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MG MGF Technical - Battery problem

Hi folks, i have a battery problem (i think) my F was off road and parked outside at MGR garage awaiting delivery of snapped gear cable which took about 7weeks, when F was readt to collect i was told by garage they think i have prob with batt as wont hold it's charge, this batt wasabout 3 years old and never no problem before even if F laid up and not used for 2 weeks,which is often, anyway a couple of days of having F home batt was dead so bought a new one, now last time i used F was to go to F reg Committeemeeting on 19th this month just over a week ago,went to start F this morning and batt flat, what's your thoughts please, and any way of testing if being drained by something, but strange this prob only started since come from garage, thanks Dave
DC Morris T6 DCM

Dave,

My car is almost 4 years old and has ALWAYS suffered from this problem.

Dealer has checked battery and charging system and can find nothing wrong.

Sam
Sam Murray

I would start by checking that the boot and under-bonnet lights are going out. I had this problem on my first F and it turned out to be the boot light switch being knackered, resulting in the light not turning off. Short term fix is to take the bulb out, long term a new lock/switch mechanism I fear. To check if they are working, put a camcorder in the boot/under bionnet to record if the light is going out.
Steve White

If you disconnect one side (but not both)of the battery, and put a mutimeter set to amps in series with the disconnected terminal (i.e connect one side of the mutimeter to the battery and the other to the battery terminal) you can see how much current is being drained fron the battery at rest.

Its then a question of removing each fuse to see which cct/s are draining the current, and working down from there.

Hope that helps.
GrahamH

EEEK.

Graham is almost right, but wrong enough to blow the fuse in the meter!!

When the battery is first attached the car wakes up and checks a load of stuff drawing much current, what you need to do is connect the meter to the clamp and the battery _before_ seperating the contacts. If you slip then _reconnect_ the battery and start again, don't simply connect the meter or it will pop.
Will Munns

Dave

Check the boot cables for damage by peeling back the outer 'skin' there are about 5 wires in there including the ones for the boot alarm. I had 3 that were completely severed and was having the same battery probs you describe (causing the boot light to be on all the time) and alarm sounding on closing the boot (with alarm armed).

Steve
Steve P

Thanks all for your comments, they are of great help, cheers, Dave
DC Morris T6 DCM

This thread was discussed between 29/11/2005 and 30/11/2005

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