How to find the cause for an slow draining battery
How many times have you let your Land Rover sit for a few days and find out it has a drained battery? There could be two causes...each which have an easy fix (some more expensive than others).
There are usually two causes of a dead battery in a Land Rover that occurs when the truck has been siting a while.
- A bad battery
- A slow drain
A bad battery can be easily checked by taking it to your local battery/parts dealer and have then check it with a load tester. If it fails, that is your problem and will cost few dollars to get it fixed (ie: purchase a new battery).
If your battery checks out fine, the only other cause could be a slow drain. In short, somethig is left on and draining your battery over time. To check this, first disconnect the positive battery terminal. Now connect some type of device to let you know that there is a load on the system. This could be a test light, a buzzer, or a ammeter. Clamp one end to the positive battery terminal and the other end the battery cable. If you have a drain, it should register on your device (the light will glow, the buzzer will buzz, the ammeter will not be 0).
If it does not show a drain, well this article will not help. If it does, you need to find the source of the drain. Keep in mind that a drain of a few watts, etc is ok. The first step is to start disconnecting fuses. You should notice that the light dims or whatever when you find a possible source. If you have narrowed it down to a fuse or two, next is to look up what parts are on that fuse. With that information, start disconnecting the parts until you find the one that is causing the drain.
Ok, so this article does not tell you how to fix the problem but has helped you narrow it down to the cause. If you cannot go any further, get a qualified mechanic to help you out (which translates to DO NOT take it to the Land Rover dealer).