I have to say after over 250k miles of nearly trouble free driving with 2 mk1 vrs's  i've hit my first real snag. Ive got a fabia 1 vrs se, its drawing over 10A an hour from the battery, I have had every fuse out of the dashboard fuses and have disconnected the fuses above the battery, the second I connect a single red wire I get a huge spark. The car is in Portugal and cant find anyone to look at it , I struggle to drive it anywhere, any ideas please.

have you tried disconnecting the alternator?

9 minutes ago, mazzamark said:

the second I connect a single red wire I get a huge spark.

Do you mean the cable onto the positive terminal of the battery?  If not please explain.  Are you saying it draws ten amps with ALL fuses removed?

Thanks for your reply, I meant as soon as I connect one of the red wires on top of the battery (The ones that carrode). I know these cars do draw and spark when you connect a battery  but this is extreme, it takes a chunk out of the battery terminal. On a multimeter the discharge fluctuates between 300 milliamps and 900 milliamps and discharges a 77ah battery in a day.

6 minutes ago, SuperbTWM said:

have you tried disconnecting the alternator?

I haven't and it has just had a new bosch alternator

Is that with all fuses out??

 

Definitely disconnect alternator - it could be faulty or badly installed.

Edited 18 February, 20188 yr by kelper

no I had a multimeter testing draw and pulled one at a time

 

Just take some photos of the fusebox so you know where they they go!

Download the link on this thread. This is how to do it properly without pulling fuses

 

 

Edited 18 February, 20188 yr by SuperbTWM

Many thanks, I'll try that today