Kuzhithurai · Marthandam · Kaliyakkavilai

Short-circuit and current-leak tracing — we find where the electricity goes at night

At Kallukatti, Kaliyakkavilai — on the NH-47 (now NH-66), near the Nayara petrol pump — and at our Pudukadai branch. Open from 8 AM, every day.

Call 094872 34923
after-hours emergency line — call any time: 094872 34923

Also called: short, current problem, current leak, drain. "Current problem" covers a lot of counters-worth of complaints — this page is the measured hunt for where current flows when nothing should be using it.

When you need this

This is your page when: the battery is flat every morning though the charging system tests healthy; the vehicle dies after standing two or three days; a fuse blows, gets replaced, and blows again; or something somewhere runs warm and smells faintly when everything is switched off.

Flat again this morning and somewhere to be? Call 094872 34923 — a jump gets the day moving, and the vehicle should then come in for the trace rather than another night on the drip. Emergency help →

A parasitic drain is a theft measured in milliamps: some circuit stays awake after the key comes out — a boot lamp, a stuck relay, a leaking diode, an accessory wired to permanent live — and spends the battery all night, every night. Most victims buy a new battery first, because that is what the symptom looks like. The new battery gets robbed the same way.

Finding the thief is measured work, not guesswork, and it is a named specialty of this workshop. The drain is measured at the battery, then narrowed circuit by circuit — ammeter methods, fuse-by-fuse voltage-drop readings — until the leak has an address. Dead shorts get the same discipline from the other direction: a fuse that keeps blowing is a map, and we follow it to the chafe, the pinch or the flooded connector it points to.

Then the repair itself is usually small — a seal, a reroute, a corrected accessory feed, a relay. What you were paying for was knowing where. That is why this page is priced as a diagnosis-led job: the trace is the work, the fix is the full stop.

Symptoms this fixes

View all problems

What it costs

Short-circuit or current-leak trace and repair ₹500 – ₹1,200 depending on how deep the fault hides

If the measurement shows there is no drain at all — the fault is charging-side or simply a finished battery.

Short circuit & current leak — what you should know

Why the second new battery died like the first

A drained battery and a dead battery look identical at 7 AM. If a recent battery is failing overnight, measure before buying again — the drain test costs minutes and settles whether the battery is victim or culprit.

A fuse that keeps blowing is evidence, not annoyance

Fitting a bigger fuse silences the messenger and pays the fire brigade later. The repeated blow says a live wire is touching where it should not — findable, and worth finding this week rather than after the insulation gives.

The usual suspects, in order

Accessories wired straight to permanent live; boot and glovebox lamps that never sleep; relays sticking on; moisture bridging a connector after rain; and insulation chafed through where a loom crosses metal. The trace does not assume — but it does know where to look first.

When the trail leads out of this page

A drain traced to a rotten section of loom becomes a wiring repair: rewiring and harness work →.

A "drain" that turns out to be weak charging belongs next door: alternator repair →.

Drain, charging, or just an old battery?

Flat after standing, healthy while driving — a drain is likely, and it is measurable.

Weak even straight after a long drive — charging or the battery itself; measure before blaming ghosts.

The symptom-side sorting lives at battery keeps dying → — start there if you have not.

The ninety-second driver's-seat split is battery or alternator →.

Short circuit & current leak — vehicles we do this for

Short circuit & current leak — common questions

What does a drain trace cost?

₹500 – ₹1,200 — the band reflects how deep the leak hides; a boot lamp is found in minutes, a chafed loom section takes longer. You approve before the hunt goes deeper.

Can I just disconnect the battery every night instead?

It works the way skipping meals saves money. Clocks and settings reset daily, some vehicles sulk about it — and the fault is still there, growing. The trace ends the ritual.

It only happens when the vehicle stands two or three days.

That is a smaller drain, not an imaginary one — the size of the leak sets the timetable. Smaller leaks take a little more patience to corner, and they corner all the same.

The drain started after a music system was fitted.

Then you have probably already found it — an accessory on permanent live is the classic modern drain. We put the feed right and the accessory keeps working, minus the night shift.

Is this the same as the free battery test?

No — the free test reads the battery's own health. This is the paid hunt for what is emptying a healthy battery. The first often orders the second, which is exactly the right sequence.