gregors

Hi there,
My battery keeps dying, it starts up and runs fine when jumped or bumped.

Its odd because sometimes you can leave it overnight and its fine the next morning, however sometimes you can leave it 15 mins and it can be dead when you go back to start it up.

The battery light dont come up on the dash some im guessing the alternator is doing its job ok?

This is in a S2 ERST. Im just really confused as to why it keeps doing it now and its really annoying me having to jump it all the time

Cheers for any help.
Matt

tabetha

Does the battery light come on when you first switch ignition on ?, if not it will not charge as it needs the bulb in circuit to initiate charging process.
tabetha

gregors

yep both battery and oil lights come on

Wardy257

You need to do an amps draw test and see if you can find out what is draining it. You can also do a quick volts check with the engine running to see if the alternator is doing its job.

gregors

what would i need to see is drawing? and how much should these things be drawing etc?

Wardy257

You need a basic multimeter set on amps. You need to put this into the battery circuit. So remove the positive battery wires and conect the multimeter up in between those wires and the battery. You should see less than 0.5amps of current (make usre your doors are shut so the interior light is not on etc). If there is more than 05v amps remove a fuse, if it drops the fault is in that circuit. If it stays the same, replace the fuse and try another one and so on.

gregors

Nice one il give it a go. Cheers

gregors

ok iv just charged my battery and hooked it up fully charged got 13.25 on the multimeter.

Went to tur it over and by the time i got into the car the voltage had already dropped to around 9v. I then tried turning it over and suprise suprise it didnt fire.

The voltage over the battery continued to drop even after the first and only short attempt of turing it over.

So something is obviously draining my battery rapidly. What could it be?

Cheers
Matt

Wardy257

OK, could be a few things. My next first check would be to charge the battery again. Then check the reading with your volt meter. Wait 30 minutes and check it again. I think you battery may be duff as fully charged is 12.8 volts!! The another thing it could is a serious short circuit, but eliminate your battery first.




Have a look here for various tests.

http://forum.fordsierraclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=18853