Hi there back in March 2010 I posted about my 3rd batt replacement in 18 months. I'm now on my 4th! Car is a Fabia SDi 1.9 Comfort with 104K on the clock. When I had some work done during the summer I asked the repairers (indie VAG mechanics) to look the electrics over in case there were any issues. They couldn't find any problems, but did suggest that it might be the starter motor(?!) To recap; over the past 4+ years I've dropped down from over 20K pa to less than 5K. The car often sits on the drive for 3-4 weeks at a time. I have had issues like I did a couple of days ago, get in, glow plug indicator goes out fairly quickly (2-3 secs) turn the key, battery struggles to fire the car up & no joy.

I have a Maplin's solar panel trickle charger plugged in all the time but that doesn't help (or not much). Do I buy a CTEK charger from Halfords on-line & keep the battery charged up like that, or could this theory of the starter motor hold some credence?

Thing is a starter motor is quite pricey & while I recollect years ago having a car where if the terminals got really dirty (resistance build-up) & stopped the car from starting, I'd be surprised if something similar would happen with a modern unit.

The Scrooge tells me to buy the CTEK charger (£60 - £100 depending on the model) but if it is the starter motor (I have asked the VAG mechanics to give me a quote & tell me why this will work) I'll just have to cough up again.

The thing is if someone comes along & gives me a jump start, the car starts first time & once the battery has got a bit more juice it's OK for another 3-4 months hence my reasoning with the CTEK which can be left connected to the battery in the car all the time.

All ideas gratefully mulled over. This is now getting a pain - I've even considered giving up the car & hiring one only when I need it.

TIA

You will be lucky to get a daily average of 30mA from a 2.5W solar charger, so if you are leaking 200mA it will make little difference.

You need to find the leak and fix it. Ignore the starter motor as the crank speed is not taken into account on a cold start and it gets the car going when jump started. The starter motor will not be the source of the leak.

One way would be to disconnect the battery if the car isn't going to be used for a couple of weeks.

You sure it's charging properly when you DO drive it? It'd only take a few starts minus re-charge from the alternator to flatten a battery. Exciter cable faults seem quite common on here...

where is this exciter cable? I've got my car in the local garage at the moment with a similar problem, but the vagcom also cant communicate with the ecu for some reason possible loose wiring/bad earth?

I'm not precisely sure where or what it does TBH, (other than being connected to the alternator, and being something to do with getting the alternator to charge the battery!) AIUI, the cable has very little slack in it, and so can tug on the terminals, eventually causing the connection to break.

HTH

I'm not precisely sure where or what it does TBH, (other than being connected to the alternator, and being something to do with getting the alternator to charge the battery!) AIUI, the cable has very little slack in it, and so can tug on the terminals, eventually causing the connection to break.

HTH

I'll have a look at that just to be sure & investigate this exciter cable a bit more. If I drive say 30+ miles after one of these episodes, then it's OK for a few months. I never really know if I'm not going to use the car for a few weeks & then there's the aspect of things like radio settings etc to be re-done. Both garage & the battery suppliers have had a go. They say the battery is getting a decent charge. This was borne out on the last occasion. The battery people came & jump started the car. I drove it to their place (all of 2-300 yards). They later told me that when they went to it a few hours later that it started straight away! So if this exciter cable is breaking down or not secured it may be a factor.

Thanks for the responses guys, I'll let you know the outcome should there be a successful one of course.

What you need to do is open the bonnet. Turn everything off. Lock the car and wait a few minutes. Then put an ammeter in series with positive lead to the battery.

Connect the ammeter first and then remove the battery terminal. In that way you never break the circuit.

What is the current?

where is this exciter cable? I've got my car in the local garage at the moment with a similar problem, but the vagcom also cant communicate with the ecu for some reason possible loose wiring/bad earth?

The blue D+ (often labelled L) and brown/red DFM wires are normally clipped to the large diameter alternator cable that goes to the battery. If there are 4 wires the larger 2 will be for the aircon. IIRC, the wires pass through a connector above the starter motor.

A quick check for the D+ is to ensure the alternator warning light in the cluster comes on when you turn on the ignition.

Now THAT's the kind of advice that saves time and trouble! Good effort!

The blue D+ (often labelled L) and brown/red DFM wires are normally clipped to the large diameter alternator cable that goes to the battery. If there are 4 wires the larger 2 will be for the aircon. IIRC, the wires pass through a connector above the starter motor.

A quick check for the D+ is to ensure the alternator warning light in the cluster comes on when you turn on the ignition.

Many thanks for that I'll give it a go in the daylight - need to borrow the meter mentioned earlier.

I noticed tonight though that the immobiliser light isn't lit, was able to open the driver's door but the central locking was having a struggle 'cos of low battery. I'm still tempted to buy one of these CTEK chargers as I'll still need to get some juice into the battery at some point.