I woke up today and my battery had died, and i only bought it on friday last week. Now i know ive got an earthing problem somewhere,

Heres whats happening.

When my lights are on, and i stick the car into reverse my rear lights fade alot and the fog light button lights up, even tho it isnt on.

Also my rear screan heater button is constantly lit even when the cars off and the keys are out.

Another thing is when im driving about and i got the heaters on and the lights on basically putting the battery under load, the battery light on my instrument panel is faintly lighting up.


HELP PLEASE !!

 

try disconnecting the rear lights from the multiplug and see if you still get the same problems?

The light units are well known to cause earth problems.

 

Seems that might be my problem, ive had a look and the connections look like theyve rusted together, ill get a wire brush on it and hope that sorts the damn things out.

 

i had a lot of grief from my rear lights, spent plenty of time trying to clean them up but found the best opition was to buy new bulb holders and connector plugs

 

Yer i think thats my best option, where can i get the part from, new ?

 

they are about 4 quid brand new from fords

 

also try looking at the alternator. I have a similar problem with my S2. I think when the one way diode goes in the back of the alternator it charges the battery under load but dissapates the load when it is standing, worth trying for a Ł40 alternator.

Also try getting a voltmeter so you can work out if you are charging properly.

 

Right ive found out that the light fitting isnt my problem. i left it unplugged over night and the damn thing still run down. Something else ive noticed is the heated rear window light is contantly on even when the cars off and keys are out of the ignition.

 

Firstly the battery light porblem is not right, even if it was the back lights it should never be glowing while driving.

What car is it?

 

Series 2 escort rs turbo

 

Have you done anything recently at all wiring related? And do you have an alarm/immobiliser?

 

havent touched the wiring, and ive got an immobiliser, the problems progressed it used to run down if i left it for about 5 days, but now it happens over night

 

Ok, first thing i would do is get a multi meter and connect it inline to get a current draw reading. (Without a doubt though, if the rear heated screen light is constantly illuminated then the rear heated screen is ON), and firstly unplug the rear heated screen relay, you will probably find that the reading drops very low then, you will always have a small reading due to the immobiliser.

The rear heated screen fault could be a number of things, at a guess the relay had welded its contacts together, or there is also a possibility one of the door looms has developed a fault inside and you are getting a backfeed through that (heated mirrors being controlled by the heated rear window).

As for the alternator fault, ideally you want to try and at least kill the other faults (if you are not able to fix them) so you can at least check all the basic charging circuits. Check the thin blue wire on the alternator for dry/poor/broken connections, and also inspect the main charging cable that runs to the starter, its quite common for it to break down over the years, the fact the bulb is glowing shows a very slight difference in potential between the ignition and charging circuits.

 

Where can i find the relay for the heated rear screen please ?

 

Its in the fusebox, now i always forget this, but im sure its the grey one with R on the top, if not its the red one (which im sure is the wiper delay relay), you could just pull both out. To be honest though you may well pull the relay out and find the light is still on. Are you going to try it now?

 

Took it out and this is what i found. Do you think its causing the problem ?

 

More than likely.......did that one kill the light?

 

yep that killed the light, and hopefully the draining problem too, ill let you know - thanks for ur help so far

 

No problem

You will probably find the contacts have welded themselves together like i said

Have you got a spare relay?

 

No i havent got a spare relay, i think ill probably replace the whole thing the fuse holder and all the fuses just to be sure i dont get any other problems in there.

 

I dont mean it rudely........but good luck

The fuseboxes are part of the loom and aren't meant to come apart, you can disassemble them but i personally would shudder at the though, you would have to pull each individual connection out and re-fit to a new one.....wires everywhere.

Jam a relay in and see how it goes. Ive got a spare if it helps you out?

 

How much u want for it mate, have you got the one that controls the fans and all too, i think its the yellow one, on the right 2nd row down.

 

Whatever really mate, they're not worth much to be fair are they Yeah ive got the yellow ones aswell. Just whatever really im not going to miss them