2012 Mondeo Titanium 163-manual gearbox. Parked up as normal last night but unable to access the car this morning via remote. Renewed remote battery but still nothing. AA came and found remotes ok but car battery completely flat. Jump started ok. Carried out tests and found alternator charging ok and battery taking charge but there appears to be serious drain. AA unable to pinpoint the drain. Anyone have similar issues or ideas? Owned the car for 6 months and no battery/starting issue until now. As far as I can see everything was turned off overnight.

Do you have the stock radio installed or aftermarket?

Hi JR243,

Thanks for the reply. The radio is the stock unit. Any reason for asking about it.

Ed

49 minutes ago, Ed Nugent said:

Hi JR243,

Thanks for the reply. The radio is the stock unit. Any reason for asking about it.

Ed

Just above the glovebox behind the dash lives the bluetooth module. When the stock radio is replaced with aftermarket the bluetooth module stays live searching for bluetooth devices as its the radio that tells it to turn off. A very common battery drainer. 

Hi, it probably  won't have been 'completely' flat, just less than  12volts, as that's the threshold voltage where the electronics cease to function. 

Need to Google how to find parasitic battery drain. Be careful to establish how the vehicle is put into deep sleep as you need the vehicle to be in deep sleep to get to the bottom of it so might need to bypass bonnet open switches etc. 

One possible way to try and find this parasitic battery drain, is to use an Amp Meter: connect the Meter between the Battery + terminal and the Battery + Terminal Clamp (DO NOT TRY TO START THE ENGINE! IT WILL (least ways) MELT THE METER WIRES, AND COULD DESTROY THE METER).

Now, you should see what the current drain is, as the Amp Meter will show it. If you now simply pull the Fuses, one at time, checking each time, if the Amps have dropped and by how much, it's possible that you'll find which circuit is drawing enough current to drain the Battery in less than 24hrs.

Replace each Fuse, before moving on to the next one. It could very well be that it's a combination, so make notes, so that you can see which circuits are pulling what Ampage.

Thanks to all for the replies. I have to say that when it comes to electrics I am a complete non starter! Although the suggestion with fuses may be something I could try. Following the second failure when we got the car jump started I noticed the rear tailgate seemed to have popped open and may have triggered the luggage compartment lights on all night. I would not have seen these as the tonneau cover was pulled shut. As I am not sure this could be the issue I have removed the lightbulbs in both luggage compartment lamps to see if this makes any difference. Does anyone think these two lamps being on all night could drain the battery?

18 minutes ago, Ed Nugent said:

Does anyone think these two lamps being on all night could drain the battery?

Well, Ohm's Law tells us that I (Current) = P (Power) over V (Volts).

So, if the Lamp is 5 Watts (the Power) and it's running on a 12 Volt supply, the Current draw is 0.4166 Amps. Given a 60Ah (Amp Hour) Battery, it would take 120 Hours (or there abouts) for that Lamp to drain that Battery: 60Ah means that said Battery can provide 60 Amps for an Hour, or 1 Amp for 60 Hours.

So, even if we have two 5 Watt Lamps, it's still 60 Hours plus. And you said "Parked up as normal last night but unable to access the car this morning...", which is what; 8 Hours?

Thanks-I think I kinda get your calculations. Below is a copy of the report from AA following their initial diagnostic. I can see it mentions open circuit or disruption but as I said before, electrics are not my comfort zone. Does this report mean anything - in English!! - to anyone?

cheers

Ed

Patrol found the following fault code/s:System : Engine control 1 - ZZV / Diesel EDC/CR DCM3.5 V4U000100 - CAN data bus. Error Message : Malfunction.P269F00 - Glow plug for exhaust gas treatment. Error Message : Open circuit or disruption.Drain on battery 2.54 amps at time of test battery good taking 80amps charging 14.89 volts

Well, "Open circuit" means that it's not working, that is to say that an Open Circuit, will not consume any Power at all. That said, a 2.54 Amp load is relatively large and could drain a 60Ah battery in around 20 Hours. You need to understand that the more a battery is drained, the lower the Voltage becomes, and as a result, the quicker that any given load will deplete whatever Voltage remains: it a ever increasing (so far as the Voltage drain goes) factor.

To add: the Battery only needs to dip to less that around 10.5V before it's unable to start the engine.

That fault code means the DPF vaporiser isn't working properly.

Not sure if it'll be the cause of your battery drain but it should have a fuse.  The handbook contains a fuse chart.

Thanks again-I really appreciate all the help & advice. Below is the report from second AA diagnostic approx two days after the first: 

This guy seemed to be saying the lamps were responsible for the drain but their equipment was not able to investigate further and recommended going into a Ford dealer. Done this and it is booked in for battery charge and test but not until 23rd August so I need to keep it going. Interestingly since removing the bulbs the car has started trouble free each time. Very confusing!!

Cheers

Ed

 

Started your vehicle, tested your battery, charging system and tested for electrical discharge. The luggage compartment light was found to be switched on and this has discharged your battery. Ensure you switch off all electrical loads when leaving your vehicle. Drive your vehicle for at least 40 minutes or connect a battery charger to fully charge your battery.If you are unable to recharge your battery, you should then consider replacing your battery with a fully recharged battery.