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When I purchased my 2003 D2 a few years ago I see they have a performance box fitted.
My battery dies if not driven after 2 / 3 weeks then requires jumped.
Local garage advised me to remove any items that never came with the vehicle. As you can see in the pic the red cable from the box goes on the live , my question is could that be the culprit ?
I’m with your shop. Yank that and anything associated with it out. The electrical systems in the D2 are fickle as it is, and some deal like that invariably will cause issues in my opinion.
As for what that thing is, it seems it’s a power “booster” or whatever for a TDi engine? I’m way outside my realm of knowledge, but if that is correct, it’s probably some form of piggyback to change the fuel map. No chance I’d leave it in there.
There is a way to figure out if that device is the culprit. Use a multimeter to measure the amps through the red wire. The battery is rated 105 AH, so if total amps (milliamps/1000) x hours (2 weeks is 336 hours) is greater than 105, then the battery will be discharged. Roughly 330 mA will discharge the battery in 2 weeks. 330 mA being the device plus normal electronic system draw.
There is a way to figure out if that device is the culprit. Use a multimeter to measure the amps through the red wire. The battery is rated 105 AH, so if total amps (milliamps/1000) x hours (2 weeks is 336 hours) is greater than 105, then the battery will be discharged. Roughly 330 mA will discharge the battery in 2 weeks. 330 mA being the device plus normal electronic system draw.
This is the multimeter I have , what do I need to set it to and the prongs go where ? Also is this tested with the vehicle off ?
Amperage is measured in series, not in parallel -- that is, with all of the power "flowing through" the meter. With the vehicle off, disconnect the red wire from the + battery terminal and set your meter to read amps, not voltage. Then connect the red wire to the black probe, and the red probe to the battery + terminal.
Thanks for all your advice folks. I’m new to the whole multimeter game 🤦🏽♂️ can you please advise looking at the meter what I must set it to and the leads are they in the correct ports ?
Leads are in the correct ports. Need to change the rotary switch to mA (green numbers are not focused enough for me to see well). The idea is to use the lowest scale that is greater than the mA current (start on higher scale then switch lower until the reading is resolved adequately).
Caution: Do not connect test leads across a 12V battery or other voltage source whilst measuring mA, otherwise the meter could be damaged by high current. The meter is very low resistance (like a jumper) in mA positions vs very high resistance in V positions.
Yes, that is better. Since we do not know the expected current, and it might be higher than 200mA, best to switch on the 10A range, but to read the 10A scale, the red lead needs to plug into the 10ADC port. If the reading is less than 0.2 A, then we could switch back to the 200 mA scale with the red lead in the mA port. Ideally, normal current will be less than 200m, but that is what we are trying to find out. For this purpose, there should be no need to switch to values smaller than 200m. Those smaller settings are used to read very low currents accurately, but those lower current settings are below what we are worrying about. Let us know what the measurement is.
Power box
