DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hi Guy's (sorry don't mean to be sexist, I suppose there is the odd girl or ladyboy outthere, lol) Anyway here goes with my problem:- The battery light keeps coming on sometimes flickering and some times for a good few seconds, i have replaced the alternator and belt and fully charged two different car battery's, but every morning when i go to start her she tries turning over and drains the battery in less than 10 seconds flat, anyone got any ideas please, when i first bought the car 18 months ago it was really fast for a diesel then i found out it was an ex C.I.D police car, it still has a spare battery tray mounting in the boot with the extra wiring loom on show at the side of it, would it be possible to connect that loom to a battery and use it for a set of tellys and dvd player in the back for my kids. The car turns over strongly then gets weaker and weaker before clicking, then my battery dies, i have never had probs with this battery in 18 months i have had the car, i bought a new one costing £69 a flattened that also, when the batterys are flat if i connect a battery charger with start ability it will fire up no problem and start first time for the rest of the day, its only when i leave it for 5 or 6 hours or overnight that it wont fire up , Any help would be much appreciated as the wife wont drive the car till it's sorted, that means getting a cab home from the pub lad's and they never seem to have one when you need one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hello welcome to wim. Sorry to state the obvious but since the battery is inert, the fact the charge is lost overnight suggests "something" is draining the reserves.. As a simple test disconnect the + lead and see if the car starts in the morning... If yes then you need to trace the drain.... If no then the battery is literally dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorps Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Faulty boot light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hello welcome to wim. Sorry to state the obvious but since the battery is inert, the fact the charge is lost overnight suggests "something" is draining the reserves.. As a simple test disconnect the + lead and see if the car starts in the morning... If yes then you need to trace the drain.... If no then the battery is literally dead. I will give it ago mate,cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 or a dodgy earth lead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Faulty boot light? Bootlight working fine my friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Faulty boot light? Bootlight working fine my friend As odd as it may read, "triangulation" actually works!.... Backtrack and analyse the moment things went wrong. From this you can find the criminal, then with advice test the suggestions offered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Faulty boot light? Bootlight working fine my friend As odd as it may read, "triangulation" actually works!.... Backtrack and analyse the moment things went wrong. From this you can find the criminal, then with advice test the suggestions offered. Im gonna sound stupid now, I've had this problem for quite sometime now and have just got used to starting my car everymorning with the booster charger, its only in the last week or so that i have been brave enough to try and tackle the problem by changing alternator battery and alternator belt, i havent worked on my car myself before then, and even though i have now and its not sorted i thing i have caught some sort of d.i.y bug, lol, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Faulty boot light? Bootlight working fine my friend As odd as it may read, "triangulation" actually works!.... Backtrack and analyse the moment things went wrong. From this you can find the criminal, then with advice test the suggestions offered. Im gonna sound stupid now, I've had this problem for quite sometime now and have just got used to starting my car everymorning with the booster charger, its only in the last week or so that i have been brave enough to try and tackle the problem by changing alternator battery and alternator belt, i havent worked on my car myself before then, and even though i have now and its not sorted i thing i have caught some sort of d.i.y bug, lol, No one is ever deemed as "stupid" in wim! Can you suggest how healthy the battery is after it's fully charged? good, bad. ugly? Also have you had the alternator output measured.... simple multimeter test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Faulty boot light? Bootlight working fine my friend As odd as it may read, "triangulation" actually works!.... Backtrack and analyse the moment things went wrong. From this you can find the criminal, then with advice test the suggestions offered. Im gonna sound stupid now, I've had this problem for quite sometime now and have just got used to starting my car everymorning with the booster charger, its only in the last week or so that i have been brave enough to try and tackle the problem by changing alternator battery and alternator belt, i havent worked on my car myself before then, and even though i have now and its not sorted i thing i have caught some sort of d.i.y bug, lol, No one is ever deemed as "stupid" in wim! Can you suggest how healthy the battery is after it's fully charged? good, bad. ugly? Also have you had the alternator output measured.... simple multimeter test. I havent had alternator checked as the one i put on it came of my mates car and was working perfect, the battery loses power rather quickly whilst i drive and towards the end of the day car wont start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 No one is ever deemed as "stupid" in wim! Can you suggest how healthy the battery is after it's fully charged? good, bad. ugly? Also have you had the alternator output measured.... simple multimeter test. I havent had alternator checked as the one i put on it came of my mates car and was working perfect, the battery loses power rather quickly whilst i drive and towards the end of the day car wont start You need to have the alternator tested for charge..... It's a simple 10 second test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 I havent had alternator checked as the one i put on it came of my mates car and was working perfect, the battery loses power rather quickly whilst i drive and towards the end of the day car wont start must sayif its losing power that quick then it does sound like a alternator problem,or could be the condenser{little black box on the back of it} mite be worth gettin it