Battery drain - any quick solutions?

[DevilYellowCV8]

This is not my weekend...

Original battery has died a death. Car not been driven for nearly two weeks and was dead yesterday morning. Tried to recharge it - no joy. So, went and got fleeced at some well known car accessories store that also sells bikes and bling for chav chariots.

Put new battery in yesterday evening - joy, thunders into life and big smiles return to the Williams household.

Get in car at lunch time, turn key and it turns over very slowly - oh dear, no smiles but it does start.

Have tried a search as I'm sure I've read somewhere about a possible dodgy earth connection somewhere? If so, whereabouts will I find the offending item? I have checked that all lights are going off when i leave the car at night, only thing running is the usual security devices and they've given me no cause for concern for nearly the last 3 years.

Thanks.

[stevieturbo]

Are you sure the alternator is charging said new battery ?

[L2VXR]

Seem to remember someone saying that the Radiator cooling fans can continue to run when a relay goes faulty, may be worth a look as they can spin quite quietly

Edited by L2VXR on Sunday 16th March 17:38

[DevilYellowCV8]

Fans are off. Lifted bonnet and all's quiet.

re alternator: battery gauge needle is sitting on 13 during driving.. good or bad? It's at times like these I wish I'd paid more attention to the centre gauges before the problem started.

Thanks for the input.

[LuS1fer]

What is the CCA rating on the battery?

[ringram]

Normally 14 or 15 I think when driving..
Did you go for a good run in it after you bought it, maybe it needs a good charge up?

[Bull Fullbright]

ringram said:

Normally 14 or 15 I think when driving..
Did you go for a good run in it after you bought it, maybe it needs a good charge up?

I thought most batteries are supplied fully charged - sounds like another problem to me

[ads_green]

A new battery left on the bench fully charged will last ages if not left to get too cold.

Anything over 12v on the alternator should be fine - most cars charge at about 12.8v - 13.3v. You should see the current change as you turn on heavy electronic stuff like headlights.
Voltage though doesn't tell you anything really - amps is what you need to know.

There's lots of things that can cause it - I've seen on some cars the brake pads and disk wearing cause the brake pedal to turn the rear brake lights on.

The only systematic way to find the culprit if it is something discharging the battery is to hook up an ampmeter and monitor the actual drain in the sysyem. Then pull fuses out one at a time - the offending fuse will tell you what is causing the drain. Fixing it is something else though!

[DevilYellowCV8]

LuS1fer said:

What is the CCA rating on the battery?

640 CCA

The car had a 15 mile run once the new battery was put in. No stereo, lights or any other auxilliary things were running. The battery was manufactured in January this year.

[Yorkkie]

in my opinion altenator should produce over 13v when running usually up to 14.2v. A simple test for the altenator is to start the car and turn on all electrics, heated screen etc, AC fans etc, (better in the dark) turn on headlights leave at tickover, rev the engine and the lights should brighten --- not fool proof but a simple roadside test for the altenator. a better test is to use a calibrated voltmeter in the same test volts should rise to 14.2v or so

Andy.

[stevieturbo]

As above, 13.8-14.2v for a nice charging alternator.

Anything less, and there is cause for concern.

[essexmonarovxr]

Id check to make sure the glove box and boot lights are going off aswell.
Jump in the boot and close it and make sure it dark. Oh and remember to make sure theres some outside to let you out lol as i know some who tryed this when i worked at vauxhall and we only found him at the end of the day banging from the inside. lol That was so funny.

[DevilYellowCV8]

essexmonarovxr said:

Id check to make sure the glove box and boot lights are going off aswell.
Jump in the boot and close it and make sure it dark. Oh and remember to make sure theres some outside to let you out lol as i know some who tryed this when i worked at vauxhall and we only found him at the end of the day banging from the inside. lol That was so funny.

Lol, done the interior lights etc. Thanks

We'll see how it goes for the next 3 days as it's at the bodyshop now, so it won't be started up much. Just waiting for the call from them to tell me they can't get into it 'cos the battery is flat...