New Battery Keeps going Flat

[BetterCallPaul]

Hi Folks,
I am looking for a bit of advice with my 93 T4 Cali. I've too separate issues that I would like to get some input on before I go to my mechanic in case someone has had something similar.

Battery - a few weeks ago I let me niece and nephew play around in the van, and they switched on the lights and left them on. This drained the battery which I was able to jump start. But I got a new battery as it was old anyway. Now the new battery also goes flat if the van is parked up and not moving longer than 1 day.
I've had to disconnect it each night in order for it to start, otherwise it requires a jump. There are no lights left on and the leisure battery still charges fine.
Does anyone have any idea of why a new battery would go flat even when no lights are on? Or could it be not the battery but the alternator?

Coolant level - the coolant level keeps dropping and goes from Max to Min level in about 3-4 weeks. The temperature gauge is new, and it never seems to run hot or go above 100 despite the low level. At the moment its at the min level, but I cannot open the tank and I don;t want to do it myself in case I damage the threads.
There is no obvious coolant leaking but it has to be going somewhere. Has anyone had this happen with their van where the coolant seems to disappear but with no obvious leaks?

As mentioned, I do plan to bring it to a mechanic but I am always curious to see if others had similar problems before and what the cause was.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[sidepod]

Hi Folks,
I am looking for a bit of advice with my 93 T4 Cali. I've too separate issues that I would like to get some input on before I go to my mechanic in case someone has had something similar.

Battery - a few weeks ago I let me niece and nephew play around in the van, and they switched on the lights and left them on. This drained the battery which I was able to jump start. But I got a new battery as it was old anyway. Now the new battery also goes flat if the van is parked up and not moving longer than 1 day.
I've had to disconnect it each night in order for it to start, otherwise it requires a jump. There are no lights left on and the leisure battery still charges fine.
Does anyone have any idea of why a new battery would go flat even when no lights are on? Or could it be not the battery but the alternator?

Coolant level - the coolant level keeps dropping and goes from Max to Min level in about 3-4 weeks. The temperature gauge is new, and it never seems to run hot or go above 100 despite the low level. At the moment its at the min level, but I cannot open the tank and I don;t want to do it myself in case I damage the threads.
There is no obvious coolant leaking but it has to be going somewhere. Has anyone had this happen with their van where the coolant seems to disappear but with no obvious leaks?

As mentioned, I do plan to bring it to a mechanic but I am always curious to see if others had similar problems before and what the cause was.

Thanks,
Paul

Battery first. Unfortunately it’s impossible to diagnose this from just a post here.
If the bin lids were playing in the van I’d check the interior lights, are they still on after you’ve closed up?
There is no magic bullet for something like this.
If you’re handy with a multimeter then connect the ammeter in series with the battery to see what it’s drawing. YouTube is your friend as ever.
After that, check the (mili) voltdrop across every fuse till you find which circuit is loaded.
You’ll need to do this with the door open so snap the latch shut to fool it into thinking the door is closed. It’s an old van so it shouldn’t need to be left to doze off. Again YouTube is good. Time consuming yet strangely therapeutic.
Once/if you find the culprit circuit then it should be easy (ha ha) to find the problem.

Regards cooling. Check the oil for emulsion. Look inside the oil filler. If there is emulsion then it could be head gasket. Other than that, get under it and check for leaks. Check carpets inside.
Again, old van, not too complicated.

Good luck and report back when it’s sorted.

 

[dspuk]

Just some thoughts that pop to mind. Did you fully charge the battery before fitting? If it’s draining overnight when connected there must be a draw somewhere. That is the fault finding fun. It could be a light, the radio or any number of other things. I suspect it’s not related to the kids tbh, unless they left a light on you cannot find.

For coolant - what colour is your exhaust gas and/or is your oil runnier/going up? If there is no obvious leak but it’s going down then it’s leaking internally. So this could be being burnt as exhaust gas if the leak is close to combustion, or contaminating the oil well if the leak is there. It’s usually a head gasket issue, but could be an bigger and more expensive engine fault.

An engine burning water will have white smoke.

