right, my saff 4x4 has developed a battery drain. i've fitted a new battery last week to start to eliminate the fault. i've noticed that if i remove a fuse, when ive got the meter on the battery, the drain reduces. as you look at the fuse box from the drivers side of the car its the left hand bank of fuses and the second one in from the drivers side. when i remove this fuse a yellow relay in the bottom right hand corner of the relays clicks out and when you replace the fuse the relay clicks in and stays in. also if i remove this fuse the central locking and the interior lights no longer work but if i remove the relay with the fuse left in everything works????
i don't know what any of these relays or fuses are for?
also ive noticed in the last few weeks the led for the standard alarm is no longer working?
and finally the footwell lights have never worked. i just assumed that they needed bulbs so last night fitted a bulb to the drivers side one and it worked but when i shut the door it stays on, and the passenger side one does too. could this be related to the fuse or the relay or could the whole thing be connected to a fault with the alarm control unit??

cheers

neil

 

That's the interior light relay and fuse 10 (20A)? (You can also hear the clicking by opening and closing a door, after a delay)

Check the radio as this also comes off the circuit, rather the constant live does and I can gurantee it's not a standard one either.

Martin

 

that relay is getting warm with everything switched off. and when i remove it the interior lights still work

 

Hmm but the fuse is what I said right?

The relay for the interior lights is a tall yellow one if it's a conventional square flat one the only other thing I can think is the cooling fans, can't remember without looking at my fusebox but thinking about it that might be the fan fuse if so it should be 15A, if it were anything to do with your fans the drain would be very fast.

Missed the bit about the footwell lights, yes they should work in conjunction with the interior lights I think, it sounds as if yours are wired independantly as I can't think why else they would be on all the time.

Martin

 

the relay is a tall yellow one and when i put the fuse back in it clicks in and stays in, but all the doors are closed and everything is turned off. is it a possiblity that if one of the footwell light was shorting to earth it could back feed the relay and keep it stuck in?

 

Yep as I say thats the interior light relay, for it to be getting warm I would suspect a short especially for the draw the lights have!

First I would remove the bulbs from footwell lights to see if this cures the problem you have then we can work from there.

Martin

 

right, i have cut both earths going to the footwell lights and the relay still stays in. could this be something to do with the alarm relay/unit? or possibly a door pin u/s??

 

Does the interior light stay on? If not then the switches are fine.

Martin

 

yes when i shut the doors with the interior light set to 20 second delay, it stays on

 

Oh rite haha I now know the light is staying on, so check the door switches first.

Martin

 

right checked all the switches and unplugged them all and the interior light is not switching itself off. is it worth running fresh earths? i gather the alarm won't be arming due to this fault

 

There must be a short, I woulden't go running earths anywhere, I would find where it is shorting.

If a door switch wasen't in the correct position then yes when you try to arm the alarm you will get beeps and the alarm would go off.

Does it go off if you remove the relay?

Martin

 

its just the standard ford alarm with the led on top of the dash. it was working the other week. i'm rubbish with electrics. i've just bought another ford alarm control relay off ebay to try

 

The alarm should still arm with the doors being "open", ie sensing a earth, if this is wired through a relay merely keeping the relay hot(live) is enough to drain the battery, have you checked the boot lite, or is this not connected into the interior circuit on the 4wd ?
Either way the earth that is supposed to be momentary is permanently earthed out, and causing the int lites issue.
tabetha

 

is the tall yellow relay in the fuse box a timed relay? i thought if the alarm relay senses that the interior light is on maybe by a short earth from a door switch then it will think the door is open. the alarm only works by locking the door as its the factory one. the boot light goes out ok. i'm guessing its a short earth from a front door switch as when you put a bulb in the footwell lights they stay on permanently and the only way i could stop them is to cut the earth from both footwell lights but this did not cure my other problems

 

I assumed you had an aftermarket alarm, I don't have it on mine as 2WD so don't know about the Ford alarm but defo if you opened a door with it armed the alarm would sound as it would simulate a break in.

The bootlight is independant of the interior lighting and if there were a problem with it, it would not make the interior lights stay on.

To stop the drain you need to temporarily remove the fuse although this will also stop the central locking from working and the electric mirrors.

Basically the earth from the lights has shorted to earth someone, it could be a faulty door switch I.E jammed closed (So the switch is in the open position) I would disconnect each switch one by one and see if the light extinguishes.

Yes the tall relay has a timer built in, this relay is for the courtesy delay side.

Martin

 

thanks martin, ive tried to see if there are any obvious shorts, i have removed all of the switches from the doors and still no joy. so the question is where do i go next? i can remove the fuse for the time being. what exactly does that tall yellow relay do then?

 

The tall yellow relay provides the courtesy delay for the lighting, if it is removed the lights shouldn't light at all, the relay may have jammed?

Martin