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I don't use the car very often which is probably not good for it, but went to start it after about 2 weeks since its last use and all of the lights (internal dash and external) started flashing uncontrollably and could hear a relay clicking. The car wouldn't start so took off the battery and charged it.
Put the battery back on and the car started fine, went back to it within the hour to go somewhere and totally dead.
Charged the battery again yesterday, battery reading 12v, put on car and as soon as the battery was connected I checked the voltage again and was reading less than 3v and dropping rapidly.
I removed every relay next to the battery one by one hoping to find a faulty one but no luck. (I did this as a few months back I did hear a relay randomly clicking while driving which I removed and put back in which solved that problem)
The battery is only just over 3 years old, a superbatt 100.
Any obvious things I need to look for?
Cheers.
Nothing can suck 9v out of a battery as soon as you bolt it on like that.. Dead cells in the battery giving a false read under no load (off the car) IMO
3yrs is about the expected life on a lowend battery
Yeah I thought that odd. I'll give it a go on my motorbike optimate charger first then get onto where I had the battery as it has a 4 year warranty supposedly.
Yeah I know what you mean, not trying to recover a battery with a dead cell obviously (if that is the cause) just wanted to see if that confirms it's knackered. I've used my car battery charger previously which is just basic.
Yeah 23amps, the lead was getting hot within seconds. Obviously I can't do the fuse pulling method like that. I was wondering if somehow it could be the starter or something causing that kind of current. Obviously I've no idea hence why I'm confused and on here 😫
Right I've eliminated the battery, it's definitely not the fault.
The battery draw is 25 amps I kid you not, the lead on my meter gets hot.
I disconnected the connector from the alternator but exactly the same. Was that the one to remove or is there another lead going to it that I've missed.
I've removed the relays thinking maybe one is stuck shut but still nothing.
Apart from removing all fuses one at a time (which I'll do when I've got time) is there any obvious circuit that could be pulling that current? As I originally said after charging the battery the car started fine but totally dead when I went back to it within the hour.
You need to remove the heavy live from the alt (will be a thick wire with a 10 or 13mm nut holding it on the alt), not the small smart charge connector that will have 2 or 3 small pins
Yes follow the main live cable from the battery, it should go down to the alternator and then from there along to the starter ( or the other way round)
Am I right in thinking that this is the egr valve at the back of the engine with the electrical connector on? I went to remove the pipe on the left and coolant came out which led me to think that maybe it's the thermostat.
Last edited by deathrider666; May 13, 2018 at 05:35 PM.
Problem solved!!!
as I was looking around the front of the engine I noticed that the bottom vacuum pipe in the pic had come off, I had obviously disturbed it when doing the alternator, pushed on and car is now back to full power. Relieved!!!
did you solve current issue? if not star by fuses rated upwards of 20a if it where on a 20a circuit fuse would be blown.at least that's ,y take on it, though not sure how fast they blow, but considering its being drawn on connection i'm guessing a nice spark comes when connecting terminals..... might be worth checking engine fan/ac comp circuit maybe as i recall theyre likely high current
Excessive Battery Voltage Drop Focus tdci
