Hi all,

I bought my son a MX2 as his first car back in February 2020. Thanks to Covid-19 he's not been able to get out in it only occasionally.

It's a 59 plate 4 door. He went to start it and the battery was dead as a dodo back in May so we headed to Halford and he bought a new battery (£90 one) and the car has sat unmoved sing 23rd May. He looked on Monday and the indicator on the battery shows black. (It has green = OK. Black=Needs charging. Red=Dead indicators).

Is it likely that the car has an electrical fault that could be contributing to the Battery drain?
Could it be the in built alarm killing it?
What else could it be?

Obviously he's pretty fed up the car is having this happen.

Any advice anyone please?

Thanks in advance.

 

First thing is to verify that the battery is healthy. You must first charge the battery and then have it load tested. To do this more then likely you will need to take it to a shop or parts store that can check the battery for you, Simply charging it will not indicate the actual condition of the battery and assuming just because the date you purchased does not rule out a bad battery.

 

The alarm will be drawling off the battery it's not a great load but over time will drain a battery if unused.
At the moment your battery says it needs charging so it's not dead.
why is the car not being driven? Just a 1/2 hour drive once a week in day light hours should keep the battery ok
cars left standing for long periods does them no good at all.

 

The factory alarm minimum amperage draw would take almost a year or more to drain the battery below voltage required to start an engine .
Driving any vehicle only 1/2 hour a week may fully charge a battery but can be very detrimental to the engine.

 

Firstly I did not say the alarm had drained the battery, the owner states the battery read out is showing it requires charging, it is not dead.
The average car journey in the U.K. Is 24 minutes I do not see a constant stream of cars turning up at the garage with damaged engines what you do see is cars that have not been used for extended periods with flat battery's, seized brakes and tyres that have started cracking partly through age and non use mainly caused by the great British weather where sudden temperature changes cause constant condensation.

 

^ ^

Thanks for the chuckle....

 

If you can, hook it up to a battery MAINTAINER while it's in the garage and not being driven, or at the least unhook the negative terminal while it's sitting!

 

Your first part is what I often recommend.

But I would not advise disconnecting the battery for short term storage. Newer vehicles from about 200 and predominately from 2015 and newer ECU/PCM/TCM and on board computers don't like not being supplied constant power. You find starting issues and likely multiple DTCs that need to be looked at and possible addressed?

 

Check for trunk or other small lights. They may be switched ON, but burnt bulb or short in light. Remove bulbs and check holder.
check all headlight and indicator bulb holders. I have seen them rust due to salt water. Remove and inspect.
Does it have a after market radio? If so remove fuse and see if battery holds charge after few days. Must charge battery first.

 

The OP has not returned to the thread since he started it back in 08-06-2020, 10:28 AM
Needless to we will never know if he resolved the issue?