all were fine (with freshly reharged battery)

checked "everything off" current draw - 800Ma there was my problem

disconnected radio - no effect

disconnected all relays - no effect

disconnected ECU - no effect

started pulling all fuses, one by one - when removed number 15 current draw went from 800Ma to 13 - BINGO

after all that, turned out the boot wasnt shut properly and the bootlight was on!!!!!!! :p