New vtr new problems :(

[Dutchy]

Firstly apologies if ive posted in the wrong place... 1st post on this forum so not familiar yet...

Hello to you all :)

Anyway (funny story)

OK... So i bought a 1.6 VTR (1999 NFZ)... It was going cheap (too cheap lol) and i wanted to start a new project so here i am :afro: was owned by a kiddie who max powered it out lol so keeping the mods i like but making the styling more subtle as 17 inch wheels on a saxo an inch from the deck with the wrong offset is not a clever thing to do anyone who has done this and not gained arch clearance will know what i mean... car has been off road a year trying to get test on it to tax and use the car etc, it was listed as a non runner but i managed to fire it up on the drive so cash exchanged and now the little... very little beast is MINE :)

History:

Previous owner complained about batteries dying overnight...

Suspected the usual battery, alternator, starter...

After purchasing the car and towing back i found thousands of relays fuses switches wiper stalks you name it... all tucked in a little bag under the carpet in the corner of the boot. Lucky me :)

Problem:

Well sure enough car is killing batteries... connected multimeter between neg batt terminal and neg lead from car...

1.28 -1.29 amp draw

OK... You with me??? :y:

So... Started pulling fuses and Radiator Fan Fuse dropped voltage to 0.2 amp draw...

Investigated further and when i disconnect radiator fan the amp draw disappears (0.2 -0.4)... dodgy radiator fan simple fix. or so i thought. bought radiator fan for a tenner stuck it on... exactly the same draw 1.28

Now im scratching my head...

The draw cant be coming from the radiator fan??? can it???

So to test my theory i disconnected the radiator fan and bridged a small length of wire from the pos to neg of the radiator fan harness to see if my draw returned, im not sure if this is ok to do or not but if the radiator fan is off the car completely and i still have draw when the circuit is completed it CANT be coming from the radiator fan right??? Anyway nothing blew up (i hope) and my current draw returned :wall::wall:

4.5 amp draw!!!

Now im like :boxing: its time to get it on!

OK so after finding that current is present in the rad fan circuit but NOT being drawn by the rad fan (i think???) i traced the wires that feed the rad fan in the hopes of finding my gremlin...I mean it MUST be coming from somewhere right?

The loom from the rad fan goes to the (temp?) sensor bolted in the rad... So disconnected that draw stops (0.2-0.4) bridged the harness again like with the rad fan and 4.5 amp draw returns

Ok so the draws NOT coming from the rad fan or rad sensor?

Traced back further and the loom splits... One goes to an earth checked wiring and cleaned that up and every earth near it... Still drawing 4.5 :wall::wall::wall::wall:

The other wire off the split goes into the fuse box next to the battery terminal and seems to connect to the other fuse box (B) with the high amperage fuses in it...

Pulled the high amperage fuses and on fuse 3 the draw stops... ok so current draw is present in the high amperage circuit somehow but what components connect to that???!!!???

Ok looked online and found a french version of some workshop manual, looked at the fuse diagram of the high amperage fuse box and found the fuse in question labelled ''Contacteur Antivol'' or if you dont speak frog ''ignition switch'' well thats what google translate says anyway. not sure how accurate it is but hey i bet it speaks french better than me!

Let me just say at this point that starter and alternator have both been disconnected with no change... Badly wired aftermarket lights have also been removed with no change...

tried to follow the wires from the high amperage fuse box and they disappear behind the brake servo and seemed to go through the biggest grommet ive ever seen into the bulkhead...

At this point i pulled every fuse and relay i could find in the fuse box underneath glove box with no change... Hmmm

Ok...

Back to the bag full of electrical goodies the previous owner(s) left for me... there were 3 hazard switches in it! So pulled out all the quick things inside the car hoping to stumble over the current draw... Stereo out, hazards, rear window heater, cig lighter, and window motors No change.

Ok well as far as i know (i think lol) the draw is on the ignition circuit so the next logical step as i can see it is test the components on this loom for the 4.5 amp draw...

What components are on this loom and how would i test the ignition switch/circuit for the draw...

My first instinct is to change ignition but:

1. i did that with the radiator fan (Doh)
2. i should know better than to throw parts at a motor hoping for the best
3. changing ignition causes problems with keys, codes, blah blah blah

Oh and also i think the car has had a different ecu already maybe to try to sort this problem, im not sure...

A bit stuck and need a bit of a push, im not great with a voltmeter and only been working on cars a few months any advice like ''dont short circuit harnesses to check for drains'' hahahah would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.

Sorry for the essay just tryin to give as much info as i can... Electrics hurt my head. No frogs were hurt during this publication :)

[SnakeVTR]

4.5A is one hell of a current drain. Even if the drain was 0.30a you would still have atleast a interior light on to show for it. You need to check that the new cooling fan cuts in and out when the engine is up to temperature.

Did your old radiator fan work correctly, a faulty cooling fan could continue to draw this sort of load without the fan actually operating, and it isnt impossible that you replaced the old unit for another 'faulty' unit. Check it works first if you didnt already and update me:y:

Also have you tried just unplugging the radiator fan plug (power) directly from the fan, if the current drain stops when disconnected then it must be the radiator fan. If you just pull the big 30a fuse from the fuse box that will tell you roughly where the drain is but it still could a be few things as that fuse could operate more than just the cooling fan...if you get what i mean :y:

[stigsdump]

just on a guess here...

On the saxo the fan runs on after the ignition is turned off correct??

