djsubtronic Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Hello Since the beginning of this year, my battery has been dead three times on random mornings even after the car was used the night before. I even replaced the battery as I thought it might just be a faulty battery but sure enough a few weeks later one morning it was fully dead, even a jumpstart pack wouldn't work, had to be jumped by another car. And I had even driven the car around midnight the night before so within 8 hours something completely drained the battery. I understand there are things like parasitic drain but short of testing for this every single night and hope it's one of the random drain nights is sort of an unfeasable task... so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas what it might be, or if they experienced something like this before what could possibly be draining the battery so fast but only on random nights? I definitely turn all the lights and accessories off, cleaned out the 12V sockets etc. It sucks not knowing if my car will start every morning or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sussamb Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 I'd suspect a faulty switch somewhere. You say lights turn off but have you checked boot light, or even glove box light, are turning off? Maybe try removing the bulbs and see if the fault remains? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 13 minutes ago, sussamb said: I'd suspect a faulty switch somewhere. You say lights turn off but have you checked boot light, or even glove box light, are turning off? Maybe try removing the bulbs and see if the fault remains? I didn't remove the bulbs but I checked every single light - boot, glovebox, footwell, etc, everything is off. Disconnected dashcam, made sure all HVAC and wiper switches were physically set to the off position etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Turn everything off and close all doors, turn lights off. Disconnect the battery negative and put an amp meter in series with the battery. It should read around 0.03A Monitor it every half hour and see if it changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Kevin#95 said: Turn everything off and close all doors, turn lights off. Disconnect the battery negative and put an amp meter in series with the battery. It should read around 0.03A Monitor it every half hour and see if it changes. I been meaning to try this, but since the drain only seems to happen once every 2-3 weeks, it's hard to do this on a daily basis, so just wondering if there's any potential suspects that might already be known to do this for the MK2.5... checking for drain with a multimeter is going to be the last resort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 You should be able to tell what is causing the extra drain fairly quickly. If the drain is constant at 0.1A then a charged battery will flatten after a few weeks. The extra drain is most likely there all the time. Using the car will put a lot more charge into the battery so you will not notice any problems until a few weeks later. Might be caused by a relay that is stuck on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 If I am not mistaken, while the multimeter is connected, am I to remove one fuse at a time until the drain drops to around 0.03-0.05? And then look up what's on that fuse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Yes. If the current goes up that might be some circuit turning on because the fuse was removed. The is no easy way to find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 When using the meter make sure to put the red meter wire in the correct place. Use 10 Amps socket on the meter for measuring amps. If later using the meter to measure voltage, put the red lead in the Volts socket of the meter. Never measure voltage on the meter with the red wire connected to the Amps socket. A quicker test you can do without disconnecting the battery or pulling fuses is to set the meter to measure mV, and with the red meter lead connected to Volts. Measure across each fuse at the metal bits on its top, while it is still plugged in. With the ignition off and all lights off and doors shut. If the fuse is carrying current (parasitic), it will have a few millivolts across it. So a fuse not carrying current should read around 1mV. A fuse leaking parasitic current could show around 5mV or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comares2001 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Better still use a "clamp meter " .You won't need disconnect anything then to measure any current drain on battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Agree. A clamp meter is the safest way to measure the parasitic current. Make sure it can read mA. This together with reading across the fuses with a meter set to mV is the best way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manclad72 Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 I had this once on a MK2 focus went into ford as was still under warranty and turned out to be the radio,they changed the radio and never happened again...how and why it should be the radio us anyone's guess but it did cure the issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 Thanks for the replies guys - I have an aftermarket radio, I'll try disconnecting it and seeing if it still happens. I tried doing the parasitic drain test using a multimeter but this doesn't work. So today the car didn't start so before jumping it I checked the battery voltage: 10.9 V. Then I disconnected the negative cable and put the multimeter in there in series on the 10A setting, and I got a reading of 0. So it seems, as soon as the battery is disconnected, whatever was causing the drain stops doing so. Looks like I may have to buy a clamp meter. I've never used one before and no idea how to - do you think this one would do the job? