poster 42 beat me to it. when my wifes car ( many years ago) drained it's battery every freakin weekend, 3 North Shore Auto Electricians and the AA couldn't find the fault at $75 a time, Was recommended to try Milford Auto guys ( I was close to suicidal at this stage or setting the car on fire) and got outstanding reception, and attention and they found it and fixed it in 2 days and a very reasonable price, they were highly efficient and very professional in all my dealings with them. Support them - they deserve it.
trade4us2,
Jul 18, 8:42pm
How hard can it be to find why a battery is going flat? I'd be using a data logger to record the current over a long term.
tel4,
Jul 20, 9:12pm
Yes KSM were good. I have to seriously disagree with whoever recommended the TOY SHOP. I my experience they should stick to what their name states. Says it all.
The only other Independent Jag outfit that i have experience with is BEACHAMS and they are pretty good. Having said that, Archies (now Giltrap) can be just as cost effective as they tend to spend less time on a given job if they are both using OEM parts. Beachams often will use good aftermarket parts when appropriate tho so sometimes considerably cheaper.
trade4us2,
Jul 20, 10:19pm
I might check out Beachams. Not that there's anything wrong, but maybe the gearbox oil needs changing.
thejazzpianoma,
Jul 20, 10:46pm
Not usually hard at all, very rarely would I resort to a data logger. Does the car ever come down Tauranga way? I would love to take a look at it.
trade4us2,
Jul 20, 11:18pm
The car was held at a mechanic for a month until they detected the unwanted GPS turning on by itself and flattening the battery. I still reckon that putting a meter in the circuit and taking the fuses out one by one may have found it.
thejazzpianoma,
Jul 20, 11:23pm
I didn't read all the thread, sounds like you have solved it then?
BTW, a good auto sparky wouldn't necessarily take the fuses out to test them, unless perhaps they were locating a tiny draw.
A good quality meter will detect the voltage drop across the fuse which makes for very speedy testing and that's how I do it.
Pretty much I look at the total draw from the battery first, if that is deemed high enough to cause a problem I test the non fused links first and then move on to the fuses. It's very rare to find a draw that doesn't appear until long after the car is turned off so that method works almost every time.
Incidentally, I don't always have an amp clamp with me. If this is the case I just use the voltage drop over the negative lead to the alternator to determine whether the alternator is drawing current. Likewise, I can use a similar method to determine what the total draw is. I usually just use the interior light or some such to do my calibration.
trade4us2,
Jul 20, 11:50pm
Yes, it's not my car and I see it only every few months. I think there was a weird after-market GPS put in it overseas that was supposed to be disconnected but wasn't. When it was in certain locations it heard a signal and turned on and flattened the battery. I was told that there was a 4 amp current flowing all the time then I was told it was intermittent. I was told that the agents imported a new Varta battery for the car. It probably didn't need that.
pauldw,
Nov 17, 5:57pm
Searching for jag s type battery drain faults brings up a microswitch in the ignition switch not always switching accessories off when key removed. Supposedly common fault.
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