Battery Drain

[richie1973]

hia all.

have a 1990 previa that has a Battery problem, after three days without use it doesn't have enough kick to get going and after a week no juice at all. Does anyone know of common problems that could cause this, i presume it some sort of earth fault as when the Battery is disconnected it hold charge fine, bt am clueless on how to sort it out.

many thanks for any comments

rich

[John16v]

Might just be you're Battery. go get it tested. most places do it for free.

[Tardis]

It's either being drained, can't hold it's charge or isn't being charged properly.

It could be drained by anything being left on, even an internal light over that period, on non-standard alarm. Have you checked the rear internal lights? Our kids keep switching these on...

Here are some simple test to check the Battery, cables and alternator here.

It used to be possible to treat unsealed batteries using a product called Holts Bat-aid. Worked well but modern batteries shouldn't be opened. Batteries which don't work well at Summer temperatures will cause no end of problem at Winter temperatures so if faulty it'll need replacement.

[Boro Sera]

If you've got an alarm fitted, try not arming it and see if the problem persists. I've had 2 cars where the alarm developed a fault and drained the Battery, in one case it was within 3 hours of parking up.

Any good auto electrician should be able to locate the problem quickly though.

[Kev Mc]

When my dad bought his last car many moons ago the person that was selling him told him that whenever he left it for a while (he lived abroad & used it when he came home) it would have trouble starting & no1 could tell what the problem was.

Sure enough, my dad had the same problem, it turned out to be the light in the boot that was doing it, it never went off so gradually used all the power from the Battery, it had been working none-stop for something like 9 years (that's Jag quality for you). He disconnected it, problem solved.

Maybe it's something similar