Background. My GFs car has a dodgy flat battery, so I jump started it on Wednesday night (I do this over 2 weeks or so...) and we put it in the garage over night and charged the battery. When I turned the battery charger on, there was a few seconds of repeated sound of a relay changing state near to the battery.

On thur afternoon the GF takes car or car and drives it. All seems ok. When she then comes to start it (having driven somewhere) she notices that before she turns the ignition there is a green fog lamp showing on the dash (front fogs - but these are not fitted, and no switch). turning ignition on stops that, and car starts ok. She goes shopping and takes dogs for a walk and then drives home and leaves car in the road.

tonight she came to start the car and it won't start. I have just been to look at it, battery seems to be fine - plenty of charge for central locking (which when flat it won't even do that). When I got in the car, there was the green front fogs indicator again. turn ignition on and the glow plus light starts to flash (quickly) and I can hear the same relay clicking again (near to the battery). Side lights come on ok, but on turning the key there is nothing. I tried to rock the car when in 1st just case it was a jammed starter motor or something, but that made no difference.

I think the battery is fine, and therefore am wondering about the following:

- dodgy ingition switch

- faulty earth

- water short circuit (unlikely)

- faulty alternator (or something like that?)

Any ideas or pointers as to where to look?

The car in question is a R reg Felicia 1.9D.....

Thanks!

start simple check for;

water in the fusebox?

is dark now... so will have a look tomorrow morning. I am assuming this is the black box just to the right of the battery - the same place where I can hear the relay clicking.... or is there an internal fuse box in the car somewhere too?

The fusebox should be inside the car under the dash in the passenger side. It is common for the windscreen seal to perish and a leak to drip water directly onto the fusebox.

I know nothing about the 1.9d, but with the 1.3, just to the right of the battery is the ECU and the fuel pump relay and fuses are situated directly behind that under a plastic cover.

The fog lamp indicator thing is likely to be due to a problem either in the fusebox or an earthing problem somewhere. When the fog lamp indicator is on, try tapping the fusebox and see if it goes off.

Chances are watever caused the battery drain is the problem.

Arh cool. Well it is day light now so I'll go and hav a look. I think the flat battery bit is as bit of mis-guidance here, as the battery has been knackered for over 2 years! I said I would buy her a new battery when she gave up smoking, but the addiction was greater than a car that starts!!

it did have a new windscreen about 2 1/2 years ago and does seem to get damp/wet inside the car on the passenger side.

Thanks!

It seems to be relay 104 that is making all the clicking noise. If I remove that that and turn the ignition on, then the glow plug light comes on rather than flashing violently, and then starts to flash slowly - maybe indicating some king of electrical fault!? I am guessing this is probably the fuel pump relay - it has some quite meaty contacts inside it.

I opened the fuse box up and a there was a bit of water, but right at the non-hinge end, so not actually sure if that would have caused any problems. Did pull all the relays out, but all contacts seemed to be nice, clean and dry.

Is the ECU not very large in these cars? About about an 1inch wide and 2 - 2 1/2 inches long? If so I looked in that box and all seemed to be nice and dry looking.....

Had the fuse and relays box out, and taken fully apart and cleaned. There was some water in there but not much! Re-assembled and still just the same fault as before. Looked ok with the ignition on, but when I turn the key to start, the glow plug light flashes very quickly as does relay 104 (well that clicks!) next to the battery - which I believe is the glowplug relay......

Also when I turn the key, the dash lights (battery, oil, etc) dim, but there is no sound of the starter motor trying to engage.... or spin....

Any ideas?

remove the fuse box from the car , easy job, multi plugs and a 10mm head nut, then take it all apart, being carefull to note all relay positions and fuses,then give it a good clean and dry and rebuild. refit to car after drying multi plugs as these hold water. if all is well get the screen sealed

That relay is the engine ECU and has fault diagnostics with VAG COM.

forgot to say the fusebox does strip down into several layers , and this is where the water sits. i had this problem when the rear screen heater warning came on on my fun, and it hasnt got a screen heater

Cleaned the fuse box, but still no joy :-( it was not exactly swimming with water though.... took a load of pictures..... just as reference in case anyone takes one apart and then finds a million piece of metal on their kitchen table..... ;-)

Replace the battery.....

That relay is the engine ECU and has fault diagnostics with VAG COM.

oh.... I thought the car was toooooo old to understand the likes of vag-com. Any idea where the socket is located? I have a cable for my octavia , but have never seen the socket in the felicia (R reg), but that said I don't spend much time in there!

Cheers,

Matt

forgot to say the fusebox does strip down into several layers , and this is where the water sits. i had this problem when the rear screen heater warning came on on my fun, and it hasnt got a screen heater

Actually the GF said that was the first thing which happened to her... was the rear demister light was on when the ingition was off......

Socket is down under the drivers footwell, usual 16 pin type.

cool... I'll go and have a look and see what I can find....

Thanks all for you help. After all that I checked the battery and it was done at 10volts. Gave it a jump start and all was fine. It had been put on charge the night before the GF drove it, so I suspect it had not fnished charging before she diconnected it, so unfortuantely the female gets the blame !! However I am sure the cleaning out the fuxebox did not do any harm. Probably time to get the GF to invest in a new battery (and I'll check there are no power drains and the alternator is working as expect)....

Might see if I can sort out that leaking screen..... - does it need to be taken out and refitted?

Remember checking a battery voltage doesnt mean the battery is ok.

the screen can be sealed in situ, but the plastic scuttle panel will have to come off to get to the bottom of the screen rubber.