Technical Battery doesn't charge after clearing windscreen drains

[Andy1110]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone help - my punto (2000, 1.2 ELX) has just gone from bad to worse.


Over the winter I have not been able to start it if I did not use it the day before. Also i got water draining into the passenger footwell when I go round corners after rain. After a jump start it has been fine the rest of the day and then the next day.

In March things got worse and I tried a new battery. Everything seemed fine for a few weeks.

Last Monday I had to jump start it again. and I noticed that there was 2-3 inches of water where the windscreen drains into. A friend suggested leaves blocking the drains, so later I got all the muck out of the two blocked drains and all (a lot) of water drained through. I thought that would explain both the draining battery and the passenger footwell water in one with only mucky hands to fix it.

Not so.

The pooled water was just about enough to get the connections to the wiper motor wet and certainly enough to submerge the wires and connector to the other thing in there on the right hand side (What is that??).

Now the battery drains so fast that i couldn't start it in the afternoon after I had mesarue the battery voltage to be 12.7 when I parked it in the morning.

So, i am thinking that either the wiper motor is draining the battery or that other thing in the drain area. Could anyone tell me what it is, whether it always gets power and if it got wet (for a whole winter and submerged) whether drying it out would make the battery draining problem worse.

BTW I checked that the alternator was working in that when the engine is on the voltage goes up to about 14v. I don't have a big enough multimeter to cope with measuring current and pulling out all the fuses - can anyone suggest any ways to test things without buying more equipment?

Thanks all for any help

Andy

 

[Dcthebear]

Bit of a pickle to be sure! Firstly you have to get things as dry as possible. Kitchen towels to soak up and a hair drier to dry. Then you can start looking for where the water is getting in if you don't find it when drying. If water has got into the wiper motor then it would need to be removed, stripped down and dried, be cheaper to get one from a breakers or ebay. All electrical connectors will need drying and then treat them with a spray of electrical contact cleaner (about £5 from Halfords) this will help to banish any moisture on them. Don't forget to clean the cables too as water will reside between paired cables and under fixing clips. I'm not sure what the device is you were on about near the motor (photo would be great) but again dry it with a hair dryer and spray connectors with contact cleaner to start with. When all is cleaned, dried and treated, try the car again to see if you've resolved the problem, if not come back and we'll narrow it down.

 

[Andy1110]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I have since googled the serial numbers on that thing and found it to be the siren for the alarm. I have disconnected this as the connector for it was definitely submerged.

I will try and get everything dry and see what happens.

The water was getting in there because it is where water from the windscreen nornally goes to - the problem (one of them at least) was that it was not draining away due to the plastic drain bits being full to the brim with composted leaves or something. These can't have been cleaned out for years and the result was that I must've been driving round with small lake under my bonnet for months.

Anyway thanks again, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Andy

 

[Dcthebear]

No worries. If you have use of a garage to park it in overnight it world be a good idea and help the drying process along. Hope it works out.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

my money is on a knackered alternator, just because the alternator is able to produce 14v it needs some current to go with it, voltage regulator is obviously good so suspect a more internal problem with the Alt,

put some power in the battery with a charger, if the wipers and alarm work ok then no real reason to suspect they are at fault.

 

[Andy1110]

Hi,

This is still a problem.

The front wipers and siren were red herring with this draining battery.

I have put in a second hand starter motor and the car starts much more easily. Before it wouldn't necessarily start when the battery showed 12.4 volts, but now will start down to 12.2v. So that's progress.

But I have been measuring the battery voltage before and after driving. It charges up to 12.8-12.9 over 40 minutes but drains while I am in work and when parked overnight. I have been pulling fuses out and managed to get the voltage stable by removing two fuse - the sunroof fuse and the "heated seats" fuse. (Why is there a fuse for heated seated when I don;t have heated seats? And why is there a chunky wire going into the drivers seat from underneath if I don't have heated seats?)

Anyway, the battery voltage will remain stable until it rains! And then it goes down again quite quickly.

I looked where my newly cleaned out drains drip to and found a wire connected to nothing. It's got three cores and a plastic connector at the end. It seems like water drips onto the connector and draws current, thus draining the battery. I have jammed it up between two pipes and it has dried out and everything seems to have returned to normal (see pictures, before that is was down behind the engine). After moving the wire I think I have a stable battery even in the rain.

But what is this unused wire for? Is it for my imaginary heated seats? (Prob not as the heated seats fuse is out) Is there a fuse that I can remove for this?

Lastly, how can I investigate the sunroof current draw?

Any answers appreciated.

Thanks again,
Andy

 

[Ziggy122]

Right
I think that connector is for the Gearbox Speed Sensor, surprised you dont have a Power steering warning and no speedo?
Edit - looks like you have ABS - so its had a gearbox change by looks of it at some point
Anyway
The wiper have been left full of water - i suspect there shorting out internally - Disconnect and see if the battery drains overnight still

As for the battery voltage charging at only <13v, i suspect it isn't doing it job properly
And never recharged the battery properly

Also you can test a Draw by removing the Negative terminal off the battery and putting the battery terminal on a amp-meter or multimeter set to amps

So It goes battery clamp - Probe on multi-meter - Other probe on the battery terminal

As for testing the draw on the sunroof - you can test via the Fuse by using suitable connections - but i'd avoid if you can
Again unplug the wiring - see if the battery lasts overnight

and chunky wire under seats could for well be for airbags
Some punto's were lucky to have side airbags as well

i think HGT's might have heated seats? not sure tho

Ziggy

 

[Andy1110]

Hi Ziggy

Thanks for reply.

Speedo definately works and no warning for power steering- Gearbox Speed Sensor doesn't sound right to me. (I occasionally get a brake warning light, if that helps) EDIT Sorry, after trawling the forum, I see. The ELX has ABS which means that it doesn't have a gearbox speed sensor so there's a connector which doesn't do anything (except get wet).

Sorry perhaps I wasn't clear - the battery charges at 14v while the engine is on. After a 40 minutes run and engine is off the voltage has got up to 12.8 ish volts from where it steady goes down over the day (if it rains).

Yes, I've taken the sunroof fuse out and the situation is better - there were at least two draws: the sunroof (rain or shine) and this wire (in the rain only). What I meant was, if I want to use the sunroof how can I find why it is drawing current - otherwise I have to put the fuse in while I'm driving and remmeber to remove it when parked.

Thanks again

Andy