Hi everyone

I've just purchased a 60 plate s-max titanium with 30k on the clock 2.0 cdti.

It was supposed to be delivered today by the ford dealer but they rang me to say that on final inspection of the car before they left, the battery was flat and that 2 of the cells had had it. So will have to wait until Monday before they can get a replacement battery and deliver it to me.

I'm not so much annoyed about having to wait until Monday to get the car, as I am anxious as to if anything else is going to go wrong with it when it arrives? Should a battery really only last that amount of miles and for its age?

If anyone has any helpful info I'd be very grateful.

Cheers, Alan.

It could just be a dodgy battery or previous owner didn't do long enough journey's to charge the battery and killed it.

Sent from my HUAWEI Ascend P2 using Ford OC mobile app

no doubt you will have a warrenty with your new to you car,check everything and then check it again and anything your not happy with go back to them with it.

ive recently had to have a new battery on mine,im 2nd owner.i bought it with 100k and 3 years later its got 110k.so my short journeys obviously killed my battery.

Hi everyone

I've just purchased a 60 plate s-max titanium with 30k on the clock ...

Should a battery really only last that amount of miles and for its age?

While a battery should last longer than that, it is difficult to know at this point what went wrong.

it is possible that the dealer had the vehicle hanging around for a while (what did the brake disks look like?) and that the battery went flat, and that does vehicle batteries no good at all.

The car had been doing roughly 7.5 k miles per year, and that's on the low side. Now, if this was 'the aunt minnie cycle' (lots of short, shopping, journeys), the battery may never have been fully charged, and that does vehicle batteries no good at all. That part, the battery not charging fully, isn't really a problem if your usage is going to get it charged fully, but, if you reproduce the previous user's usage style, you'll probably find that the battery doesn't last that long, either.

The other possibility is that there is a fault, leading to unusual load on the battery, or that the battery isn't charging properly. At some point, I'd want to check that the 'on charge' voltage makes sense, just to ensure that there isn't an alternator fault behind this. Not the most likely thing, but, if it is the case, you'd want to be back for the alternator under warranty as soon as you can.

(Also, have a look round for any unusual wiring - a possibility is that someone has had some extra piece of equipment wired in to the vehicle, and the wiring has been removed fairly brutally, leaving uninsulated wire hanging around that could lead to intermittent shorts across the battery.)

Cheers for all your info greatly appreciated!! The car is here now so fingers crossed,no problems.

Cheers Alan

Pot luck with batteries, I had a big bore Honda motorcycle owned it from new for 12 years, parked it in my garage for two years, recharged the battery and used it for another year then sold it with the original battery. Had my s-max for 3 months and had to buy a £70 battery for it. Depends on how the vehicle has been used,or abused, or just had a naff battery to start with.