Club 80-90 Forums

Having returned from a week away with work I thought it wise to start the van and maybe take her out for a drive. After trying a number of times to start her she just wouldnt turn. It seemed the battery had somehow lost the charge. After charging it she did start first time however, some 4-5 hrs later I planned to taker for a drive and noticed the washer fuze had blown again (2nd time this month) so after replacing the fuze low and behold she wont start.
Any ideas?
It had a full electrics check about 2 months ago so im pretty confident it wired up ok

maybe washer switch in the stalk, pump motor or wiring to it is knakered. See if there is a small spark when you take the earth strap off the battery and touch it to the negative battery terminal breifly, then remove each fuse in turn to see what's draining the battery, start with the washer pump fuse first if suspect. Or your battery or alternator may have had it.

Hacksawbob wrote:maybe washer switch in the stalk, pump motor or wiring to it is knakered. See if there is a small spark when you take the earth strap off the battery and touch it to the negative battery terminal breifly, then remove each fuse in turn to see what's draining the battery, start with the washer pump fuse first if suspect. Or your battery or alternator may have had it.

Excellent thanks, just removed bty to charge again will also remove fuzes and replace 1 by 1 until I find the fault but got a sneaky suspicion its the washer motor which I also replaced 4 weeks ago.....

It seems when I replace the washer motor fuse it blows straight away and drains the charge from the bty any ideas why this is happening?

sean384 wrote:It seems when I replace the washer motor fuse it blows straight away and drains the charge from the bty any ideas why this is happening?

If the fuse blows straight away it can't then drain the battery can it

Do one thing at a time. I recommend you check your battery first (leave the fuse out of the washer fuse holder for now) Checking the battery is easy. First disconnect it and charge it up overnight with a domestic charger. In the morning disconnect the charger and measure the voltage. It should read about 13.2 volts, or a bit above. Leave the battery not connected to anything. After about 2 hours measure it again. It should now be between 12.6 and 12.9 volts. Make a note of this reading. Now leave the battery until at least late evening or even better the following morning, then take a reading again. If it has dropped more than .2 of a volt from the last reading then the battery is almost certainly past it's best and at this time of year should be replaced. It's worth remembering that any battery that has been allowed to go flat will already have been quite badly impaired.

Then check the vans "charging circuit" by firing up the engine, going for a ten minute (or more) drive, then with the engine still running but no lights or heater etc switched on, measure the voltage on the battery. It should be between 13.8 to 14.2 volts. If it is less than this your voltage regulator on the alternator is the next suspect.

Let us know.

Then "we" can look at why the washer fuse blows, I take it it does this straight away, or does it do it when you operate the washers ?

^^what he said^^ then check wiring to the washer pump or the pump itself is damaged and earthing somewhere. you need to trace the wiring for signs of damage including the stalk on the steering wheel also pssibly the intermitent wash wipe relay. No easy way to do it I'm afraid, Disconect the negative strap to the battery and start removing the fuse panel so you can look at the rear, hopefully melted arear will be obvious, after that get the wiring diagram out and start tracing wires or hand it over to someone who can.

ghost123uk wrote:

sean384 wrote:It seems when I replace the washer motor fuse it blows straight away and drains the charge from the bty any ideas why this is happening?

If the fuse blows straight away it can't then drain the battery can it

Do one thing at a time. I recommend you check your battery first (leave the fuse out of the washer fuse holder for now) Checking the battery is easy. First disconnect it and charge it up overnight with a domestic charger. In the morning disconnect the charger and measure the voltage. It should read about 13.2 volts, or a bit above. Leave the battery not connected to anything. After about 2 hours measure it again. It should now be between 12.6 and 12.9 volts. Make a note of this reading. Now leave the battery until at least late evening or even better the following morning, then take a reading again. If it has dropped more than .2 of a volt from the last reading then the battery is almost certainly past it's best and at this time of year should be replaced. It's worth remembering that any battery that has been allowed to go flat will already have been quite badly impaired.

Then check the vans "charging circuit" by firing up the engine, going for a ten minute (or more) drive, then with the engine still running but no lights or heater etc switched on, measure the voltage on the battery. It should be between 13.8 to 14.2 volts. If it is less than this your voltage regulator on the alternator is the next suspect.

Let us know.

Then "we" can look at why the washer fuse blows, I take it it does this straight away, or does it do it when you operate the washers ?

Cheers will give it a go. The fuse blows as soon as the engine is started....