Fuse Problem

Cucullan

A strange poblem has started happening the last few days, my interior light started flashing when I opened the doors tuesday morning and I could hear a clicking sound down near the fuse box area. I changed the fuse and all seemed to be fine then yesterday morning the same thing happened again so I changed the fuse again and it went fine all day then this morning when I unlocked the car the same thing happens again . The fuses I took all looked fine and when I tried them in something else worked fine.
Its an 01 Octavia I'm driving, also the windows work off the same fuse so its not just a matter of doing without an interior light and leaving the fuse out the clicking is driving me mad as I drive along. Could it just be as simple as a loose wire connecting to the fuse box? Any ideas?

Squirrel

Do the windows still work when the light is flashing? If they do I doubt it's a fuse problem. If not, get someone electriconicly or mechanically minded to take a look at it

Cucullan

No if I'm letting down the window and I hear the click (its like a switch turning on and off) it'll stop going down.

AMurphy

Cucullan wrote:

A strange poblem has started happening the last few days, my interior light started flashing when I opened the doors tuesday morning and I could hear a clicking sound down near the fuse box area. I changed the fuse and all seemed to be fine then yesterday morning the same thing happened again so I changed the fuse again ...... Any ideas?

by "the fuse" you mean teh fuse for teh interior lights.

The clicking is a relay, probably for the window, UP/DN from your 2nd post.
Most cars thes days use a simple micro controller, logic block, to control such items as the lights, wipers, windows, etc.
Either the brain of this logic block has had a "logic blockage" or it could be as simple as low voltage caused by a loose connection, bad alternator or a bad connection to the battery or a bad (soon to die) battery.
Remove and clean the batt terminals, check the water level.

Or is the Clicking constant while driving, even if the window is stopped, open or closed. It's still a relay, just put your finger on every relay till you find the pulsing one. And am I to assume the clicking stips when you remove teh fuse.

You could also have a short or overload of some sort. Remove the bulb from the interior light and see what happens. Although if you had a short the fuse would blow, i'd expect.

Any other Gremlins, typical of a low voltage condition?.

does anyone know if these Cars have heat sensitive self-resetting fuses or PolySwitches as they are often called.

Your description of the problem is not the best.

Cucullan

The interior light, windows and the dead bolts (I think thats what its called you know when you lock the doors and you hear a second clunk) are all on the same fuse so when I take out the fuse none of these work.
The clicking is constant when I'm driving even if the window is stopped, open or closed, when the clicking starts the windows will stop going up or down and the interior light will flash off and on.
It could be like you described a weak battery because after 20 minutes driving this morning everything went fine for the day so I'll check that now.
Another thing I realised is that I didn't lock the car for the last 3 night maybe just a coinsidence or maybe something stays on till the car is locked and is draining the battery overnight??
Hope this description is better
I'll report back in the morning and see if the problem returns.

Cucullan

i just went out to check the level of the battery and was met with this



Whats the green ball for? the last battery I saw had the usual 6 screw caps along the top.
I presume I put the water in this hole but I'm not too sure if it needs it.
Would it do any damage by putting in too much?

Capt'n Midnight

As the battery charges denser sulphuric acid is released from the plates. This makes the ball float higher, you should be able to see the green ball in the little window when the battery is fully charged

/me hates intermittant electrical faults

Cucullan

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

As the battery charges denser sulphuric acid is released from the plates. This makes the ball float higher, you should be able to see the green ball in the little window when the battery is fully charged

/me hates intermittant electrical faults

Yeah i can see the green ball when the cap is closed, does this mean the battery ok?

stratos

I would make a good bet as someone else here said, the clicking you are hearing is most likely relay chatter (fuses don't make noises's).

The most usual problem for this is dirt on the relay connections where it plugs in.

Follow the chattering untill you find where it's coming from.

It should be a small box that can be pulled out, pull it out and push it back in problem should be gone.


If not it's more than likely going to be a bad chassis earth for that circuit, and thats a chapter on how to find.

