battery problem

wijcc

wijcc

wijcc

Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2003
Posts
2,696
Location
London
2 weeks ago my focus would not start up in the evening as I was leaving to go home. So the next day I brought a new battery and it sorted the problem out. But again tonight as i am leaving to go home. I go to the car park and try to start the car again its dead. Not even the central locking or the clock on the dashboard is on :(. I did not leave the any lights or anything on in the car.. so I do not know what is draining the battery. Do any of you guys know what I need to check? Could it be the alternator.. the drive belt?
Thanks in advance guys :)
 
If your alternator wasn't charging you'd know about it - i.e. lights on the dashboard and nothing would work for very long. It's more likely that there's something somewhere draining power.. Have you got any non-standard ICE? Alarm?
 
sounds like you have got a bad earth somewhere, there should be simple drainage checks you can do with a cheap dvm and your car manual
 
Digital volt meter. Leave a terminal unplugged from the battery overnight and see if it's still flat in the morning
 
Sorry yea its a digital volt meter/multimeter you can measure the drain in millamps when everythings turned off, there will be instructions and the thresholds it should be between if you have a haynes or similar
 
My father had a similar problem with a car years ago, it turned out the boot light switch was stuck on :)
 
a thought, but could a faulty thermostat cause it.. as i know i have to change my thermostat just haven't gotten around to change it. But i have noticed lately (i don't know it this is normal or not) But after i switch off the engine after driving. The radiator fan keeps spinning for awhile. Could this drain the battery?
 
i have found the problem that is causing my battery to drain. It is the radiator fans. They are constantly on even if the car is switched off. What can be causing this, can a faulty thermostat cause this?
 
Howard said:
I wouldn't have thought a little boot light would drain a healthy battery overnight though?
Click to expand...
Certainly can.



Get a blown fuse, remove the remains of the filament, solder 2 wires onto the terminals inside, find a multimeter. You now have the required tools.

One by one, with the car off, replace the fuses with this dummy fuse you have made, and plug it into the multimeter on a DC current setting. It should become apparent which circuit is leaking.

Don't just shove test probes into the fuse sockets, it prys them apart then you get conduction issues.
 
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