battery goes flat

[John1.4]

happened a couple of times this week, got in the car, central locking undoes fine, lights on, ignition to on, all lights on dash fine, type in code on immo pad, turn key, Black - no power at all, stereo resets, alarm goes off (quiet as no power lol) then just dim lights on dash,

went through the fuses last time and didn't find anything, although have heard an intermittant buzzing / really rapid clicking from what sounds to be the indicator whilst driving, does it if you wiggle the stalk...

suggestions?

[Piggy]

battery dead!?

[Eeyore]

Battery is dead. I've had this problem. It would turn over but wouldn't fire.

I turned everything off including the Hester blower motor and it just about started!

[John1.4]

battery is just over a year old, has tested ok, holds charge well,

the other day it went dead, then about an hour later after leaving the battery off, and doing my drain checks, it fired up as if there was no problem, 12.3v on battery while off, 14.2 charging

[Piggy]

Fully charged healthy battery should show more than 12.3v

[vincent1]

I would start by cleaning all the battery negaive lead earth points maybe remove clean and replace maybe worth doing the live one going to the starter too maybe a bit of corrosion on them?

[Eeyore]

This is very similar to my problem. Year old Bosch silver Line. Perfect and the suddenly it wouldn't start at all and since then it has been cranking slowly but not failed to start.

[John1.4]

i still think it's a drain somewhere though, could it be a short through stalks or one of the relays? when i tested it it was drawing .3A from somewhere, but no joy with fuses

got it started with a quick (suspiciously quick) jump from the rents scenic, literally 20 seconds and it was ok to go, so took it for a rag up the hills, and i've disconnected the battery to see what happens now, if it does go flat again i can say it's the battery, if not then it has to be something else surely?

considering just taking it to the local car sparky and letting him sus it out,

[vincent1]

did you try the under bonnet fuses as well?

[John1.4]

*nods*

[ginge191]

Checked voltmeter whilst attempting to crank?

[John1.4]

no not checked that, however #bloodeyuselessfrenchelectrics i tried to go through the fuses today to see what was causing a .3A drain, and it's showing a 2mA drain, so nothing close... ohffs so the drain has fixed itself, i just have to wait now to see if it re-drains the battery as i've left it attached....

wonder if i should sell it while it's working?

[John1.4]

new symptom tonight, just went to pick up mum from work, no problems, then while i was reversing everything went off, radio, dash, headlights, everything, the only light in the cabin was that stupid little alarm light thing, and that was barely flickering,

the engine was still running though? trying to die but kept it on with some revs, then about 10 seconds later, everything came back on,
then when i turned it off, a triple beep from the immo keypad and a green LED, after about 30 seconds went off and went to flashing red

confused - need help... seriously considering the scrapyard now

[Piggy]

Clearly a big bad earth somewhere.
Battery connections and battery earths

[John1.4]

thanks, will have a look tomorrow,

[John1.4]

well turned the key today and same again, just... werp, nothing from engine, but all the dash lights seemed ok, so off and tried again, and turning slowly it started! thinking my starter (original to the car) may be about ready to be put out to pasture

[Piggy]

Did you check the earths? Still sounds like a bad connection.
But a £10 second hand starter is easy to swap out

[John1.4]

checked the earths i could find, there was a frayed wire on the neg terminal from the nearside body earth, but fixed that, still happening, infact did it this morning, and as soon as i got the engine running thanks to a jump from dad, took it for a drive to get it to temp, checked the voltage before switching off...

13.6 (stable not changing with revs etc) with nothing on, dropped to 12.9 with headlights on... starting to sound a lot like alternator?

[Eeyore]

So Ive had this problem.... it has either been a crap connection on the battery terminals or the battery is ruined.

Take the battery and get it tested. My bosch silverline was bloody expensive and only lasted just over a year!

[Niall]

No. Won't be alternator I very much doubt especially as it was flat this morning.
Sounds like winter has claimed another battery to me!

[Matt]

I had a problem with my battery drain, it was the boot light staying on haha

[daddyfixit]

alternator.

[Niall]

It won't be the alternator i highly doubt. The low voltages he's listed today would be expected considering he had to jump start the car. That battery will be drained right down until he's been for a bloody good drive to get it charged up again

[John1.4]

shouldn't it read around the 14.5 mark when running if it's charging properly though?

gonna get the battery charger out and give it a thorough going over in any case,

[Piggy]

Around that voltage on a HEALTHY battery though

[Niall]

Around that voltage on a HEALTHY battery though

This. If that battery is dead flat, you will find the voltage will be lower until its back to being fully charged. Ideally you will see 14.4v when its fully charged and theres no particular load on the system but typically after starting the car even on a healthy battery, it will drop into the 13s right after starting.
If it was a ford however...

[daddyfixit]

im thinking that rectifier pack has gone; able to put out a voltage from the alternator when its running, but when engine is off--it actually draws from the battery.....flattening it.

[John1.4]

well i took the battery round to the local to get checked, and it's ok, just low, so they're charging it for me foc

the alternator i took off and went up to the workshop where i bought the car to try and find a spare one, and it got used about a year ago to repair another alt, so... meh, the guy did however start disassembling the alt and found... (deep breath)

2 blown diodes in the rectifier, a pair of really dead bearings, one brush that had disintigrated, and the other with about 2mm left, a collection of twigs mud and carbon dust, and DEEP gouges in the rotor surface,

so yeah, the alt was very dead, and it also explains the random drain in the system, the wierd electric goings on and the whiny noise from the bay...

still unhappy i have to buy a new alt tho

[daddyfixit]

for my next trick I will try and get tonights euro millions numbers ..................

very common on alternators to charge then flatten battery when engine isn't running