Battery Drain

[rusty123]

Right. Its a mondeo diesel. I've had it a couple of months. Since having it,I've put a new reverse light switch on it and a new starter motor. I went to redditch in it the other day,parked up at tesco in redditch,was in there for about 15 mins,came back out,put ignition on,all dials on dash went all way round like they do when you connect the battery,tried to start the car which it did but very weakily. Drove it round to my moms about 10 mins away. Parked it up,tried to start it and battery was dead. Managed to bump start it,drove it back to mine in bewdley from redditch. As soon as i parked up i turned it off and tried to restart but battery was still dead. I've taken battery off and charged it last night and it fired straight up.

[rusty123]

Since charging battery and putting it back on yesterday i have used the car bit but today I had to go worcester in it (about 30 mins from mine) It started ok to go there,when i started it to come home,you could hear the battery was struggling a bit and then on way home the battery light came up on dash,about 5 mins later the abs light came on also then just before i got home those lights went off but the dials stopped working speedo,revs,petrol guage and temp.the when i parked up outside mine and turned the headlights off the dials started to work again .almost like it hadn't got enough power to power headlights and dash display at once. Oh and i tried to start it after i turned it off and battery is dead again

[Stoney871]

It sounds like the battery is shot.

First check if it's a silver calcium battery, if not then it's the wrong type for a Ford and will cause all manner of problems.

If you still have problems then suspect a dodgy connection somewhere or an intermittent alternator fault, have you had the battery light flash up at any time while driving?

[stooge75]

yep.alternator. wow,2 folk in one day with what looks like alternator fault. see other post below(re dmf/starter etc).I have a new alternator only done 500 miles if you want it at good price.

[rusty123]

Its a fairly new battery (was on car when bought it) but i wouldn't think it was one of the special silver ones.and the only time I've had the battery light on was tonight on the way home.

[stooge75]

its your alternator then. doesnt matter how new the battery is,or how expensive,if the alternator cant get enough juice back into it,its kaput

actually,after reading our post again.mmmm.maybe not.what about trying to find out whats drawing current in your car when its switched off/not running?theres maybe something like a parasitic drain thats drainig current when it shouldnt be.

have a look at this to see what i mean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0

[Stoney871]

If the battery light has flashed up then yes it's the alternator.

Over time the carbon brushes wear down beyond the ability for the brush springs to maintain constant pressure on the contacts.

This produces a condition where intermittent/poor charging occurs, therefore the battery is put under strain supplying power to run everything instead of the alternator doing most of the work.

The old temporary fix is to hit the alternator with a rubber mallet to shock the brushes out a bit further thus extending the alternator life for a few weeks (worked on an old Honda I owned for about 3 months).

[rusty123]

I replaced the starter on it a week or so ago. could that have anything to do with it/could i have done something to cause the problem or do you think its pretty much deffo gonna be alternator

[Stoney871]

May be worth checking the starter solenoid connections.

[stooge75]

Good thinkin stoney. Sorry rusty,but did you not have this problem before replacing starter?

[rusty123]

I haven't had the car long. I had to replace starter within about a month of buying it and during that time no i never had this problem.

[stooge75]

As stoney said,check starter & go from there

[BOF]

@stooge75

yep.alternator. wow,2 folk in one day with what looks like alternator fault.

Well, as the other thread (http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/48318-starterdmf-or-what/) was started by the same person, I think we can probably make that 1 folk rather than 2.

And, just to repeat stuff from the other thread, on the evidence available, the problem isn't battery drain. The problem is battery charging. Alternator or wiring. Normally, you'd bet alternator, but as wiring is a whole lot cheaper and less aggro, you'd want to check wiring first. In this case, as the wiring will have been disturbed in doing the starter, that goes double.

Also, you can try putting the battery on charge immediately after use - a normally charged battery won't take much charge, but yours will probably slurp charge for 12 hours, before its thirst is sated (and then should be good for, say, an hour's driving with air con, fan, lights off, before starting to struggle).

[rusty123]

I've had it looked at. Apparently its the alternator. They put a multimeter on the lead coming out of it and apparently its not giving anything out. So looks like fun times ahead replacing alternate. Thanks for help everyone.

[stooge75]

at least you now know the problem. piece a p*** to change over.just 3 bolts & a nut(after liner is removed & get droplink outta the way). Ya'd be better with tensioner tool though

[rusty123]

You seen to know more about these things then me. If my alternator is shot how come i can use the car for 2-3 days without the battery dying? If it wasn't getting a charge surely it would die alot sooner?? I put a multimeter on the battery just and it read 12.50 engine off and 12.30 engine on.the last time i charged the battery was Monday night and have used the car daily since then. Surely the battery should have less charge in it than that if alternators not doing its job?

[stooge75]

The alternator should put out more than that so probably duff alternator. And you wont find out IF theres another problem til you rectify the main one 1st. Also,alternator can just start to fail so will work intermittently til it wont put out the required current at all

[BOF]

You seen to know more about these things then me. If my alternator is shot how come i can use the car for 2-3 days without the battery dying? If it wasn't getting a charge surely it would die alot sooner??

You are probably getting some charge. In daytime driving (no lights, no a/c, no heated windows, no heated seats) the car current consumption isn't that high, although it does climb markedly if you switch those big electrical loads on. Given the capacity of a battery, you take some time to 'wear it down', and if you are even putting a small average current into it, that will take longer.

The exact current:voltage profile of the alternator can only be guessed at, but the battery isn't getting enough charge overall. You have to look at your other thread for the critical information:

@rusty123, here

I had to go worcester in it today. It started ok round go there,when i started it to come home,you could hear the battery was struggling a bit and then on way home the battery light came up on dash,about 5 mins later the abs light came on also then just before i got home those lights went off but the dials stopped working speedo,revs,petrol guage and temp.the when i parked up outside mine and turned the headlights off the dials started to work again .almost like it hadn't got enough power to power headlights and dash display at once. Oh and i tried to start it after i turned it off and battery is dead again

and

Managed to bump start it,drove it home about 25 miles away,tried it again outside my house as soon as id parked up and turned ignition off and nothing,completely dead. Didn't even attempt to start.

but when the battery is flat, shortly after the vehicle has had an extended run, it isn't a low average current drain over an extended period (overnight or longer) that's doing it. If charging is working properly, 25 miles ought to be enough to get the battery substantially charged.

That said, you could probably also achieve this state by connecting up something that took 40+ amps all the time the car was running, and then even a good alternator wouldn't be able to keep up, but you might be able to find that on on dark nights by looking for the dull red glow-y thing under the bonnet. And it would need an almost heroic level of bad practice with the work on the starter to get there without having any idea that something was wrong.

I put a multimeter on the battery just and it read 12.50 engine off and 12.30 engine on

With the engine running (that is what you mean, isn't it?) and no big loads running, the battery voltage should go up (slightly) and yours goes down. At that condition, the battery isn't getting as much charge as it should. Maybe it gets a more reasonable level of charge once the alternator is doing a few thousand rpm, maybe it doesn't. But then, who cares, provided that you fix the right fault?

If you don't feel happy with the advice that you've been given, just take it to a garage and pay them to fix it. That way, you'll have someone to complain at, if it goes wrong.

[nach]

i have ford mondeo titanium 2l ecoboost 2012 model which wouldn't start now and again it has happend seven times in just over a year now battery goes so flat that can't even unlock the door with remote.