BMG

Hi All,

I have a problem that I just cant figure out. My fuse box in my 93 MK5 escort was knackered. I got a second hand one which turned out to be even worse. When I put it in, I lost all electrics completely(it was exactly the same box). In the end I fixed the original one as it was only the lights that were playing up. When I put my original box back in everything worked except the boot release. No issue I thought. A few days later I went to use the car and the battery was flat completely dead. I charged it (in the process the charger died). I used the car over the weekend after I got the car going and again today I went to use it and completely dead again. last night I was doing some trouble shooting and I noticed that the draw on the battery was 2amps, which is huge. when I pulled the alarm/central locking/electrics fuse the draw went to basically zero. Something within the alarm or locking mechanism is drawing current. When I changed the fuse box the boot would not latch shut, which was odd. Now it latches. When I unplugged the connector in the boot that connects with the copper pins the draw went to a stable 40milliamps. That was last night, but as mentioned above the battery is dead flat again. Could the boot latch system be draining the battery somehow?? Its def something with the locking/alarm system but I dont know what. Either that or the battery is just completely knackered.

Anyone got any ideas on how to test the boot mech? and what it might be. Its driving me nuts.

Also I just tried to charge the battery with a brand new charger and the fuse blew instantly. maybe the battery is just so far gone that it cant hold a charge for more than 2 days. Currently the voltage is 7V.

Hope all that made sense!

Cheers

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like the boot release solenoid is permanently live as if you are holding your finger on the switch? Have you tried disconnecting the switch and seeing what happens?

BMG

update on this - found that the problem is that the boot release motor is getting a constant live feed from the alarm module (so would appear from the wiring diagram). it was constantly in the open position. when I was looking at the mechanism tonight I noticed that the motor was very hot.I took a voltage reading and hey presto, it was getting a constant feed. I checked the switch up front using a continuity test - it is working fine, so its not that. For the mean time I have unpluged the boot motor and draw on the new battery is next to nothing. Now to find why the hell the feed from the alarm module is not cutting out!