Cucullan

stratos wrote:

I would make a good bet as someone else here said, the clicking you are hearing is most likely relay chatter (fuses don't make noises's).

The most usual problem for this is dirt on the relay connections where it plugs in.

Follow the chattering untill you find where it's coming from.

It should be a small box that can be pulled out, pull it out and push it back in problem should be gone.


If not it's more than likely going to be a bad chassis earth for that circuit, and thats a chapter on how to find.

The "relay chatter" seems to be coming from behind the fuse box which in an Octavia is oppisite the drivers door in the dash only a few screws holding it in but still not too sure I'm up for the job I know a mechanic who might do it some evening for me though

AMurphy

Cucullan wrote:

i just went out to check the level of the battery and was met with this

Whats the green ball for? the last battery I saw had the usual 6 screw caps along the top.
I presume I put the water in this hole but I'm not too sure if it needs it.
Would it do any damage by putting in too much?

When the "water" is at the correct level and the batt charged to an acceptable level you should see the green "dot" through the top of the cap.

the water has to be Distilled water, not tap, sewer, soda, Avia, sweat, pee, etc. A chemist shop should have it in liter plastic bottles and it's quiet cheap.

the liquid level shoudl cover the thin plates up to about 1/2 the gap between the plates and the top of the battery case over the plates. you need some room for expansion as the batt heats up in the engine compartment. if overfilled will spill out the acid, cause corrosion, etc. wear latex gloves or make sure you do not get the solution on your hands, etc.
A plastic or glass turkey (no metal) baster is excellent for topping off the level.

does the clicking relay and the flashing interior light synch up. ie one is clacking at the exact same rate as the other is flashing. If so, then i'd assume you are hearing the interior light on/off relay. if out of synch, then it's something else and your lights are under transistor control.

As for something staying on. Do you heve any form of automatic illuminatino in the boot, engine or glove box.
Lamps in the boot and engine are known for staying on and draining battries, seems at time to be their only function. the switches seem to get damaged, hence the lights stays on, or if you got rear-ended.
there is always a very small current draw on the battery when the car is stopped, however, I would expect it to be <100ma.

the other thing you have to keep in mind, these logic blocks, (my van has one), can get blitzed and display a whole collection of possessed characteristics for no reason. Every now and then mine will give a few sweeps of the wipers for no apparent reason.

and/or you could have something overheating the fuseboard & logic block, this in turn causes some transistor somewhere to either switch on or off at the wrong time.

however you indicate it gets better with more driving, and is worst after starting or soon after starting, is that correct.... or is it random. or is it in any way related to maybe having more or less current draw, ie, if the mainbeams, spots, wipers, rear heater, fogs, fans, A/C, etc are on, it happens.

Get someone to stick a (accurate) Voltmeter on the battery before and immediately after starting it for the first time in teh morning. I'd expect about >10Vdc before and >12VDC with the engine running (and all the electrical appliances switched on to max)

Cucullan

AMurphy wrote:

does the clicking relay and the flashing interior light synch up. ie one is clacking at the exact same rate as the other is flashing. If so, then i'd assume you are hearing the interior light on/off relay. if out of synch, then it's something else and your lights are under transistor control.

I locked the car last night and still the same this morning, yes the clicking relay and the flashing interior light synch up.
Another thing that has come to me is I changed the interior light to one of these LED Lights for a couple of days last week. Could this have damaged something?
I'm going to look at it properly in the morning or maybe today after work if its still clicking.

AMurphy wrote:

however you indicate it gets better with more driving, and is worst after starting or soon after starting, is that correct.... or is it random. or is it in any way related to maybe having more or less current draw, ie, if the mainbeams, spots, wipers, rear heater, fogs, fans, A/C, etc are on, it happens.

It does get better after driving and will be gone totally after 30 mins of driving, I don't know if its gets worse after lights etc are turned I'll try it later and see what happens.

Thanks for help lads