Club 80-90 Forums

Crisnsatch wrote:The only thing that is permanently on in the van is the digital USB charger he put in place of the normal cigarette lighter socket. It always has a voltage reading on the display. That and the digital clock of course.

remove that it will be drawing power.

New battery on, didn't get any readings of parasitic draw. Unhooked the USB charger that had been fitted in place of cigarette lighter. Nothing else drawing from vehicle. Thought it was cured... Yippee... Got full headlights back and horn.... BUT.... Turned off and on again, back to square 1, no main / dipped beam and no horn. Taken off top of dash over the speedo etc. All wiring looks OK to headlight switch. Gave it a wiggle, all nice and tight etc. Bit weird how it's always main beam and horn at the same time and everything else works. Temp gauge still only moved a couple mm but haven't taken it for a run yet. Flummoxed

Hang on is it starting reliably now?

if so you are not back to square 1

I told you these other faults are not battery related but you can't really start to fix them if you have a flat battery and can't start it.

Test again for parasitic current there must be some, does your meter have different ranges or is it auto ranging? you may have to switch to a lower current setting to read 100mA

of use a good old 21w bulb and a bit of wire to connect the neg connectio on the bttery to the earth strap, the brighter it glows the bigger the drain, no glow, no drain.

Will have another crack tomorrow. Was gutted, it was all working lovely then packed up again. At least it starts all the time now with the new battery. Will try another parasitic test. Hope I was doing it right... Probably not knowing me

Well be positive you have fixed a big problem, next to move on.

the reason I bang on about the parasitic test is because you need to be sure it won't keep going flat again and ruining your new battery.

we can help you with the other faults one by one, sounds like an intermittent connection to me.

you can flash your lights with ignition off check this works?

it is a different feed that does not go through the ignition switch or lighting switch see if this works reliably.

being an 84 it probably has the early fusebox yes?

And do your side lights/ tail lights work?

itchyfeet wrote:And do your side lights/ tail lights work?

Yes, not blade fuses, it has the ones with the thin wire strip. All other lights work. Side lights, which it stays on when trying main and full beam. Dash lights, tail lights, interior lights, hazards and fog lights all work. Wipers work, heater works. Have unhooked the USB charger thing that was a replacement for cigarette lighter, so no draw there and I have no other electrical equipment in the van. No stereo or anything?

My money is on the Light switch but could be the stalk, check the flash with ignition off.

Could be the fuse connections too if one headlight was on and not the other ( different fuses each side ) but sounds like they are coming and going together so probably not that.

Horn separate issue

itchyfeet wrote:My money is on the Light switch but could be the stalk, check the flash with ignition off.

Could be the fuse connections too if one headlight was on and not the other ( different fuses each side ) but sounds like they are coming and going together so probably not that.

Horn separate issue

Horn separate issue but the main and full beam loss happens at same time as horn loss? And has done each time. Very strange... Annoying as we really want to use the van but I dare not drive it with these issues.

mmm interesting I'm thinking maybe ignition switch which can't handle the load, all the other lights are low load.

If you are happy to hot wire it to by pass ignition switch I can PM you how?

easy to do

itchyfeet wrote:mmm interesting I'm thinking maybe ignition switch which can't handle the load, all the other lights are low load.

If you are happy to hot wire it to by pass ignition switch I can PM you how?

easy to do

Sounds a bit beyond my competence to be honest. I will try the flash without ignition tomorrow plus another parasitic test. Everything worked fine until the battery started dying and I had to jump start it the last few times. I'm hoping I haven't fried or shorted something with a the jump starting.

Crisnsatch wrote:
Sounds a bit beyond my competence to be honest.

no it's really, really easy, which is why I won't say on an open forum, main flash with ignition off bypasses ignition switch so yes test it to help prove the theory. Also check if the sidelights dim when you press the horn or put main beams on?