hello all, still not getting the car to play ball. its a 1.7 injection niva.

battery was almost completely flat this morning, dim ignition lights on the dash, no sound from starter.

so, armed with a multimeter jobbie, i attempted to jump it of another car, this failed, at this time it was reading about 7-8v and climing slowly but only when the live to the car was taken off the battery, so only when the car was not connected, just charging the battery.

when the battery was in the car without the jump leads the battery was reading 4.5v and draining at a fair speed, maybe 10 minutes to empty the battery.

i had it running for maybe a minute but had to rev it otherwise it died.

so what is draining my bettery that much! its a brand new battery put in yesterday and the car was running better than ever.

any help is really apreciated, how much is it to have a car rewired, its doin my nut!?

Take out all the fuses and see if the draining stops, if so replace each one at a time till you find the circuit. With such a fast drain, are you getting a spark when you touch the battery lead to its terminal?

If the removing the fuses makes no difference, then suspect either the alternator or the starter to have a short.

Even if it was a big short, using jump leads from another running car should be enough to get the car charged and running within a minute, as it would have at least 50amps excess to go to your car. You may have a duff battery that won't hold charge.



[Edited on 18/1/10 by Mr Whippy]

Whatever's draining the battery in ten minutes is probably getting very hot, so you should be able to tell fairly easily if it's the starter or alternator.

Gary

Can you confirm the alternator is charging it?

why are you running the car for so short a time? leave it running for about 10 mins to give it a chance to charge the battery.

Then put the multi meter over the battery while its running and it should be over 13 volts going into 14 volts over time. If its less than that then the altinators not doing anything.

Is your battery warning lamp going out? if not then the alts duff

[Edited on 18/1/10 by Mr Whippy]

cheers for the quick reply chaps, i cant confirm the altenator is charging it, its dead now and cant get it goin at all, no lights, so im of to start trapesing through fuses whilst i charge the battery then see whats up. i think altenator, as the lights on the dash were glowing dimly before, so maybe diodes, but would that cause enough of a drain?

engine cut out when jump leads removed, the n couldnt get it to go again. would have let it charge up as much as it likes otherwise!

[Edited on 18/1/10 by 55ant]

can't really tell tbh until you get the car going. I'd take the battery off the car and just connect it to the jump leads directly and charge it for 10-15 mins, then try again.

right, had the battery on charge for an hour, reading 12 when charging, once removed and the battery is by itslef, not connected to anything, its reading 11.5, and getting lower slowly. im asuming this battery is fubar? now at 11.02

If it's discharging stood unconnected it's definitely fact, most likely buckled plates or dried up. Use it for a doorstop and get a new one. If it was draining so fast through the alternator you would not be able to put your hand on it for heat. Your battery should read at least 12.6 after charging, any lower and it's shot and not enough to turn your motor over fast enough to start.

yep the battery is fubar. however, just put it back on the car and it definatley speeds up, so there is still a problem in the wiring somewhere, im still thinking altenator.

Humm sounds like the car is killing your battery with a very high load... Should be simple to find with a DVM on the resistance range or as Wr whippy says remove the fuses and see if that removes it. If not it's somthing connected directly to the batt... You probably need to figure that out before getting a new battery..

Dan

hmm, what could be doin that though?

The starter could be draining the battery that too could be Knackered

humph. running out of things that are working. its always the way though.

Dead / shorted cell in the battery

I did a vectra 2.2 diesel last week the starter motor taking to much power from the battery that it was smoking on cranking it killed the battery

cure new starter and battery

I was testing the battery on my wife's Matiz over the weekend. The meter showed 12.5v with the engine off, 14.8v with the engine running.

Switched off the engine, put the meter back on the terminals, then turned the headlights on - 12.5 - 11.5 - 10.0 - 9.0 - 8.5 - 7.5 - at which point I turned everything off and fitted a new battery!

As planned maintance I replaced the battery in the tintop on Saturday was going to do it before the big freeze but an online supplier let me down. However I can vouch for Tanya Batteries who delivered a Varta 096 74ah heavy duty battery for a very good price within 24hrs of ordering.
see
http://www.tayna.co.uk/fitments/18/Car-Fitment-Guide-UPDATED.html


If anybody in central scotland wants a working fully charged type 065 56 ah battery you can have for free.