2003 406 hdi(110) estate flat battery everyday help need to

[macx86]

hi i have a 2003 hdi thats got a mind of it own and wants to flatten the battery. this started happening after we had bad snow. i have a new battery had the alternator tested.once i start the car i can drive it for 5 to 10 minutes and turn it of and then it starts 1st time but leave it over night out side my house and part different place i,e on the road every parking bay in our car park and the next day its flat again when i got the car oct 2010 it had faults on the dash and i cleaned the wire loom by the driver site and no more faults.looking to find if any water is coming in but have not seen any yet what could i look at to find out why the battery going flat

[Gary406]

was it a brand new battery that you replaced the old one with ?

it sounds like a battery fault to me ..

[steve_earwig]

Sounds like a stuck relay to me. Top of the list would be an after-market stereo. Does anything stay on when you turn the car off and open a door? Apart from courtesy lights of course... The surest way of sorting this would be to measure the drain on the battery and pull fuses until it stops. Then you know which circuit to look at.

[macx86]

yes it was a brand new battery that i replaced the old one . they both work good in the 406 t.d 1.9 glx so some thing to do with the hdi . no after-market stereo or any thing add not even a tow bar nothing stay on when i turn the car off and open a door? Apart from courtesy lights of course... (The surest way of sorting this would be to measure the drain on the battery and pull fuses until it stops.)i have to get a volt meter then i will try this. (Sounds like a stuck relay to me)the i have to find if it a relay thank you so far for the info.

[grasmere59]

This is probably not the same but apart from my hdi i have a 5 series BMW and it was flattening a perfectly good battery overnight and it turned out to be the heater blower,somehow the final stage resistor for the climate control shorting out and bringing the blower on when no one was in the car hence the flat battery every morning,i'm not sure if the 406 has a similar heater resistor but try pulling the heater blower fuse overnight and see,a long shot i know but my BMW had exactly the same symtoms as your HDI

[petedes]

Hi,

I had a very similar problem with my 406 hdi 90 taxi last year, which cost me a new alternator and several other cheaper items which fail to fix things.

It finally turned out to be the heater plug relay was sticking, this apparently remains live even after you switch off the
ignition, (maybe a french thing) anyway this cured my problem and hopefully will sort yours if you haven't already done so.

regards,
petedes

[macx86]

still having flat battery. got some tools of my dad to use so when the rain stops for five min i will have a look at the car thank you all for the in put so far i notice the the back wiper dont work so going to test that wiring loom out 1st

[macx86]

still having flat battery. got some tools of my dad to use so when the rain stops for five min i will have a look at the car thank you all for the in put so far i notice the the back wiper dont work so going to test that wiring loom out 1st

[Gary406]

did the back wiper work at some point ?

[macx86]

been working on the hdi today still try to get the back wiper to work (never work for day one of owing it )been testing the car by turning the heater off before turning the car off. still flat battery then i turn the automatic head lights off and for a week it been good starts 1st time (now i said this it will be flat again) so it must be some thing along the auto headlights.

[Gary406]

try removing the fuse for the auto headlights and leave it overnight see if that makes betetry go flat . ??

[macx86]

have to find the hand book out or the haynes car manuals to find out what fuse it is and i will have to look at what relays are on the auto head light side of the wiring loom.

[Gary406]

make n new post im sure sum1 on here will have a haynes for your car and they will tell you ..

[steve_earwig]

The dip beam headlamps should be 9 & 10 in the engine fuse box (11 & 12 are the mains).

[djp30djp]

Simplest way to find out if it's the battery is to take the terminal off when you park it up, then re connect it in the morning.
If it starts battery OK ,If not battery faulty.
If the battery is OK the next suspect is an alternator fault. Try the same technique for that i.e disconect the alternator overnight.