Hi everyone, this is my first time putting a posting on the forum. I have a problem with my 2001 Xantia Hdi. Something is draining the battery over about 2 days.
This appears to be through the 15amp main relay circuit fuse under the bonnet. When you remove the fuse there is not battery drain but you cannot start the car. The main ECU double relay has been replaced along with the glow plug relay but still the drain occurs.
Putting a meter on it its draws 0.6amp constantly when the ignition is off. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be as it has been to a local garage 3 times and they cannot fault it.
This seemed to happen when the battery was replaced just before Christmas and is still an ongoing problem. You can also hear the current running through the main loom on the front of the engine to the relay/ECU.
Can anyone help?
Edited by Webmaster on 02/03/2008 at 20:40
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mw
Is there only one 15 A fuse in the engine box? How can you hear the current running? What happens when you unplug the fuel pressure regulator?
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Have you tried isolating further by going through the individual fuses ,normally a light staying on ,or the alarm, or maybe a faulty alternator.
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Many thanks for your reply screwloose. After looking at the Haynes book to find out where the pressure regulator was I checked this out tonight. The regulator is on the back of the fuel pump being driven by the crank pulley?? (just to check I have the right unit)
Anyway I have checked the 15amp fuses under the bonnect-there is only 1 and thats the one I have taken out in the past to stop the drain.
Your advice about unplugging the regulator connection from the fuel pump seemed to do something. The drain noise is like a buzzing in the wiring loom. When I disconnect the connector on the regulator the noise dramatically reduces or disappears.
I have not had time to put a meter on it yet to see if it is drawing less current. So what would advise next-is it the fuel pump that needs changing?
Also changing the glow plug relay on Saturday and therefore disconnecting the battery seems to have solved the key fob light and the screaming coming from the dashboard.
Any further advice would be much appreciated.
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mw
That regulator being powered at key-off shows that the combination relay is still active. The long relay is in the box by the ECU; it's terminals are numbered 1 to 15.
Hopefully; you've got the sort of plug that can be backprobed once the boot is slid back and not the sealed sort; because your next task is to find out which of the terminals is still live 20 mins after key-off. [A test-light is fine for this purpose.]
If you can't test the relay; what is wire code CC2B [CC08A] to terminal 3 of the glow-plug relay doing key-off?
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thanks for the reply Screwloose. I will try this over the weekend as I have not had time as yet. This relay was changed a few weeks ago. I have also had the engine management light on for a day whilst driving.
Then yesterday and today the car will not start at all despite having plenty of power.
I suspect that whatever is draining the battery has now packed up altogether although I can still hear the noise traveling along the wiring loom.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.
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mw
That noise is very odd - electricity at these levels doesn't make a noise; se if you can pin it down or desribe it a bit more.
You'll need to do a code-read; I wasn't suggesting the relay was faulty, but trying to establish what was on and what was doing the switching.
It's quite possible that the system running 24/7 has cooked something.
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Thanks for this screwloose. Sounds like current running -thats the only way I can describe it. What do you mean by a code read? You are probably right about something being cooked-surely it would not draw any current though if its done that??
Could it be something to do with the glow plugs?
Yes thanks for the advice so far its much appreciated as this is causing me some degree of grief at present.
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I've never heard current running in a cable. Buzzing? Hissing? Whine?
Glow-plugs - no; too little current for them. Can you test that relay as described?
MIL light coming on means fault-codes stored - very necessary starting point to find out why it wont run.
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Its a buzzing sound through the loom on the front of the engine. I will have to take your advice and test the pins on the relay and get the fault codes read at a garage-if I can get the car there.
Thanks will let you know what happens re the relay.
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A guy I know has an HDI 307, which suffered a flat battery one morning last week, he put it down to having left the sidelights on for a time the previous evening.
But the point I'm coming to is, he mentioned hearing a buzzing noise from the area at the front offside in the engine bay, when the battery was flat, although it's too crowded there to see what it was.
He also mentioned that one of the windows was fully down when he came to the car the following morning, although that may be totally unrelated.
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Have done as suggested and tested each of the pins with no current moving through the circuit. This is starnge as when I connect the relay I instantly hear a noise (the buzz) from the loom.
The alternator is getting current even when the 15amp fuse is removed-should this happen?
I connected the lamp to the feed at the back and the bulb lite.
I cannot narrow the noise down although it seems to run over the wires to the glow plugs as well as the main loom.
Dont really know what to do now. I wish I could give you something else to go on.
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mw
So which of the 15 relay pins were live and which were earths - connected?
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I connected the bulb to create a circuit from the relay back to the connection box to complete the circuit for each of the pins in turn and the bulb did not light. I take it that no current was flowing-however the relay maybe wired differently with internal circuits etc??
Sorry I am not that good with electrical circuits etc
Not all pins were evident within the block. Pins 6/12/13/14 (I think) have no connection.
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Not all terminals on those relays are populated. Connect your tester to a good earth and try again - relay plug connected.
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Hi, did you ever find what the fault was as it sounds like the problem I've got with mine art the moment?
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If the Citroen is fitted with Hydractive suspension a fault can occur whereby the electrovalves are always energised (can be heard as an high pitched whine) this will drain the battery so they switch off 30 seconds after the engine is switched off and the last door shut, can be heard as a quiet click.
Steve.
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hi,
i have a similar problem - berlingo 2.0 hdi 2005.
i heard a whining noise that sounded like a motor running after switching off the engine.
this continue for some time so i disconnected the battery - the noise continued and then slowly, slowly, slowly, the noise subsided almost like a motor winding down - took about 5 minutes.
anyone know what this is/was and how it gets its power?
thanks.
steve.
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a quick update - started engine then stopped engine. noise occured again - appears to be below battery area, above clutch housing.
after about 30 seconds, the ecu [or a relay in same area] clicked and the tone of the noise changed - like the speed of a motor changing.
disconnecting battery had no effect!!
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