why did I buy a mk2! Battery goes flat ALOT

[Alec]

Dunno about the alarm but it says thatcham on the certificate. It has sensors inside the car n all that jazz aswell. Bummer

[JimR]

My battery drain was a Sigma Thatcham Cat 1 alarm, was draining the battery but took about a week (even with daily use), nowhere near as fast as yours, try and find a make and model for your alarm and google google google looking for the pinouts, thats what i did to mine and spent a day stripping all the sensors and siren out and resplice the loom back together, was more time consuming than difficult but i took it out 2 months ago and haven't had to charge the battery since. Well worth looking into, how long have you had the stereo and amp in? Could also be some faulty wiring there.

[kittie]

I'm afraid I can't help you, but I can sympathise.

My battery goes flat every two minutes as well. Also, one time I was on the motorway and smoke started coming out of my steering column area. It's never happened again and it didn't seem to break anything (and I wasn't burned to a crisp) though so I just forgot about it.

I've got a Clifford 600 which has a knackered battery of it's own so I think that's what's causing the battery thing in my case.

[cox]

I have had all these problems - battery running flat, smoke from the dash and the dodgy rev counter. Managed to fix 2 of the 3.

1. Battery
Tried swapping the battery with another and it was still going flat after 3 days or so, even if i left it running for an hour or took it for a long drive to charge it up. The issue was the alternator belt was slipping so the battery wasn't being charged properly. My local mechanic came over and took a look and said you shouldn't be able to turn the metal disc attached to the alternator with your hands. If the alternator disc is slipping the battery won't charge properly and the battery will keep going flat. Had the belt tighened, gave the battery a full charge with a charger I bought off eBay for £15 and it has worked fine ever since (probably half a year now).

2. Smoke from steering column
Took off my steering wheel and both of the stalks. The indicator stalk had cracked. I could see that the plastic had melted and where there was a crack there were scorch marks on the steering column. Bought a new stalk off the forum for £15, fitted it. Job done, no more smoke from the steering column.

3. Dodgy rev counter
Still working on that one!

Like I said, these are just the problems/solutions I came across for my own mk2, but both are easy enough to test out for yourself without a trip to the mechanic so may be worth a look.

Hope that is of some help,

Dave.

[Alec]

Cheers dude, will have a look tomorrow. Battery was fine today after not using it for a couple of days. (strange). Its got a new alternator and I made sure it was all done up tight.
I aint seen any smoke for a while (maybe cus I get in it, spark a ciggy or a marley and then just hope for the best).

I'm gonna seek help from my mot tester mate and get back to you all.

Thanks everyone