checked a.s.a most places should do this for free worm welcome to you aswell m8...you here from meg too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 I havent had alternator checked as the one i put on it came of my mates car and was working perfect, the battery loses power rather quickly whilst i drive and towards the end of the day car wont start must sayif its losing power that quick then it does sound like a alternator problem,or could be the condenser{little black box on the back of it} mite be worth gettin it checked a.s.a most places should do this for free worm welcome to you aswell m8...you here from meg too? Yes mate got given a link to here from Siace1 today whilst on fordmondeo.org, i only found that site last week, these places are excellent i must say :rolleyes_anim: can an alternator be tested when not on the car as i have took the damn thing off again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Yes mate got given a link to here from Siace1 today whilst on fordmondeo.org, i only found that site last week, these places are excellent i must say :rolleyes_anim: can an alternator be tested when not on the car as i have took the damn thing off again? yes it can youll have to find an auto electrics place i think..... if it was on the car you could take it to your nearest crap fit or somwere like that and thay put a metre on your batterie to see what voltage its puttin out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Yes mate got given a link to here from Siace1 today whilst on fordmondeo.org, i only found that site last week, these places are excellent i must say :rolleyes_anim: can an alternator be tested when not on the car as i have took the damn thing off again? yes it can youll have to find an auto electrics place i think..... if it was on the car you could take it to your nearest crap fit or somwere like that and thay put a metre on your batterie to see what voltage its puttin out. :questionmark: is it possible to take that little black box thingy of one alternator and put it on another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Put a volt reader on the battery with the engine on, it should read 12V when idle. Rev the engine to 3K RPM and hold it for a minute or 2 and the reading should be around 14V but no more than 14.9V (I think) Test it again under load, 3K RPM, rear screen switched on and the headlights on. Again, should still be reading around 14V. If it isn't and it's still on 12V then the alternator ain't charging the battery. Had this problem on mine and changed the whole alternator, problem went. The black bit Jammy is talking about is the voltage regulator, this is held on with 4 torx bolts. Attached to this are the brushes, check the length of them. Anything less than 5mm and it needs replacing. You can get the regulator off without taking the alternator off. If it's not the alternator then it could be the loom. Have you checked the terminals for corrosion or any oil that may be on them? Mine were covered from oil that had leaked from the EGR value. Hope this helps :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Put a volt reader on the battery with the engine on, it should read 12V when idle. Rev the engine to 3K RPM and hold it for a minute or 2 and the reading should be around 14V but no more than 14.9V (I think) Test it again under load, 3K RPM, rear screen switched on and the headlights on. Again, should still be reading around 14V. If it isn't and it's still on 12V then the alternator ain't charging the battery. Had this problem on mine and changed the whole alternator, problem went. The black bit Jammy is talking about is the voltage regulator, this is held on with 4 torx bolts. Attached to this are the brushes, check the length of them. Anything less than 5mm and it needs replacing. You can get the regulator off without taking the alternator off. If it's not the alternator then it could be the loom. Have you checked the terminals for corrosion or any oil that may be on them? Mine were covered from oil that had leaked from the EGR value. Hope this helps Thanks Essex Racer will be puttin alternator back on in morning and will give it a go :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 No worries :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbo Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 The immediate problem seems to be that you have a an unwanted battery current drain, same effect as leaving your lights on all night. First job is to insulate all those connectors in the boot, should they be shorting together or to the body work then this would drain the battery and be a potential fire hazard. Second you need to check with an ammeter in series with the negative battery connector to see if a large unwanted current is flowing. To drain a fully charged battery sufficiently to give starting problems next morning then the unwanted current would be in the order of several amps. If you do disconnect the battery beware you may need your code to reset the radio but I'm not sure if this is the case with the Mondeo radio. The only other problem that I have come across with severe battery drain is a faulty starter motor but since yours is Ok with a fresh battery then maybe not. I guess if you are unsure of these checks then you need a good "sparks" to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselPete Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 The immediate problem seems to be that you have a an unwanted battery current drain, same effect as leaving your lights on all night.First job is to insulate all those connectors in the boot, should they be shorting together or to the body work then this would drain the battery and be a potential fire hazard. Second you need to check with an ammeter in series with the negative battery connector to see if a large unwanted current is flowing. To drain a fully charged battery sufficiently to give starting problems next morning then the unwanted current would be in the order of several amps. If you do disconnect the battery beware you may need your code to reset the radio but I'm not sure if this is the case with the Mondeo radio. The only other problem that I have come across with severe battery drain is a faulty starter motor but since yours is Ok with a fresh battery then maybe not. I guess if you are unsure of these checks then you need a good "sparks" to help Thanks for the advice everyone, and thanks for the tip about covering connectors in the boot Jimbo, going to take her to kwik-fit now to get test done, will update later :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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