Dennis Wilson

Mike,

Have you checked the wiring bundle that goes to the door? Due to flexing these have been know to have broken insulators and short out. BTW the interior light switch is connected to the door switch and a short at the light could be feeding back.

Dennis

Alan

Mike,
Sorry for the delay - had part time access to internet but not to my wiring diagrams....

Yes unplugged the X plug should be dead - the X socket on CE is what we care about... good.

X5 @ ~12.5v = Normal this goes to the coil of LH relay & 30 feed other side despite the voltage it is inactive...

X3 @ ~12.5v - this goes to 87 output of the VIII Ignition Disable Relay, it shouldn't be on with the ignition off...

Pull Relay VIII - does this voltage go away? What type of relay do you have in VIII (part #?)

Check central electric Plug A4 terminal - don't remove the plug jut probe into the back of the terminal while connected. Does this change with the ignition switch off vs ignition?

Alan

dcmelik

Sounds like SharkSkin is on to something. My 81 had a bad driver door switch-- BUT opening the passenger door shut off the windows after I killed the ignition.

David Cmelik
01 Boxster "seal gray metallic" 5 speed
87 928 S4 "guards red" auto

byrdman454

Alan,
The relay in position VIII is the ignition relay. The relay in the socket is a new one, but I even switched it for another and it still had the same draw. It is the same relay that is used on many other systems like fuel pump, LH, horn, etc. Let me know if you need the part #.

The 1.3A draw does go away when I pull this relay. Why?

I checked terminal A4. There is no voltage on this pin with the ignition off, but when the ignition is on, there is 11.9V. I did probe this terminal with the battery hooked up, and the plug connected to the socket.

What next?

FYI
I was unplugging and checking the ignition switch this weekend and noticed that the wire retaining clip on the plug was not all the way on. It seemed like on the of the wires was too big to fit. I looked around under the cluster and there were two wires with similar "female" type connectors as the ignition switch just hanging there. I will probably need to get you a pic if you think it may be part of my problem. It makes me think that the two wires were removed from the ignition switch plug and this large black wire was inserted in one of their places. This may be the "hot all the time" wire. I ran out time before I could check if it is hot all the time and if the other two had any power. I will do this if you think it may be part of the problem. It may not have nothing to do with this drain at all. Maybe I am just paranoid.

Thanks

Alan

Mike,
Do you have an alarm fitted, factory original or aftermarket?

I begin to have a feeling someone has bypassed the alarm diasble for the ignition but insead of using an igition feed has used an always on feed...

Can't be sure of course but we need to investigate the connections on the coil side or relay VIII.

This is called the Ignition Relay - but what it should be called is the Ignition Disable relay. Its purpose is to disable the ignition (LH/EZK) if the alarm is tripped. Then the engine will just crank. So it should be on 0nly when the ignition is on AND the alarm isn't tripped. Yours just seems to be on all the time.

Even if your alarm relay failed on it should not produce this result... Someone would have had to have messed with it.

Can you list what connections & wire colors you have to the ignition switch and what color are these extra not connected wires?

Do you have a Z plug (for the alarm) on central electric? if yes - leave it connected and probe in through the back and report what voltages you have
on each pin.

Alan

byrdman454

Alan,
You are definitely on to something. The car did have an aftermarket alarm, but I stripped the entire system out of the car. There is no factory alarm, so there is no Z plug. There is a jumper wire between two of the point though. When I asked the dealership I bought it from what that was, they said that their mechanic had to bypass the alarm. This must be jumped to where the ignition is on all the time.

I did unplug this jumper when I first got the car, and it would not start...there was no spark. I plugged it back in and we have spark.

I was reading the Rennlist archives, and if the car does not have a factory alarm, the Z plug must be jumpered to get spark. Is this right? Maybe the PO is jumping the wrong wires??

I will have to pull the bottom of the pod to get at the ignition switch wires. Do you still need this?

Please let me know.
Thanks!

Alan

Mike probably not - leave the pod for now. Lets change that jumper first - let me go look at what you need to do instead..

Alan

Alan

Mike - Link pins Z4 & Z6 in the socket - remove any other Z socket links....

Make up a wire with a 1/4" quick disconnect fully insulated female terminal on each end to make the link (get from ace hardware or similar) crimping tool is ideal but a pair of needle nose pliers will approximate if you are careful - you only need a 1-2" wire segment. Is your current link between Z3 & Z4? that would explain everything....

Alan

byrdman454

Alan,
You guessed it...Z3 and Z4 were jumped. I put the jumper on Z4 and Z6 and my draw went down to .45A with the hatch open. Is the .45 normal, or should it be lower?

I think the only thing else to look into is whether or not one of my window relays is defective. I think the other Euro guys' windows stop working after a door is opened.

Thanks for the help...this was the bulk of the trouble.

AO

Mike-
Sounds like you solved the problem. 0.45A sounds about right. You owe Alan a few (cases of) beers when you finally get to meet him.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Alan,
You're incredible. Thanks. It's great to have a resource such as yourself.
Dave McK.

Alan

Mike,
0.45A is too high you want low 2 digit mA's

However - make sure you test for power with the door closed (even with the interior lights off trust me - you want the doors closed in your Euro) doesthe drain go down?

BTW to the rest of you unless you have a Euro it probably doesn't matter...

Alan