Batt flat and don't know why????

[Wazzoo 2]

This is the second vr6 have owned, the first my timing chain snapping after 2 weeks and now my high line which had a dodgy ignition switch and now my battery is flat and I don't know why!!! Has is anythin to do with my electrics being dodgy and when I brake or indicate my fog light comes on?.

[michael5556 247]

Problems like this usually require an auto electrician. They can solve it much faster and much easier. That's what I had to do anyway. Unless your a wiring genius lol

Timing chains was just unlucky..

[Daverse 175]

If you jump it and let it charge, does it not start again? Try a multimeter across the battery and alternator. But the thing with yiur lights might be a grounding issue

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[VR6Pete 1,455]

Or a knackered battery?

My punto (don't laugh) always fails to start following a drop in temperature.

If its a re-occurring issues check your alternator is providing sufficient juice to your battery, you can try troubleshooting elimination yourself.

Check aux pump switches off

Unplug stereo see if that resolves it

Check central locking pump isn't always on etc..

[Lukey. 381]

Check to see what rating your alternator and battery are, i.e. a 120A alternator and a 75ah battery, the CCA number on the battery is not important for this.

Now to do some sanity tests on your equipment.

First put the multimeter wires in the position for voltage and the dial in the less than 20V position and touch the wires to each battery post and check the battery voltage, if its not starting I'm guessing its in the 11s. It should be like 12.4V.

Then you can check the alternator is charging the battery, turn the car on and touch the wires to the battery posts again, it should be about 14V.

The only thing you can't do is check that the alternator is delivering the amps it is supposed to, I had this problem with my alternator, it showed to be charging at 14V but the battery never was, so it wasn't delivering the current it should have, new alternator solved it for me.

Your multimeter should have a 10A fused position for current. First thing you now want to do is check there are no electric "leaks".

**Make sure your meter is definitely in the 10A fused position for this! Your dial will likely need to be set for milliamps but you can fiddle with the dial when its set up till you get a coherent reading.*

AND DO NOT START THE CAR WITH THE MULTIMETER IN LINE LIKE THIS YOU WILL FRY IT IMMEDIATELY!!!

Do this "leak test" by putting the meter in line, as in take the positive cable off the battery, hook one side of the meter to the positive battery post and the other side of the meter to the positive cable, then lock the car and watch the number on the screen, as said you'll most likely need to be in the greater than 20 mA position.

A normal reading should be about 50 milliamps, you can query your setup by leaving the interior light on, your current draw should be a bit higher.

Should give you something to be getting on with.

[Wazzoo 2]

After all that I put an ammeter on it and was charging as it should an didn't seem to be a drain anywhere, so lets hope was jus battery. Cheers for help people

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Fingers crossed!

Club Chairman