Battery drain

[critter1]

Hi my alarm went off now my battery drains if I lock the car it doesn't drain if I don't lock it any help please

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Could it be a short circuit

[brianh]

If it was an earlier one (your profile suggests you have a mk3) I'd suspect the wiring in the door gaiters potentially for both issues (broken wires shorting together setting the alarm off, short circuit between them causing the drain).

The other possibility is that the battery is dying - I've known that to cause alarms to play up, It might be worth a check with a multimeter to see what voltage is coming out of it, or better to take it for a proper test if your not sure (or subsitute a known good one for testing and see if that narrows it down)

You might be better posting in the mk3 section though, as your more likely to get an answer there that might help than this one.

Alternatively the only other thing i can suggest is seeing if you can see anything wrong with the alarm with Forscan - I think that would be able to speak to it, but don't own a mk3 to tell you for sure, or if it will give enough useful info on the alarm system, again the mk3 section might be able to tell you there.

[critter1]

Hi been busy so not botherd finding fault up to now .decided get auto elec out find what fault is he checked battery, alternator  both ok put laptop on done full check cleared a couple of codes . found the problem a relay is clicking on every minute or so which would drain the battery slowly it's something to do with engine management or ECU  he couldn't think what was causing relay to do that.he said a way to stop battery drain when parked is to pull relay out to stop battery drain because I don't use the car a lot .he said he could wire a switch in so I could just flip switch on  to save pulling relay out each time I use it both options would save me lots of money finding fault .I'm happy with both options but I wouldn't want to sell it to anyone with the problem so has anybody any idea what could be causing reley to click on and off thanks

[brianh]

Now you know which relay it is, your best bet to narrow down the fault is to find out what it does, If you remove it, what does the car do (something won't work, if you can identify what doesn't work at that point you might have a better idea where to look, unfortunately with the vague description that most of the relays have, it can be hard to work out what they are actually controlling, this one being a good example of that).

[critter1]

He swopped relay with another it did same that's a good idea see what doesn't work with it out thanks

[johnnyroper]

I am surprised an auto spark couldnââ,¬â,,¢t figure out what the relay is for,did he not have a drawing to refer to?

http://knigaproavto.ru/shemy/en/ford/galaxy/92-ford-s-max-fuse-box-diagram-20062015.html

Once you know what relay it is then you can identify where it obtains itââ,¬â,,¢s coil power from

[SirDavidAlhambra]

There are many auto electricians who I believe make most of their income from callout fees. Ã,£75 to turn up, poke around a bit, then tell the customer they need to take it to the dealer.

[critter1]

He did look for a diagram of fuse box but could not find any is there a picture of relays in fuse box the relays are 2 together the 2 at the front as you look at it

[critter1]

Pictures of relay I just looked when no relay no info on dash (milage, trip milage)

[critter1]

Just found diagram relay r 2 pcm what does pcm relay work

[mike wilson]

PCM = powertrain control module. Anthing to do with the powertrain - cruise control, auto gearbox functions, etc.

Most likely problems are a malfunctioning sensor or the very common and very erratic (in terms of signs) door and tailgate wiring issue.  I would start with the latter.

[critter1]

Ok thanks

[johnnyroper]

For it to be coming in and out like it is I would discount sensors as they will be fed from the contacts. What you need to find out is where the stray feed to the coil is originating from. I would hazard a guess at body control module,ECU or a short on some wiring back feeding the coil circuit.

[critter1]

I've just spent a bit of time on it checked door wires , tailgate wires disconnected backup alarm under wing.it doesn't click when it's not locked so I'm thinking it must be something do with central locking or alarm is there a fuse I could take out to disable alarm when locked,is there a fuse for each door I could take out so it would not lock or could it be nothing do with what I'm thinking

[brianh]

Hopefully someone with the relevent mk3 knowledge will see this, as your in the wrong section and not all the mk3 people will look here. If you want to rule out doors on the mk1/2 then they can be unplugged from the door pillar (you just twist the connector around to remove it). No idea personally what you need to do to achieve the same thing on the mk3, though the earlier ones suffered with poor wiring anyway, mainly in the doors.

If you can find a wiring diagram for that particular circuit, it may help to remove the fuses fed from it to try and narrow it down a bit further. I'm not even sure you'd see anything scanning with Forscan though if you already have it would be worth a go.

[critter1]

I've give up trying to find fault so I've wired relay  through ignition switch . left relay out put live feed to it from battery with inline fuse,wire from ignition switch live when turned on also with inline fuse ,earth wire to relay,wire from relay to where the relay plugs in to fuse box.no clicking noise from relay car starts and runs good battery holding charge cost 10 pound .I no it's not fixed the problem but it would have cost a lot of money finding the problem I'm ok with what I've done but will it cause any problems the way I've done it