hi
my stilo battery seems to drain quite a lot over night causing very slow starting in the mornings
i have replaced the battery only 2 months ago with a 60ah one,changed the starter motor, checked the alternator and checked the earth leads
The yellow triangle warning light and the rear brake warning light on the lcd is lit.could this be the reason it is draining ?

after some further investigation using the battery drain test i was getting readings of 0.78 - 0.83 until removing fuse f 39
ater checking which fuse this is it states radio or heater/climate control system
My head unit is a fiat original(however i did change for a fiat original cd head unit
how do i know if my heater system is at fault ? it does seem to take a long time to get warm when cold but the motor works fine

I always tell people to replace their battery with a Varta because they are the best. Now I suggest you disconnect the battery overnight and check the voltage in the morning which must be 12.7 volts or higher. If the reading is good repeat the voltage check with the battery connected but again left over night. This will tell you where the problem is but the battery voltage may be slightly lower 12.6 due to low discharge from the clock and security system.

gsb104 said:

after some further investigation using the battery drain test i was getting readings of 0.78 - 0.83 until removing fuse f 39
ater checking which fuse this is it states radio or heater/climate control system
My head unit is a fiat original(however i did change for a fiat original cd head unit
how do i know if my heater system is at fault ? it does seem to take a long time to get warm when cold but the motor works fine

Click to expand...

Hi,
personally
I'd slide out the audio,and disconnect it for a day or 2..,

it COULD be battery related - but I doubt it,

Charlie

Fuse F39 protects the permanent power supply to the radio, climate control ECU (if fitted), alarm siren and volumetric sensors (if fitted) and Bluetooth control unit (if fitted). Disconnect them one at a time to check where the drain is. Easiest one to start with is the radio.

A continuous 0.8 amp drain on a 60 amp/h battery means it would go flat in 75 hours. Overnight (10 hours) would only flatten it by 7.5%. A 92.5% charged battery should be adequate to start the car (unless the car takes a long time to start).

Are you using an inline or clamp ammeter to measure the drain? The latter are notoriously inaccurate.
.

Unless you're the only owner of the vehicle, I'd be inclined to think that someone's messed with the radio wiring (prior to your ownership) in order to install an aftermarket unit, causing a constant drain.

hi i am measuring the drain by removing the +ve lead and putting my multimeter between that and the +ve post
it is draining overnight at the moment due to the really cold weather but does usually take about 3 days without use.
i was wondering if it could be a fault with the heater resister pack as.The motor works fine on all speeds but gives out very little hot air( manual a/c control dials)
when checking i also noticed that ther was also a slightly high reading on fuse f 32 also

gsb104 said:

i was wondering if it could be a fault with the heater resister pack as.The motor works fine on all speeds but gives out very little hot air( manual a/c control dials)

Click to expand...

If the heater blower works on all speeds, then there's no problem with the resistor. Lack of airflow is more likely to be caused by a blocked pollen filter.

Only the automatic climate control system has a permanent live feed, all other heater and A/c systems have an ignition switched supply.

gsb104 said:

i also noticed that ther was also a slightly high reading on fuse f 32 also

Click to expand...

What do you mean "high reading on f 32"?
.

Davren said:

If the heater blower works on all speeds, then there's no problem with the resistor. Lack of airflow is more likely to be caused by a blocked pollen filter.

Only the automatic climate control system has a permanent live feed, all other heater and A/c systems have an ignition switched supply.



What do you mean "high reading on f 32"?
.

Click to expand...

The reading on F32 was 0.53 when removed so was higher than the reading when F39 was removed which was 0.3.this could be because i had just shut the drivers door
i am pretty sure my car does not have an alarm so the culprit is definitely looking like a fault with the radio
i have changed the pollen filter 2 weeks ago which did make a little difference so wondering if it could be a problem with the thermostat

Just a thought...... 0.8 amps is roughly the current drawn by a 10 watt bulb at 12 volts. Assume you've already checked that no interior lights are staying on with the ignition off and all doors closed? They should all go off shortly after closing the doors.

Front and rear interior lights.
Boot light.
Puddle lights on the doors.
Glovebox light.
Vanity mirror light(s) (if fitted) behind the sun visor(s).
Cigar lighter light.
Illumination LEDs on the electric window switches (if fitted).

Fuse F32 you refer to is for some interior lights, but it's not clear from the wiring diagrams, which ones.
.

gsb104 said:

i was getting readings of 0.78 - 0.83 until removing fuse f 39

Click to expand...

gsb104 said:

so was higher than the reading when F39 was removed which was 0.3

Click to expand...

gsb104 said:

i have changed the pollen filter 2 weeks ago which did make a little difference so wondering if it could be a problem with the thermostat

Click to expand...