 

[flying banana]

Is it possible the new battery is a dud? If theres no obvious drain,Take it back and change it

 

[BetterCallPaul]

Battery first. Unfortunately it’s impossible to diagnose this from just a post here.
If the bin lids were playing in the van I’d check the interior lights, are they still on after you’ve closed up?
There is no magic bullet for something like this.
If you’re handy with a multimeter then connect the ammeter in series with the battery to see what it’s drawing. YouTube is your friend as ever.
After that, check the (mili) voltdrop across every fuse till you find which circuit is loaded.
You’ll need to do this with the door open so snap the latch shut to fool it into thinking the door is closed. It’s an old van so it shouldn’t need to be left to doze off. Again YouTube is good. Time consuming yet strangely therapeutic.
Once/if you find the culprit circuit then it should be easy (ha ha) to find the problem.

Regards cooling. Check the oil for emulsion. Look inside the oil filler. If there is emulsion then it could be head gasket. Other than that, get under it and check for leaks. Check carpets inside.
Again, old van, not too complicated.

Good luck and report back when it’s sorted.

Hey thanks for the advice,
regarding the battery issue. I am certain there is no lights on. I've tripped checked it and all the switches are in the correct position and the whole thing is dark at night. So if there is something left on, its not immediately visable. What did drain the original battery was that they left the indicator arm pointing down, which in that model of van switches on a parking light on the drivers side when the key is out of the ignition. Strangely enough while the engine battery was always draining, the leisure battery never dropped much at all. So this makes me think it is something in the cab that is draining it.
Unfortunately, I don't have a multimeter and would not really know how to use it anyway, so I am waiting to get some time with a mechanic who can check it out.

On the coolant topic. If I unscrew the oil filter will a lot of oil spill out or just a small bit. I am parked up on the road outside a neighbours house at the moment and I would not want to leave any oil stains near their driveway?

Looking at the dipstick, it does seem to me that the oil is normal looking , obviously quite dirty being a diesel, but no signs of the milky/brown stuff that is explained in this post.
I' have not noticed any leaks underneath, and it was serviced about 3 months ago and the temp gauge was changed so they did not say anything about leaks back then.

Is it a bad sign that the coolant cap seems to be stuck and won;t come off?

 

[BetterCallPaul]

Is it possible the new battery is a dud? If theres no obvious drain,Take it back and change it

I don't think so. The guy who sold it to me is dead sound and he tested it before he sold it to me.
It also did not take too long to jump start (the old one was 25 minutes of waiting) and has not been a problem working after being jumped, so I don't think it is the battery.

 

[BetterCallPaul]

Just some thoughts that pop to mind. Did you fully charge the battery before fitting? If it’s draining overnight when connected there must be a draw somewhere. That is the fault finding fun. It could be a light, the radio or any number of other things. I suspect it’s not related to the kids tbh, unless they left a light on you cannot find.

For coolant - what colour is your exhaust gas and/or is your oil runnier/going up? If there is no obvious leak but it’s going down then it’s leaking internally. So this could be being burnt as exhaust gas if the leak is close to combustion, or contaminating the oil well if the leak is there. It’s usually a head gasket issue, but could be an bigger and more expensive engine fault.

An engine burning water will have white smoke.

The one thing that I know for sure the kids left on was the indicator arm. Which meant a front and back parking light was left on , on the drivers side only. So I'm pretty sure that this is what caused the old battery to drain. I could not see any other light either inside or outside the van that was on, and the radio was also off, so I'm baffled at what it could be. But as you and sidepod have said, there must be something that is training it.
I'm waiting on my mechanic to fit me to hopefully check it out and he might be able to see what it is wrong.

As for the coolant, I don't notice any issue with the exhaust fumes. There is always a good bit when starting off, but when its running its not more that it was usual.

your the second person who mentioned a head gasket issue, so I will ask the mechanic if he believes this could be the reason. The problem I have at the moment is finding someone who takes it in.

I appreciate your suggestions. I'll post an update here once I get some news.

 

[pluc99]

Strangely enough while the engine battery was always draining, the leisure battery never dropped much at all. So this makes me think it is something in the cab that is draining it.

That is the way it is designed, the current flows from the alternator to the leisure batteries to charge them, but the current is prevented by a current isolator from going in the reverse direction from the leisure batteries.

There is also a current isolator (diode?) that regulates the direction of current from the alternator to the main battery to prevent it from flowing backwards. This could be your culprit.

 

[sidepod]

Don’t unscrew the oil filter, they’re very messy given where they are and how the fit.

Coolant cap can be a nightmare.

Regards head gasket, any half decent bolty will carry out a sniff test on the coolant to confirm head gasket fail.

 

[Polomint]

Is there a light in the glove box? Got something jammed in once and that drained the battery, kids love playing with things that open and close