Starting issue with Focus

[Furton]

I bought an 01 Focus about a month ago from a garage with a 3 month warranty. After a few days it didn't start on me and just did a clicking noise when trying to turn over, got some jump leads out and it was fine.

I spent the next month travelling 100+ miles every day and had no issues with the car. However after moving to Manchester and only travelling 2-3 min every day I've had no end of trouble starting the car. It's failed on me 3 times now and each time had to get the AA round to start the car.

The AA engineers each time showed that under load (i.e. lights, radio on e.t.c) the alternator was only delivering around 10v to the battery and that the battery was subsequently weak and had failed the AA battery test.

I took it back to the garage last weekend and every day since Sat they've been able to start the car okay (apparently) and found no problems with it hence will not replace the battery or the alternator.

I'm not sure what to do now, as I know the car will fail on me again if it has 3 times already, but without them finding a fault they claim they can't do anything.

I took it to another garage today who ran a test on the battery and the alternator. The battery test said re-charge required. The Alternator test came back as 14.88v no load, 14.9v under load which they said was too high. They also said the engine noise was lower when all electricals was on.

Do those voltage readings sound wrong? If so, why can't the other garage pick them up?

[focusboy]

Its most properly the wiring harness that goes to the alternator, Because of the smart charge system/rubbish, you can get different readings at different times, have changed three alternators on a connect before i realised that this was the problem and not the battery or alternator, Get a garage/auto sparks to have a look,

[Zad]

I'm not sure about that voltage being too high. Some recent cars do tend to run quite a bit higher than the nominal 13.8v we have come to expect. 15v isn't unheard of. Which is another way of saying find someone who knows more than they (and I) do. Unfortunately my pet mechanic with all the Ford technical access is out of action at the moment.

[Furton]

Thanks for your responses. I'm taking the car back to the garage tomorrow with a letter document stating the issues I'm having with the car itself. Is there anything else that could be causing the battery to drain? It's started 6 times today on short journeys with no issues.

Would an FM transmitter plugged into the 12v supply drain the battery when's there no iPod connected to it? I.e. through the plug on the dash?

[Zad]

It is possible. A £5 multimeter from Maplin should tell you how much current it is drawing. Shouldn't be enough to flatten it overnight (or even for a week) though. The boot interior lamp might possibly be staying on, I have known that flatten a battery overnight.