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meterk-Multimeter-Capacitance-Resistance-Temperature/dp/B073Y162BZ?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_8 Edit: I realised the one above doesn't read DC current which I would need for the battery, how about this one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACM91-Auto-Ranging-Temperature-Capacitance-Impedance/dp/B07G84XDWH/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=dc+clamp+meter&qid=1585766297&sr=8-10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcaouolte Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 The description for that one says that it does AC current. You need one that does DC current. DC Current clamp meters are a bit harder to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 1 minute ago, pcaouolte said: The description for that one says that it does AC current. You need one that does DC current. DC Current clamp meters are a bit harder to find. Thanks I just edited my post - https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACM91-Auto-Ranging-Temperature-Capacitance-Impedance/dp/B07G84XDWH/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=dc+clamp+meter&qid=1585766297&sr=8-10 I found this one for a reasonable price, think it should work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcaouolte Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Yes, that one should work or this one which is a bit cheaper: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UT204A-Digital-Handheld-Multimeter-Voltmeter/dp/B00LSL1PZE/ref=sr_1_1_sspa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 The acm91 shown in the picture is reading across a battery showing 0.039A, which is what you would expect to see. I would go for that one as you can see it being used on a car battery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 I'll order one of these and see how that goes. Meanwhile I'm trying to keep an eye on the voltage of the battery (as that's all I can measure). It was 12.9 V when I finished my 30 minute drive, and I hooked up the multimeter and watched it slowly depete to 12.7 V within about 5-10 minutes. And then about 2 hours later when it measured 12.3 V. Does this sound like normal drain? Because if not it seems like going from happening only ever one-two weeks it's happening all the time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 The drop from 12.7 to 12.3 is just the battery settling down after being given a charge. This battery is probably not new and is a bit on the low side. Probably has about half the charge of a new one. Might just be a poor battery that is losing charge internally. If the clamp does not show any current increase then the battery is suspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 It's actually a new battery, I just bought it in February and it's a Bosch S5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin#95 Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 If you take the battery out of the car and charge it, it should take a day or more to fully charge and the voltage should stay above 12.6v I would expect it to stay at 12.8 to 12.9 for a new battery after a few hours of being left outside of the car. If after a few hours of being fully charged it drops down to 12.2 then something is not right. Could be one cell is weak and only holding 50% charge. Tell the shop that the battery is bad and ask for a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 I just tried to start the car this morning and the battery was at 11.9V (down from 12.3V last night). But the car actually started up fine, took it for a 10 minute drive the battery is back to 12.7V. Could the drop in voltage be due to whatever is causing the parasitic drain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 Got an update... so I received my clamp meter today and put it on the battery. The current draw was around 0.5 A (which seems really high). I then pulled every fuse one by one and the only one which dropped the current at all was 107 which is the instrument cluster & diagnostics fuse, drawing about 0.3 A. So it then dropped to 0.19 A (which I guess seems a little on the high side, but acceptable? or not?) So ... any ideas why the instrument cluster is drawing that much current even after the car has been switched off and locked? I did notice that the mileage screen is always showing even after the car is left idle and locked for an hour. Do I need to reset diagnostic settings maybe? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 I posted this over a year ago, seems like the dash back light staying on is normal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djsubtronic Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 12 minutes ago, StephenFord said: I posted this over a year ago, seems like the dash back light staying on is normal... Maybe the odo staying on is normal but should it be drawing 0.3A??? That's the main concern here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Ford UK Shop
Sponsored Ad
Name: eBay
Ford Model: FordUK Shop
Ford Year: 2024
Latest Deals
Ford UK Shop for genuine Ford parts & accessoriesDisclaimer: As the club is an eBay Partner, The club may be compensated if you make a purchase via the club
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.