help needed battery keeps draining over night :(

[adam661]

as above really battery keeps draining over night or wen left with car off

ive tried leaving the battery disconnected over nite and it seems 2 hold a charge but if left connected it drains

took earths off and cleaned/ replaced.

car doesnt cut out wen driving so im guessing the alternator is ok?
also tried seein if the + sparks when the keys not in ignition and it doesnt?

any ideas?????

[Cutz]

Dead battery, im off to buy mine now, £36.99, lol

Cutz

[adam661]

what even tho it holds charge over nite wen its not connected?

[Steveman]

Sounds like you may have a faulty electrical connection somewhere which is draining the battery. You say the battery doesn't drain when it is not connected which suggests that something somewhere in the car is still drawing power when the engine is switched of.

To trace the offending electrical device you'll need a muiltmeter and a lot of patience as find it is trial and error.

[adam661]

yhh thats what ive been told :( i have noticed when wheels on full lock the headlights dim???? could this be related?

[sammy90]

ive had this problem i thought it was my amp but it was just the cold weather killed my battery. i put a spare on now it fine.

[LDeere683]

i had this problem, it was my amp that kept draining it before as my remote wire was not in properly

[Mike_420]

yhh thats what ive been told :( i have noticed when wheels on full lock the headlights dim???? could this be related?

that is due to the power from the power steering pump so ive been told, as it uses quite a bit of battery power

[adam661]

i had this problem, it was my amp that kept draining it before as my remote wire was not in properly

ive had the power off from the amp over night and the battery still drained so it cant be that surly???

[Cutz]

Well i had this problem, didnt try disconnecting, just didnt lock the car up and it was fine. But all sorted as i bought a new battery. Get it tested at a garage.

Cutz

[addyt_vtr]

i would get your battery tested mate

[adam661]

yhh think i may well do lol

[RichyBoiVTR]

if you got tune in the boot its more than likely a killed battery i used to have this a lot with all my other cars.....

[squeaky]

i had the same problem so i disconected the black alarm box under the dash and that sorted the problem straight away, but it could also be a bad earth from the alternator etc ...

[Meto]

Could be the boot light... You'll see if its on through the gaps in the parcel shelf.

[saxojh]

If it drains only when connected to the car then i would say it quite possibly a bad earth. This happended to a mates gti and it turned out to be a bad earth. Have a check of them and spray them with wd40. Helps the connection out.

[mickyfinn]

mine does the same thing but only in the cold weather totally lame freezing cold and i got to mess about with jumpleads :(

[deks36]

had this with my neighbours car disconnected boot light problem stopped so might be worth a try on yours

[vtcarl]

mine this morning was not far off dead. had to use the jump leads to start it and now i have the engine managment light on. any ideas what will of caused it? :wall:

[123-samsung123]

You need to disconnect the negetive lead on the battery terminal, using a amp meter/voltmeter, reconnect the battery negetive lead inline with the amp/voltmeter. Now check the amp drain from the battery, 0.03 to 0.10 good no drain. if its reads 0.50 to 1.00 you have a cosumable draining the battery! Then you need to find it. Look at all radio/amps etc, make sure no interior lights are staying on. If all ok, You need to start pulling fuses from the fuse boxes whist watching the ampmeter when the reading drops to 0.03, You know what curcuit in the vehcle the drain is on. Hope this helps. You could just have a simple battery fault, have you cleaned all the terminals, earths etc?

[Itz_Jamez]

Its just a dead battery, had the same.

[vtcarl]

had a test on the electrics on the car. found that the starter was to blame. would still turn over as normal but due to an internal problem with it, it drew a huge amount from the battery when starting. replaced with a recon unit and all is fine.

[Britabroad]

I had this exact problem. Turned out that water was managing to seep in through where the aerial is on the roof and was shorting out on the interior lights. I noticed one odd drip from the interior light fitting, which alerted me after weeks of trying to figure it out. Sealed the aerial to the roof with silicone sealand and the problem stopped. Just wish all the other things wrong with it were so easy.

[stevo67]

Disconect the alternator overnight,then get the alternator tested.

[sexysaxo_dan]

sounds like you have a parasitic drain somewhere (a component that drains the battery when it shouldn't) check yours earths and check various connections for any signs of green or rust. You can also use a multimeter to check connections too. First of all though id drop test your battery. Just buy a drop tester set it to the right setting and test your battery disconnected and in a charged state. Or you could just buy a new battery and see if that solves the problem.

[konark]

Charge the battery up and then check the voltage between the terminals; the voltage should be over 12.6V.

Put it in the car and try and start it, if it starts check the voltage with the engine running, it should be 13.5 to 14.5Volts, if it's less than the battery voltage the alternator is not charging and the battery will be slowly discharging as you drive around. The next time you try to start the engine it will struggle. The battery charging light may not come on as the alternator is giving some voltage but not enough to charge.

If the battery won't start the car after charging it's scrap.