964X33

My battery keeps leaking amps, and my independent says it is twice the allowable amps when turned off. He has looked for the source but can't find it. All the obvious things have been checked (such as frunk light and stereo etc) by pulling each fuse. Anyone got any less obvious suggestions?

peterC2S

Glove box light, alarm? The glove box did me in a couple of months back. Have kept the new battery on a trickle charge since then just in case.

NateSaJack

Hi, pretty much sorted this last week. Went from dead battery in 24 hours to being able to leave the car for a week, alarmed, without going flat.

I started with all the door, trunk, engine lid switches, cleaned them up and made sure they weren't finding ground all te time.

I found the wire for the trunk switch had broken off so sorted that - no change to amps though. I hd to bend the little arm up to make contact with the switch.

Next was glove box light, mine wasn't staying on (its on te outside of the glove box so I would have noticed) and now that switch works too.

Next I tackled the radio and the green wire (or two in my and sum other cases), found them and taped them off.

Result - working lights all round and no amp drain. Best of luck.

Indycam

Less obvious , bad alternator / bad diodes .

jcs_911

Mine was the engine compartment light staying on constantly.

With an ammeter inline with the battery, try pulling fuses to see if you can find anything that drops the current significantly.

CoastRider

sticky window switches ??

dennywags

check the door switches. mine stopped working so the car never thought i had opened them to get out thus keeping the window relays on. once replaced no more problems.

964X33

All good info so will attack that tomorrow, thanks. The car has the slightly fancy cabin light delay mechanism so the interior lights don't immediately extinguish when you close the door. Unfortunately this does not seem to be happening anymore and I can only have the cabin lights in the off position. Is this function controlled by a relay which could be stuck on and causing the current drain? If so where is it?

boxsey911

My drain was down to a faulty window relay. I worked that out by pulling every fuse one by one and measuring the drain. The drain dropped to normal when I pulled the power window fuse. Then I put the fuse back and removed the relay, left the it out for a week. I couldn't use the windows but I had no drain. So bought a new relay and the problem was solved.

I presume your indy has gone through the process of checking the drain while methodically removing fuses?

Regarding the interior lights the only relay I know of is a solid state relay (I think that's the correct term) which provides the courtesy function. This hides in the recess in the roof next to one of the lights.

964X33

Thanks for the advice. None of the fuses being pulled changes the amperage drain. I have checked the green stereo wire for 'green wire syndrome' and that is not shorting. Alternator checks out fine. Glove box light is fine and I pulled the clock to look thru and confirm the luggage compartment light is extinguishing when closed. Engine compartment light fine and door switches seem to be working to spec. Are there any other systems that might do this if malfunctioning? I am not sure what you meant by bad diodes Indycam?

John52

Just to add another possibility, mine was the Climate Control Unit. The fan that runs for a few minutes after shutdown was staying on all the time. It was so quiet, that it was hardly noticeable unless you were in an area with little or no ambient noise.

Indycam

How did you check the alternator ?
Diodes , inside the alternator are diodes .

https://www.google.com/search?q=alte...w=1280&bih=683
https://www.google.com/search?q=alte...ient=firefox-a

There is another way of finding drains ,
if the electrical system is a "tree" and the trunk of the tree is the positive battery cable at the battery , if you check at every branch for current ...

darth

"My battery keeps leaking amps, and my independent says it is twice the allowable amps when turned off. He has looked for the source but can't find it." What is the current being drawn? If you're handy with an ammeter, place it in between one of the battery posts and the connecting wire and measure the current.

Indycam

I'm not sure I understand why you are asking . He says "Flat Battery" and leaking amps so I'm guessing he does have a "leak" . Asking him to check if he has a leak seams odd . If he didn't have a leak , why "flat battery" ?

ToreB

What is the current draw from the battery when ignition is off? Hook in an amperemeter in series with the battery. Normal current draw is 50-100mA. Be sure to open the switch in the trunk lid lock to avoid the interior light from staying on.
If the current draw is about 0.5A, you probably have a problem in the CCU.
Check if the Climate Control Unit and fan stays on after ignition off. It's supposed to turn off after 5-20 minutes after the ignition is off. Listen for the whirring of the fan behind the CCU.
If it stays on, it's a defective transistor inside the CCU, an easy fix for a guy that's handy with a soldering iron. Have a look here for details:
www.porschehvac.bergvill.com
Cheers,
Tore