Mx 5 battery problems

rugbyman

i bought a slightly damaged 07 mx 5 last year and fixed it up. it would never start after two days lying up. so i bought a new battery. nothing has changed.

i am fairly competent ,but can get no further on this, the battery when charged shows 12 plus volts, the charging rate is up on 14 volts,

I am prepared to get a garage to check it out but the garage owner cannot stimate the time and therefore the cost.

yesterday i jumped it , drovwe around for half an hour , it did re start ,three times ,but not a fourth. not too worried, just needs more charging.

Anyway left her charging all night on my aldi 50 euro posh looking charger, no joy.

this baffles me, perhaps charging it with the battery in car and connected up is not a good idea, ( since clearly there is a drain somewhere)




so if i were to go about solving this myself, when i get the battery charged, where do i begin,?

regards

rugbyman

looking back through that its a bit garbled

Alanstrainor

Is there an aftermarket radio? Anything that could be draining the battery?

grogi

rugbyman wrote: »

so if i were to go about solving this myself, when i get the battery charged, where do i begin,?

regards

Check the leakage current. Anything bigger than 20mA is not desireable, but in your case you'll have leakage of hundreds I guess.

Keep the multimeter connected and start taking the fuses out. At one stage there should be a drop in the leakage. You'll know which circuit drains the battery then.

savagethegoat

is the Alternator actually charging the battery?

rugbyman

Thanks for replies. When I jump start the car and drive for half an hour or more, the car will start, so alternator is working. Some time ago I measured the output of alternator and it was good.

Re the radio, think its original, but will try the remove fuses route

Thanks

godtabh

anything plugged in that you thought might be turned off but actually draining a batter? ie phone charge

Notch000

check the battery leads 7 connector heads, i had water colecting in the boot/battery area in my mk2 and it was corroding the leads, lead to a lot of starting issues, only noticed when they literally crumbles in my hands

JohnBoy26

A faulty boot light switch can cause it too where the light remains on when the boot is shut. It can drain the battery quickly enough too.

rugbyman

thanks for all suggestions.

i jumped it ,drove 20 miles and left it running for an hour. it re started ,just and then would not start. i was in a garage at the time they jumoed me with the cutedtlittle booster pack id ever seen, this same device told them my battery was knackered. only seven months old.

i got a new one on warranty ,but i am not sure the car was not the cause of my woes.

Regards

Alun

It can happen .. my wife's old car had a brand new battery fitted at a Toyota main dealer and it was completely shot after only 6 months. They replaced it under warranty and the new one gave no problems at all.