Ford Focus 2004 1.8 Tddi Battery Issue

[tonydb]

Hi guys ,

I just got his car quite cheap from my uncle. he did tell me about 1 issue he has been having with it though. It was only really used as a work horse on the weekend taking his sons to football etc. But he did say that once every 2 weeks he had to take the battery out and charge it up indoors as it would of died. Now he has had 3 new alternators and 3 new batteries in 4 years so its not those.I've looked on the net and seen many a video about parasitic battery drain ,but if this was the case the small drain it does have to kill the battery in 2 weeks ,shouldn't the driving of the car charge that back up again?

I'm no auto electrician but I am an electrician so ill be performing the multimeter and fuse pulling task over the weekend hopefully ill find something easy to remedy. I really hope this isn't a big issue as this is a really nice car for what I've paid for it.

anyway first time poster and hopefully speak to you soon !!

Thanks !!!

[jamesm182]

Hi Tony welcome to the club! :)

I would think that if the alternator is working ok (as you said you can check with a multimeter) then it should be charging the battery back up but obviously this will depend on the severity of the drain and how much it is driven. I would say have you tried the obvious things like checking if interior/boot/glove box lights stay on and disconnect the radio (if you have the code).

[Stoney871]

Is it a silver calcium battery?

[jeebowhite]

As Clive said, check its actually the right battery type (silver calcium) if it is and if the alternator is working, then it could be a broken wire. JohnH had a very similar issue, changed both battery and alternator and the problem persisted. His dealer traced it to a damaged wire in the wing / wheel area's that they fixed and the problem was solved :)