If you're getting sufficient airflow, but it's not hot enough, then more than likely a thermostat problem.

Which engine do you have?
.

Davren said:

If you're getting sufficient airflow, but it's not hot enough, then more than likely a thermostat problem.

Which engine do you have?
.

Click to expand...

hi Davren thanks so much for your help
i have checked all the interior lights etc.i was thinking of taking the bulbs out one by one to see if this would show which one it is
My engine is an 04 1.4 aircon

Davren said:

Just a thought...... 0.8 amps is roughly the current drawn by a 10 watt bulb at 12 volts. Assume you've already checked that no interior lights are staying on with the ignition off and all doors closed? They should all go off shortly after closing the doors.

Front and rear interior lights.
Boot light.
Puddle lights on the doors.
Glovebox light.
Vanity mirror light(s) (if fitted) behind the sun visor(s).
Cigar lighter light.
Illumination LEDs on the electric window switches (if fitted).

Fuse F32 you refer to is for some interior lights, but it's not clear from the wiring diagrams, which ones.
.

Click to expand...

hi Davren
after much searching today i have finally managed to track the drain down to one of the cables coming from the cluster on the positive battery terminal
When i disconnect the cable that has the 70A link (2nd one down from +ve post)the amps drop to 0.01.
Please could you tell me where this wire goes and what could be the cause many thanks :worship:

dashboard control module

hi can anyone tell me what is meant by the Dashboard Control Module
and where it is ? i have a battery drain from mine

Just to be clear, are you referring to the brown coloured 70 amp fuse link on the fuse board attached to the +ve battery terminal?
.

Re: dashboard control module

gsb104 said:

hi can anyone tell me what is meant by the Dashboard Control Module
and where it is ? i have a battery drain from mine

Click to expand...

Please don't start multiple threads about the same problem. I've combined your other thread with this one now.

The dashboard control module is built into the instrument panel.

How have you diagnosed that the drain is from the instrument panel?

Am I wasting my time by continuing to reply to you if you've already diagnosed the problem?
.

Re: dashboard control module

Davren said:

Please don't start multiple threads about the same problem. I've combined your other thread with this one now.

The dashboard control module is built into the instrument panel.

How have you diagnosed that the drain is from the instrument panel?

Am I wasting my time by continuing to reply to you if you've already diagnosed the problem?
.

Click to expand...

Hi Sorry
i have been searching all day and have finally tracked it down to the circuit with the brown fuse F71
i looked it up in my owners manual and it stated it was the Dashboard Control Unit
when i disconnected the cable that ran to the fuse the battery drain dropped to 0.01
this is as far as i can go
i'm sorry for the double posts after 3 days of searching it is driving me mad

Re: dashboard control module

gsb104 said:

Hi Sorry
i have been searching all day and have finally tracked it down to the circuit with the brown fuse F71
i looked it up in my owners manual and it stated it was the Dashboard Control Unit
when i disconnected the cable that ran to the fuse the battery drain dropped to 0.01
this is as far as i can go

Click to expand...

OK... looking at the wiring diagram, it would appear that Dashboard Control Unit must refer to the Body Computer, not the instrument panel. The BC is the grey box attached to the back of the dashboard fuse box.

The thick red wire from the 70 amp fuse link F71, is the main power supply to the Body Computer (M1 on the wiring diagram) and the dashboard fuse box (B2). As well as supplying the BC, it also supplies numerous other consumers in the fuse box. Too many to list them all here, so I've attached the wiring diagram below.

If you follow the line (wire) from the 70 amp fuse, marked B and CPL1 on the battery fuse board (B99) across to page 2 of the diagram, you'll see all the consumers that it powers.

A few examples from left to right in the fuse box are:

Fuse F38 which powers boot lid locking on some cars. (On some versions it's a spare fuse).
Relay T12, which powers the front wipers via fuse F43, the cigar lighter via fuse F44 and the rear wiper via fuse F52.
Relay T1 which powers dipped headlights via fuses F12 and F13.

If you're unfamiliar with car wiring diagrams, the black dots at the junction of 2 lines means they are electrically connected. If there's no black dot, the 2 lines are not electrically connected.

To isolate you drain problem, you'll need to remove each relay or fuse that's supplied by fuse link F71 individually.

Post back if you have any problems.
.

Re: dashboard control module

hi
thanks for all your help
it looks like i still have a good few days searching ahead of me
do you think it would be easier to put a kill switch between the wire running from the F71 fuse

Re: dashboard control module

gsb104 said:

do you think it would be easier to put a kill switch between the wire running from the F71 fuse

Click to expand...

Easier perhaps, but it doesn't fix the problem.

Fuse F39 is one of the fuses supplied by F71.

F39 protects the radio, have you tried disconnecting the radio yet? as I suggested back in post 5.
.