Mondeo battery keeps going flat

Mondeo battery keeps going flat

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jsp56

Original Poster:

161 posts

116 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Hi,

I wondered if I could ask for a spot of advice about my car battery?

My son and I sometimes like to sit in our car on a sunny day outside the house. Often when we do this the battery goes flat. We don't have anything in the car running except that we turn the key just enough so that the alarm won't go off. The lights, radio and aircon are off.

We have replaced the battery and taken the car to our regular independent mechanic but none of that helped. I wondered if you think I should bite the bullet and take it to the Ford garage? That would be very expensive. The car is a 56 plate with about 40k miles on the clock.

The problem started at about the same time as the cigarette lighter stopped working. Every time the battery goes flat and we recharge it from the mains, we find that the driver side window is not working and we have to disconnect the battery terminals to make it work again.

If anybody had any ideas of what we should do, we're really appreciate it. We live in Cambridge, and I am female and know a bit about electronics but not a great deal about cars.

Thanks!

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
jsp56 said:
Hi,

I wondered if I could ask for a spot of advice about my car battery?

My son and I sometimes like to sit in our car on a sunny day outside the house. Often when we do this the battery goes flat. We don't have anything in the car running except that we turn the key just enough so that the alarm won't go off. The lights, radio and aircon are off.

We have replaced the battery and taken the car to our regular independent mechanic but none of that helped. I wondered if you think I should bite the bullet and take it to the Ford garage? That would be very expensive. The car is a 56 plate with about 40k miles on the clock.

The problem started at about the same time as the cigarette lighter stopped working. Every time the battery goes flat and we recharge it from the mains, we find that the driver side window is not working and we have to disconnect the battery terminals to make it work again.

If anybody had any ideas of what we should do, we're really appreciate it. We live in Cambridge, and I am female and know a bit about electronics but not a great deal about cars.

Thanks!
If you have a multimeter with a high amp's range you could put that in series with the battery earth lead and see what the current draw is when you sit in the car with the key turned to whatever position you mention above
You could also check to see if the alternator is charging ok by measuring the voltage at the battery with lights, blower and heated screens switched on with engine revving at approx 3000 RPM
A good auto electrician will easily fix this problem, dont take the car to a dealer as they charge too much

jsp56

Original Poster:

161 posts

116 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Thanks! How do I find a good auto electrician? I that the same as a garage mechanic or should I ask around specifically for an electrician?

Thanks!

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Friday 5th August 2016
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Dont use a mechanic, search for a auto electrician...a good one

jsp56

Original Poster:

161 posts

116 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Thanks :-)

Classy6

419 posts

176 months

Thursday 11th August 2016
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Just to be clear - the battery only goes flat when you sit in the car? If you left the car overnight, locked as you would do normally it's OK?

If the above is true and you physically have the key in the ignition at the first stage/ignition stage whilst sat in the car for X amount of time the of course the battery will go flat.. This would be entirely expected.

Just because you can't necessarily see anything on, doesn't mean there isn't other circuits/controls units that are drawing power whilst you're sat in the vehicle, all the while draining the battery.

If you can leave you're car locked up for days and it start's first time when you need it - you have no problem.

Please do not seek any garage attention for this apparent 'fault', it would be the same in any car if you sat in it with key in ignition. A garage will also only carry out battery drains when measured in a 'locked' state.



Edited by Classy6 on Thursday 11th August 01:50

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Thursday 11th August 2016
quotequote all
Classy6 said:
Just to be clear - the battery only goes flat when you sit in the car? If you left the car overnight, locked as you would do normally it's OK?

If the above is true and you physically have the key in the ignition at the first stage/ignition stage whilst sat in the car for X amount of time the of course the battery will go flat.. This would be entirely expected.

Just because you can't necessarily see anything on, doesn't mean there isn't other circuits/controls units that are drawing power whilst you're sat in the vehicle, all the while draining the battery.

If you can leave you're car locked up for days and it start's first time when you need it - you have no problem.

Please do not seek any garage attention for this apparent 'fault', it would be the same in any car if you sat in it with key in ignition. A garage will also only carry out battery drains when measured in a 'locked' state.



Edited by Classy6 on Thursday 11th August 01:50
The above is well wrong
With the key in the Aux position the alarm will not sound off and the radio can be switched on and listened to for several hours on a good battery
There is something amiss if the battery goes flat in a short time when sat in the car with key turned to position Aux
A battery should last hours rather than minutes with the key in the ignition on position as long as all electrics are switched off for most of that time, if the OP's vehicle is a diesel and she has the ignition switched on while sat in the car, there is a possibility that the heater plugs or ANOTHER circuit are switching on but not switching off hence draining a good charged battery over a short time, a petrol engined car could have a similar problem


Classy6

419 posts

176 months

Thursday 11th August 2016
quotequote all
Penelope Stopit said:
The above is well wrong
With the key in the Aux position the alarm will not sound off and the radio can be switched on and listened to for several hours on a good battery
There is something amiss if the battery goes flat in a short time when sat in the car with key turned to position Aux
A battery should last hours rather than minutes with the key in the ignition on position as long as all electrics are switched off for most of that time, if the OP's vehicle is a diesel and she has the ignition switched on while sat in the car, there is a possibility that the heater plugs or ANOTHER circuit are switching on but not switching off hence draining a good charged battery over a short time, a petrol engined car could have a similar problem
You will be laughed out the garage if you go in and tell them you're battery is going flat whilst you're sat in the car with the key in the ignition.

Just as I stated previous, battery drains are conducted in a locked & shut down state, then typically left for 30-40 minutes to allow all control units to power down.

The simplest option is just... sit in the car but don't put the keys in the ignition, there is no requirement to do so.

