Hi guys i replaced my car battery approx 2-3 months ago , If my car has not been used for a few days or more when i come to start it not even turn over due to the battery been totally drained .I have taken the car to halfords and the guy ran a diagnostic on the battery with a bosch battery meter and checked it whilst the engine was running under load with all lights on. he said it was charging fine and all cells were ok !! He blamed it due to modern cars with gadgets and imobilisers and due to the cold. The battery was from their and it wasnt cheap its a halfords advanced calcium maintance free battery with a 4 yr guarantee. I have checked all interior lights and nothing has been left on. If i jump start it , it starts fine and will be ok if i use the car everyday or every other day , Has anyone else had a similar issue? Any help will be much appreciated

Battery spec below

* Startup Power: 540 Amps

* AH Value: 60

* Reserve capacity: 105

* Bench Charge: 6.0 Amps

* Weight (kg): 14.89

* Dimensions (LxDxH): 242x175x190mm

* Guarantee: 4 Years

You need to have the car checked, to see what current is being taken from the battery with the car locked up. It takes about 15 minutes for the systems to 'go to sleep mode'. After that the current drain should be extremely low, about 10 Milliamps.

FWIW I have been looking into calcium battery problems in my Morris 1000. Despite the alternator putting out 14.2 Volts, the calcium battery never seems to get to a full charge. I've tried two different batteries and they both do the same. If I bench charge them after a run, they will happily take an extra 18 hours charge at 4 amps before showing full charge. Got me stumped.

I seem to recall another member on here had the same problem as yourself, and it was the stereo causing the drain on the battery.

HTH

Edited 22 December, 200916 yr by MoggyTech

I seem to recall another member on here had the same problem as yourself, and it was the stereo causing the drain on the battery.

Think he had an aftermarket amp (or sub?) which wasn't turning off.

Well another few days have passed I had the battery re checked by Halfords and said it was fine !! came to start it this morning and it was flat again , Looks like i will have to fork out and take it too a auto electician, As the batterys draining when the cars locked up , Put meter across reading 8volts from battery , Might put the std headunit back in to see if that makes a diffrence, as i currently have a sony mp3 bluetooth in there- but I always turn it offf and take the front display out.

Anyone else had these issues??

Might put the std headunit back in to see if that makes a diffrence, as i currently have a sony mp3 bluetooth in there- but I always turn it off and take the front display out.

Try taking the radio fuse out overnight - Fuse 42, 15Amp, third fuse position up on the left vertical row. The bottom position is fuse 44 for heated seats and may not have a fuse in it.

Easier than taking out the radio.

it is battery season though, we've sold 8 today already

it is battery season though, we've sold 8 today already

tell me about it, got called out at 4am this morning to a truck with flat batteries. charge your battery and see what voltage it is when its not connected to anything then put it on the car with everything turned off and locked up and test voltage again, i'd also put the original radio back in

My brother's 110 TDi has exactly the same issue - several batteries (using the AA warrantee), new alternator & the wiring, new fuse box.

Extensive investigations by car electronics 'experts' (Lucas trained or whatever) - no problem could be detected.

Sometime it would be fine. Other times it would drain the battery flat in a few days - but no drain could be found!!!!

Gave up trying to solve it in the end and bought a battery isolator for a few quid - inconvenient, but not as much as random flat batteries.

Whilst researching the problem (it seems quite common) things suggested were a faulty central convenience unit and a faulty brake light switch - didn't apply in his case.

It's obviously a fault as my L&K can be left for 6 weeks and still start no problem.