What operates the fan run-on (relay?) maybe

Is it possible the relay is stuck in the on position allowing the current to continue drawing even if the fan is knackered (and comnnected).

I once had a 5GT that the relay stuck and drained the battery totally whilst ot the NEC show, luckily I carry jump leads so managed to get home and sort it

[Dutchy]

hi snake,

thanx for your reply... i disconnected the fan compen when its off the car completelyletely bridged the fan wiring harness with a piece of wire and draw came back so fan cant be the cause of the drain as even when its off the car completely the car still draws current...

[Dutchy]

friggin laptop...

i meant yes snake, fan has been completely off and current drain continues

[Dutchy]

hi stig,

i have been searching for the fan relay... couldnt identify it so pulled every relay i could find and inspected... do you know where the relay for the fan is...

also does anyone know why theres current in the ignition circuit... could it be bleeding into the rad fan circuit or feeding back... will have another look at it later but other than pulling ignition system apart im a bit stuck as to the next step...

[Dutchy]

hi stig,

i have been searching for the fan relay... couldnt identify it so pulled every relay i could find and inspected... do you know where the relay for the fan is...

also does anyone know why theres current in the ignition circuit... could it be bleeding into the rad fan circuit or feeding back... will have another look at it later but other than pulling ignition system apart im a bit stuck as to the next step...

[Dutchy]

sorry for double posts, this laptop wants recycling lol

[Dutchy]

ok well going to pull it all apart now and try to test the ignition switch for current... well let you know how i get on after...

[stigsdump]

sorry not too sure on the saxo. The saxo I deal with belongs to my son so only time I have to get involved is when its a 2 man job or if he ever got stuck on something he couldnt solve (which doesnt happen too often)

[Dutchy]

no problem stig, thanks for your reply anyway,

just to update ive had a look at the high amperage fuse box wiring... when i move the earth on the end terminal the current draw goes up and down, also central locking started ticking repeatedly

planning on the fusebox, if anyone knows how to open up the terminals on it or knows of a guide i would be much obliged...also noticed couple earths actually on the gearbox which are in need of cleaning up, one of which connects to the high amperage fusebox

however im not sure the fuse box is generating the draw from a loose connection (i may be wrong) but i followed the wires anyway and ended up inside the car again around the fuse box, glove box came out and after finding and unplugging the (part number 73642002) management module which i think is for the electric windows??? and unplugging what i think is the central locking relay (has a long connector mounted behind the fuse box on star head screws) the voltage dropped to just over 1 amp current draw...

so im thinking rewire the box if possible and swap management module and central locking relay and clean up remaining earths?

also as there is still a draw with module and central locking relay unplugged... can anybody think of where its coming from or a sensible place/method to look for it...

also what is considered a normal draw for a saxo less than 50 milli amps?

any ideas would be greatly appreciated literally everything in the car is unplugged at this point.only things still connected are interior fan as couldnt get to the plug and the steering wheel stalks for the lights horn etc couldnt get to the central locking plug so detached the main door feeds near the door hinge, still got a draw :( WTF!!!

[Dutchy]

no problem stig, thanks for your reply anyway,

just to update ive had a look at the high amperage fuse box wiring... when i move the earth on the end terminal the current draw goes up and down, also central locking started ticking repeatedly

planning on the fusebox, if anyone knows how to open up the terminals on it or knows of a guide i would be much obliged...also noticed couple earths actually on the gearbox which are in need of cleaning up, one of which connects to the high amperage fusebox

however im not sure the fuse box is generating the draw from a loose connection (i may be wrong) but i followed the wires anyway and ended up inside the car again around the fuse box, glove box came out and after finding and unplugging the (part number 73642002) management module which i think is for the electric windows??? and unplugging what i think is the central locking relay (has a long connector mounted behind the fuse box on star head screws) the voltage dropped to just over 1 amp current draw...

so im thinking rewire the box if possible and swap management module and central locking relay and clean up remaining earths?

also as there is still a draw with module and central locking relay unplugged... can anybody think of where its coming from or a sensible place/method to look for it...

also what is considered a normal draw for a saxo less than 50 milli amps?

any ideas would be greatly appreciated literally everything in the car is unplugged at this point.only things still connected are interior fan as couldnt get to the plug and the steering wheel stalks for the lights horn etc couldnt get to the central locking plug so detached the main door feeds near the door hinge, still got a draw :( WTF!!!

[Dutchy]

right sorry for the duplicate posts... my laptop doesnt like the script on this page for some reason... apologies im only sending once!!!

ok... found puzzling 3 things

1. removal of window management module drops the draw
2. removal of central locking relay drops draw
3. removal of the 1 of the 2 earths in the drivers side foot well with the above 2 removed completely stops the draw to well within threshold :)

not had a chance to connect 1&2 and remove 3 to see if the draw is still stopped in this configuration as its pitch black outside now so will try again after work tomo...

but hoping that the draw will stop if i reconnect everything in the car except this new found drawing earth...

im suspecting a wrongly wired ignition as it looks like it has been tampered with and as said before the car has had a replacement ecu which would make sense if the owners lost the key, or had an ecu failure etc...

if anyone has any info on ignition wiring on these things pls let me know as ive heard the ignition systems on saxos dont make much sense and im an idiot :) lol

[Dutchy]

Anyone???

[Dutchy]

suspect ignition wiring is wrong anyone know the correct wiring on one of these things???