Car battery problems..

[Azza]

Hi all,

When it was really cold, icy and snowy about a month ago i went out to start my car, battery was dead, totally dead, after about 3 years of good service, so nothing really wrong there i thought.

Got the battery replaced and all things good, however about a month later, last night, get back from work, battery is dead again, no central locking, no alarm working no lights, nothing.

I've not left anything on, it doesn't seem like anything is coming on (lights etc) by mistake, so any ideas as to why my battery could have drained itself in the 10 hours in between me working ?

It's on charge now so fingers crossed it's ok when i get back.

The terminals on the car are pretty dirty, i'll give them a clean before i put them back on, but apart from that i have no clue as to what the problem could be.... anyone ?

Thanks,

Azza

[dooby]

Hiya,

I'm only guessing, but could this imply your alternator has failed or is failing, and you've just been running the battery down since new and it's reached critical where it won't turn over?

Cheers, Pete

[Azza]

This is what i thought, it was just the rapidity of the loss of charge. That is, being able to start and drive it no problems at 8am, then by 7pm having completely lost all charge, nothing, not even being able to open the central locking...

Azza

[Tomcat]

Don't know if it helps but mine died last week, I left the car standing for a couple of days and when I came back it wouldn't start. Ok I thought, I jump started it and it drove fine for the rest of the day. The next morning however it was flat again, so this time I checked the fluid levels in the battery and then having topped it up I put it on charge. Once it was topped up I replaced the battery and left the car over night, surely enough it was dead again the next day. At this point I gave in and replaced the battery for one I'd had lying around for over a year, the car sprang into life and has been a hundred percent better since.

I think that at some point all batteries just reach their limit and need repacing, if you have replaced it and it's still dying then I would get the alternator checked ( do you have any lights on on the dash?), a sure sign is the battery light glowing dimly while driving.

[Azza]

Thanks all for the replies, i think i was a muppet and left my lights on, as well as my fogs for some reason!

Anyway, i charged it during the daytime and it started fine after that, and has been (touching wood) ok since, so fingers crossed it was just me being an idiot!

Thanks for the replies.

[t5lover]

lol not good i had the same problem last week the car has been so good then i went to take my other half to work and the battery was dead found out it was the glove box not shut propley lol not happy but is all ok now,,,