Toyota Townace Constant Battery Down!

[barraca]

Hi I think I have a definite problem with the electrics on my Toyota Townace.

It has just started happening over the ast two weeks, if I leave the car for longer than 4 days the Battery is completely flat. I had a recent

jumpstart and Battery check from the RAC and they seem to think the Battery is fine. I also have an intermittent problem with it just not starting

at all. no sound of the glow plugs clicking in, and no turnover of the battery, If I wait it out without trying to turn it over.. say for 30 minutes it most of the time starts straight away again . .do you think these two problems could be interrelated?

Where can I begin to look to solve the problem of the constant battery / energy leak. change of glow plugs for starters? could it be the alternator?

thanks

Barraca

[wildtownaceman]

Hi there , i had a similar problem to my townace last year , I had bought her , with a new alternator fited , and not long after the alternator went again , After a lot of electical testing out , i found that these town aces have 2 glow plug relays that kick in to heat the glow plugs , something to do with being used in very cold climates , I found that one of these relays was on all the time , so after a while it was taking out the alternator ,All i did to fix was to remove the primary wire to the relay , as you dont need 2 relays in the uk , not cold enough , i had to remove the wire going to the ecu unit mounted behind the passenger seat belt colum , I hope this helps you out ... The way to check it is that ,, when the car is running stick a meter on the glow plugs , you should get 0 volts , if you get more then then its the relay still kicking in.. cheers

[mrjoe]

Hey Barraca

Any luck with fixing it? I've had exactly the same problem recently. I found disconnecting the Battery and reconnecting helped.

A mechanic friend of mine has suggested poor Battery connections as where the Battery sits under the back seat it gets really grimey so the connection might be getting lost. He's suggested cleaning the terminals and clamps with a wire brush. Will try it and let you know how I get on.

joe

[mrjoe]

Hey guys,

That worked. I cleaned the Battery terminals and clips with WD40 and then used a wirerbrush to further clean. Townace starts everytime.

joe