Battery goes flat over night + Fuel Gauge doesn't work.

Hi, just got myself a 99 Hijet 1.3efi duel fuel and the battery drains over night. Is this a common one or has anyone got any pointers?
My second most important problem to fix is the fuel gauge. I guess this is a common one as I tried to get a fuel tank sender off a van at the breakers yard and the earth cable was rotted through. Haven't actually looked at mine yet but guess it will be the same.
My local dealer seems to be useless, Is there any source for these online or are they fitted to any other of the Daihatsu range?

battery draining is a bad connection somewhere..
earth wires can be created and put to any clean part of the frame. a bad earth can cause all sorts!

Hi I picked up some spare parts from a member who broke his van before leaving the country I have a fuel sender and negative earth battery lead (amongst other things that I really must sort out and list on here) which are both free to members I would only want the postage covered or you can collect if you are local enough.

rich the mechanic wrote:Hi I picked up some spare parts from a member who broke his van before leaving the country I have a fuel sender and negative earth battery lead (amongst other things that I really must sort out and list on here) which are both free to members I would only want the postage covered or you can collect if you are local enough.

That sounds amazing Rich, I'm in Norfolk so guess postage would be easiest. Send me a PM and hopefully that will mean I won't run out of fuel. If you've got a O/S rear lamp too i'd happily slip you a few quid.

Cheers

Hi I do have a rear lamp but will have to dig it out and see which side it is. We will be up at bikerfest uk in just over a month which is mildenhall if thats any good but once I find the lamp I'll work out what the post is.

lol.. i am based in Mildenhall.
lol at van parts at bikerfest... ya know i still dont have a bike auto jumble!... have a van one instead

I am the lacky when it comes to most shows I do all the heavy lifting and driving then do the running about so if I had to nip out to hand over some parts then it wouldn't have been a prob but a jumble would be good you should think about one for next season LOL

had one last year, weird guy who owned it. i like finding local traders to the show (east anglia-ish). BMF auto jumble only had 17 traders!

Bump!

Got a similar problem. Mine also discharges during use - lights getting gradually dimmer etc.

The earth connection from the -ve looks fine though.

The battery (45ah Bosch) has K4 in big letters on it - does this mean its from October 2004 - I can't find anything resembling a date indicator anywhere else on it.

There was some dodgy DIY to install a stereo which may be the culprit - wondering if anyone can spot anything with the wiring and how this has been wired in before I take the dash and off and start tracing...

With stereo:

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Without stereo:

i would definetley see if it still does it without the stereo in. Have you got any other aftermarket things fitted such as an alarm? They are another main culprit.

There's nothing else after market fitted - unless the previous owner has it well concealed.
Have chucked a new 62ah battery in to see if it drains.
Indicator relay had a slight wobble with the new battery but seems fine now.
Everything else electrical is working fine.

Stereos can drain the battery, this is because of the memory feed which needs a permanent live but also some times stereos forget to put themselves into sleep mode, drains the battery even quicker.
If I have a drain I disconnect the battery live, use an electric meter on amps setting and connect the leads to the battery live and the cable, then start removing fuses one by one until it drops, if that doesnt work then work your way round the vehicle unplugging items one by one until it drops.

i agree with ldv.tek the only way too definatly find the prob is do an amps draw test as described

hope you find the prob

Hey, find your mystery load.

On the battery live terminal there are 2 small wires, and 1 thick on.

Keep you ammeter wired in on the battery ground ...... then disconnect each of the thin wires, and the thick starter feed wire.

Then you will know which sub system the drain is effecting.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully get time to test this weekend. I left the stereo disconnected and there is no sign of the battery running down so far.

The MM I ordered turned out to be faulty. Just received the replacement. So far battery is holding up just fine without the stereo installed so guess that was it but will be doing more tests when I get chance.

With the stereo still out of the vehicle and a new working MM I have checked the battery voltage.
I got just under 12.5v without engine, with engine running it was 11.4 and dropping. Cleaned the earth from battery connection and got 12.4v with engine running but it slowly drops by 0.01v every 10 seconds or so.

So I need to check earths and the alternator. I can't find the engine earth and can't tell from the manual where it should be. Also can't find any instructions for testing the alternator that I can follow. The workshop manual says insert mm into terminal F. I can't see where terminal F is.

I will see if I can do amps test per above advice to give a better idea of which circuit the drain is from - are the above instructions with engine running or not?

Can anyone help with easy instructions for testing the alt and finding the engine earth?

Noticed a slight smell of burning rubber after start up and the belt looks a little slack - noticeable wobble but it still looks like its going round.

Could this be it?

With engine running you should be getting 13 to 13.5 volts.

I would say your alternator/charging circuit is buggered.

The lead on top of the alternator under the rubber boot is how it charges the battery.

And that belt is buggered too.

Got down underneath and found the connection just above the oil filter (oil level sensor?) was still connected but had been fixed somewhere with a metal bolt which had snapped off - you can see it in one of the pics. This was bouncing off the drive belt and rubbing on it intermittently - hence the burning smell. Fixed it up with a tie clip and replaced the drive belt and now getting 12.5v with engine off and 13.5v running with everything on.

Now just need to sort the oil sump cover and can get on with the important stuff like fitting a fluffy steering wheel cover.



What I don't get is why the battery indicator lamp didn't come on?
It works - shows when turning key and goes off when started.

Getting 12.5 with the engine off is almost impossible.

I would suggest your multimeter is out of calibration.

So you may not be actually getting 13.5v with the engine running.

But you should be!

Hi I have a similar problem with my battery van drives 2-3 days then the battery is drained I could drive and turn engine on one minute then nothing I have a new fan belt to be fitted and am hoping this solves my problem as sometimes in the wet the fan belt squeals.this van has cost me a lot of pennies from when I got it and I love it but is it worth keeping.

If it keeps doing it deb, here are some pointers:-

Starter motor isn't working properly, I have seen this with a few vehicles that randomly go flat.

The little wires on the positive battery connector are corroded.

You alternator is breaking down inside.

Thankyou belts fitted starting fine wait a couple of days see how it goes.fingers crossed.there are are 2 in scrappy in kircaldy I bought some seats bumper another headlight and that so might get alternator and anything else I may need.got the whole lot for £60 so got a bargain don't want to get rid as it's great to drive and cheap on petrol but thanks again xx