Battery problem with prospective new car

[lsteele]

Hi,

I'm considering buying a Fabia, and today I went to check out a car. The owner said she was selling it as she wasn't using since her husband got a new car from work. Certainly when I got there the car looked as though it hadn't been used for several days as there were spider webs on the wing mirrors! Anyway, when I got into start it the battery was dead. The owner and her husband said they'd recently had the battery replaced and had been told to be sure to drive the car - which they hadn't tried to do until I turned up.

They're gonna recharge the battery and I'm going to see it again tomorrow. All the documentation etc with the car checks out, and assuming everything seems ok tomorrow I'd be interested in buying it, but I'm somewhat concerned about the battery issue. Certainly I've never had a battery go flat in any other car I've owned. Is there a way of telling if this indicative of a more serious problem?

Any advice on this is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Luke

[jasc1988]

Battery's will run flat if not used for say a month or so.

My friends polo gti has been sitting for 2 months and is as dead as a dodo

[tag1_uk]

I believe that there are certain electrical faults relating to the alarm if Elegance trim or perhaps electronics in the ECU not properly shutting down when the ignition is off that can cause an excessive current drain when the car is not in use. The above flat battery may therefore indicate something along these lines. If you are concerned then I guess you could take a multimeter with you and check the current drain across the battery terminals with the ignition off, plus check the voltages with the ignition off and whilst charging with the alternator to check that everything is within the expected specs. I'm sure that more experienced members on here could give you some numerical values for what to expect.

[lsteele]

It's a classic.