Hi, I recently purchased a 1989 escort xr3i convertable, which I bought knowing it needed a little tlc, however the problems Iam having with it Iam currently unable to find solutions for, so any help would be great!!

Firstly, the battery seemed to die pretty quickly, I took it off, charged it fully, only to find the same thing happened again within a few days...figuring it may be a faulty battery, I bought a new one, but again, after a couple of days all of the power seems to have dissapeared, to the point of not even bringing up the lights on the dashboard....anyone got any ideas?.

Secondly the powerhood. I was advised to disconnect the mechanism and use it manually, because it is very tempremental, and currently refusing to operate at all, ( although again Iam thinking this may be to do with the battery losing power so rapidly? )

And lastly, the brake lights....tried replacing the fuses and the bulbs, but still nothing?.

The kids are dying to be able to cruise along the beach in the summer with the top down... ( ok, me too if Iam honest! .... so any advice before I gotta fork out loadsa money I dont have would be really appreciated!!