Tourneo Custom Discharging when not in use

[mholland90]

Hey folks,

Wondering if the people here can diagnose a problem I'm having better than my dealer can with a Tourneo Custom. For note it is a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (The older version of this: https://www.alliedmobility.com/car/ford-tourneo-custom-independence)

Basically, its discharging when not in use. I measured it (using the test menu on the dash) losing charge at a rate of about 0.6V over 12 hours. This is on a brand new Ford battery that had recently been installed. I'm positive that this is not a normal rate of discharge.

I've disconnected all the stuff I have added (dashcam, phone charger). All that is left connected is the stuff built into the van, chair winch and chair restraints.

All the dealer does is put a new battery in, they dont actually try and diagnose the problem.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Nederbelg]

First disconnect the Battery overnight, to see how much voltagedrop you have when there's no load at all. . A fully laden battery should read about 12,6Volts in rest. If there is a significant Voltagedrop overnight, the battery is faulty.

If there's no drop in voltage then connect an Currentmeter between the Battery and the Car to monitior the current. After closing the vehicle, you should see a gradual decrease off the current as all the computers in the car are shutting down one by one. After an hour or so, it should stabilise at a couple dozen miliAmps max.

If you find a current of say 200mA, you know there is a problem somewhere. Now you can remove the fuses one by one. to narrow down in which circuit the problem is.

Gr Nederbelg

[mholland90]

I forgot to mention in the first post, but its on its third battery in two months, so I dont think its a dud battery. I also dont think its the alternator because it does charge the battery fine.

I've just bought a cheap meter on amazon, can you advise on where to place the clamps for the multimeter? I know where to put the clamps for the battery charger I have, but not sure if it would be the same place

[Nederbelg]

A cheap multimeter? You'll probably need one whith a 20Amp range!!!
Don't connect the Multimeter as if it where a batterycharger, because you will short the battery by doing that

Remove the clamp from the negative terminal and connect the Meter between the terminal and clamp.

Don't try to start or switch ignition on as long as the meter is in there or it wil, be destroyed or at least has a blown fuse!!

Gr Nederbelg

[mholland90]

Yeah I've been reading up on it since your original post, been looking at local stores to try and find a better multimeter.

[jinx]

Do you by any chance have a towbar fitted?

[jinx]

Do you by any chance have a towbar fitted?

The Reason that i asked is that i had the same problem and it was the towbar module that was discharging the battery.

[Altransit]

We may never know, unfortunately

[mholland90]

We may never know, unfortunately

In this case we will

Turns out there were two seperate problems.

First was the tilt switch in the tailgate was faulty, causing the wheelchair restraints to be constantly on.

Secondly was I'm told some rewiring had to be done "in the battery". Dont know exactly what they did.

Importantly it did work, dont have any more electrical problems

[hitech-donk]

Glad you got to the bottom of the problem and thanks for reporting back the solution!