Morning Everyone,

Firstly, please excuse my lack of knowledge on this and be gentle with me haha.

I have an 08 S Max Titanium.

For the past month we have been trying to identify a parasitic drain that is draining the battery in 24 hours.
 

Initially thought it was a faulty instrument cluster due to flashing and speedos dropping out and had this sent off for for repair to be told no obvious issues. (Footnote - removing that bad boy is not as simple as the youtube videos tell you is it?!)

An autoelectrician spent 2 hours checking the fuses and found nothing obvious. He’s going to have it back for a few days to investigate further.

Its had a new battery and alternator in the past 4 months so unlikely to be related to those. When the alternator was fitted though it appears that the cable to the alternator wasnt tight enough and arcing but thats been tightened and a washer added.

We thought it may be the central locking but I left unlocked last night and it’s still flattening although did start stubbornly this morning. However ‘front light malfunction’ appeared which usually happens as the battery is about to go flat.

Is there anything that I should suggest the electrician to investigate further? I’ve read in other forums water ingress in the alarm unit and a faulty bluetooth module could also cause issues.

It’s a massive drain (i’m sorry I don’t know the number) and yet there’s no obvious culprit. I’m a single mum of 3 and thanks to the schools shutting and self employment and Covid, I’m just not in a financial position to give up on it. Especially as it had a ‘new’ engine in over the summer when the cambelt/chain thing decided to break on me. 

Thanks for getting this far and any help would be gladly received!

Samantha

Check boot light is going out when the boot is closed 🙂

5 minutes ago, dezwez said:

Check boot light is going out when the boot is closed 🙂

Thanks Dezwez, just double checked that and it’s definitely going off when closed! I keep hoping it’s something as simple as that but it’s not looking that way 😂

The parasitic drain on my ford is the stereo/nav system. I've had it removed completely for now and no more flat battery!! Unfortunately the garage haven't got a fix for me yet though ☹