hi, new to this forum. My son has a 57 plate 1.2 Fiesta Zetec.  Left it parked for a couple of days and battery dead (has happened few times before). He took my jump leads and tried to jump start it , at first dash lights were coming on and clicking etc but then nothing and wouldn’t start. I’ve been to car today to try and jump it myself but with leads connected and my van running , even after 5-10 minutes there’s nothing , even the lights on the dash are not coming on. Any ideas please ? Thanks 

Needs a new battery.

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Needs a new battery.

Thanks, even it were completely dead, would the power from my vehicle not be enough to at least get the dash warning lights etc on?

I would immediately say STOP trying to jump start it, you risk causing damage to various modules. As Tom has said you need a new battery. I also suspect that you possibly have a short-circuit alternator which is placing a massive load on the cars electrical system.

Using a multimeter measure the voltage across the battery terminals, if it is less than 10V the battery has failed and it's not going to recharge. If the voltage is less that 6V you very probably have an alternator with a failed rectifier pack.

I read a post a while ago where someone crossed the leads when jumping, pos to neg etc, and fried a module or two.

Not me so I don’t know if this is a possibility.

 

On second thoughts, are your jump leads ok, I’ve had the lightweight aluminium leads fail just when I needed them.you might see signs of overheating in the location of the failure if this is the case.

 

Did you resolve the problem. I have a similar issue with my car.

i disconnected the battery and on reconnecting it was completely dead.

35 minutes ago, Lawrence Rowley said:

Did you resolve the problem. I have a similar issue with my car.

i disconnected the battery and on reconnecting it was completely dead.

Are the connections the right way round?  Sounds like one of them is loose if the battery was disconnected and reconnected in a short space of time. 

If the battery has been disconnected for a while then it's probably just drained.  Old car batteries don't hold charge for long even when disconnected.