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Thursday 11th August 2016
quotequote all
Classy6 said:
You will be laughed out the garage if you go in and tell them you're battery is going flat whilst you're sat in the car with the key in the ignition.

Just as I stated previous, battery drains are conducted in a locked & shut down state, then typically left for 30-40 minutes to allow all control units to power down.

The simplest option is just... sit in the car but don't put the keys in the ignition, there is no requirement to do so.
Well you do have a lot to learn ....dont you
If the car was brought to my garage I would find out what the excessive current drain was when the key was in the AUX position

People that buy cars are allowed to sit in them and listen to the radio you know

Now who's laughing hey...your ignorance is ceaseless

Did you know that locking the car and letting all the ECU's shut down before checking for a current drain is a procedure carried out when a proven good battery is going low after the vehicle is parked up overnight or longer

Excessive current draw when the key is in the AUX position is nothing to do with a current drain when parked up

You are funny... real funny

Please do post some more funnies here...I need more laughs

You dont know what you are on about


Edited by Penelope Stopit on Thursday 11th August 15:02

Classy6

419 posts

176 months

Saturday 13th August 2016
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Penelope Stopit said:
Well you do have a lot to learn ....dont you
If the car was brought to my garage I would find out what the excessive current drain was when the key was in the AUX position

People that buy cars are allowed to sit in them and listen to the radio you know

Now who's laughing hey...your ignorance is ceaseless

Did you know that locking the car and letting all the ECU's shut down before checking for a current drain is a procedure carried out when a proven good battery is going low after the vehicle is parked up overnight or longer

Excessive current draw when the key is in the AUX position is nothing to do with a current drain when parked up

You are funny... real funny

Please do post some more funnies here...I need more laughs

You dont know what you are on about


Edited by Penelope Stopit on Thursday 11th August 15:02
Would you now... And what a complete waste of everybody's time & money that would be. You must be short of work!

Thanks for that clarification on what a battery drain is aswell, maybe you should re-familiarise yourself seeing as you now think a battery drain is when the keys are left in the ignition with people sat in it. I Certainly don't remember seeing any literature about current draw on vehicles with 'keys left in ignition' either.

Here are some more familiarisations: You don't need the key in AUX position to listen to the radio on the majority of cars, I guess there are a few out there that don't but generally, just turn it on. You also don't need the keys in the ignition to just sit in the car, so why do it? You're creating an unnecessary problem when there is no need to.

Never, ever have I had or even heard until now someone complain of a repeat flat battery, then finish the sentence with - "well, I was sat in it with things turned on."

By all means if you feel you can justify charging X amount of hours labour to find a drain that can easily be prevented with EXCEPTIONALLY SIMPLE advice, then crack on.






imagineifyeswill

1,224 posts

165 months

Saturday 13th August 2016
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I am also in the motor trade and if someone brought a car to me with that story I initially would be giving the same advice as Classy6. A lot of modern cars will flatten the battery overnight if the key is left in the ignition but in the totally off position.

Cableman

4 posts

102 months

Saturday 13th August 2016
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Classy6 and imagineifyeswill come across as proper plonkers

Mancable

4 posts

102 months

Saturday 13th August 2016
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I agree with Cableman

imagineifyeswill

1,224 posts

165 months

Sunday 14th August 2016
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The amount of complicated electronic technology in modern vehicles is growing all the time, the one component not keeping up with this growth is battery technology. Penelope Stopit in theory is quite right in most of what is said but Im afraid in practice it doesnt allways work that way, in a lot off modern cars where the radio and info system are combined its qiute possible to flatten a battery to non starting levels in half an hour. The fact that the OP only has this problem whilst sitting in the car with the key in the auxilliary position speaks for itself.


Cableman and Mancable seem to think that I and Classy6 are talking nonsense, do they deal with these kind of problems 8-5 5 days a week, I do.

PositronicRay

26,957 posts

182 months

Sunday 14th August 2016
quotequote all
imagineifyeswill said:
The amount of complicated electronic technology in modern vehicles is growing all the time, the one component not keeping up with this growth is battery technology. Penelope Stopit in theory is quite right in most of what is said but Im afraid in practice it doesnt allways work that way, in a lot off modern cars where the radio and info system are combined its qiute possible to flatten a battery to non starting levels in half an hour. The fact that the OP only has this problem whilst sitting in the car with the key in the auxilliary position speaks for itself.


Cableman and Mancable seem to think that I and Classy6 are talking nonsense, do they deal with these kind of problems 8-5 5 days a week, I do.
I think you'll find Cableman, Mancable and Penelope are the same person.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 19th August 2016
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Is it actually going flat or is a voltage limiter cutting the power. I know ford did experiment with a battery that had this sort of weird behaviour for a short period of time.

Worth googling for this particular problem as it is well known.
http://www.talkford.com/community/topic/206888-sud...


Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 19th August 19:49

omniflow

2,545 posts

150 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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I THINK that the problem you're having might be something that the Mondeo has a reputation for.

I have an early Mk4 Mondeo, and it's a bit of a nightmare with the battery being unable to start the car under certain circumstances.

If I lock the car and the dashboard shuts down, then I have no issues EVER with starting the car.

However, if I "use" the car for a period of time without the engine running, then I the battery goes flat REALLY quickly. At the weekend, I used a 12V compressor to pump up all 4 tyres (they were all quite flat) and after the 3rd tyre, I couldn't start the car.

The car has been in to Ford and had all of the software updates applied (cost me around £90) and it's got better, but it's still not ideal. I assume that either a new battery or a new alternator will improve things, but I still think there's a fundamental design fault

bearman68

4,642 posts

131 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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This problem is not just linked to Mondeos. We do lots of work on Renaults, and it's quite easy to kill the battery after an hour tops by opening doors, and cycling ignitions. Can't imagine it's much different on other makes.