E
ernesteng
I've just had my first encounter with unexplained battery drain on a 2010 reg S-Max (2L Petrol Turbo).
Car was last used on a Thursday afternoon, and battery was dead by Sunday morning, registering just under 6V on a meter. The lights were not left switched or left on overnight.
The AA came over, and jump-started the vehicle - the battery started charging immediately at the correct voltage with the engine running. As far as they could see, the battery was receiving charge so it is OK, and the alternator is OK as well.
After about 10 minutes the AA technician turned the engine off. As far as I could tell, the lights, radio and other electrical systems appeared to switch off when the engine was cut. He then measured the level of ambient discharge/drain from the battery.
This was where it started becoming odd. While it can take some time for the car to shut down completely, this was what was observed:
- For about 5 min, the level of discharge fluctuated at around 0.4A for about 5 minutes, but every now and then it would spike up momentarily to about 1-2A and then fall back down rapidly to around 0.4A
- After about another 3-5 min, the drain decreased steadily to 0.3A, then 0.2A and 0.1A after which measurements were stopped.
The AA technician said that a 0.1A level of drain was acceptable, and further advised me to get the electrics checked out by Ford, as he wasn't sure of what the exact problem was.
For the rest of Sunday and as of now (Monday), so far so good. The dashboard lights all go out when I lock the car door as it always had done.
1. Anyone has a clue?
2. Should I change battery to a more powerful one? I got the car at 19k miles and today it's got 27k on the clock with no problems so far. Calcium battery is rated at 590CCA, not sure about the amp-hours rating but probably around 60Ah to 65Ah.
It'll be helpful before I take the car in and end up paying money to diagnose where the problem lies - which Ford may or may not detect.
Thanks,
Ernest
Car was last used on a Thursday afternoon, and battery was dead by Sunday morning, registering just under 6V on a meter. The lights were not left switched or left on overnight.
The AA came over, and jump-started the vehicle - the battery started charging immediately at the correct voltage with the engine running. As far as they could see, the battery was receiving charge so it is OK, and the alternator is OK as well.
After about 10 minutes the AA technician turned the engine off. As far as I could tell, the lights, radio and other electrical systems appeared to switch off when the engine was cut. He then measured the level of ambient discharge/drain from the battery.
This was where it started becoming odd. While it can take some time for the car to shut down completely, this was what was observed:
- For about 5 min, the level of discharge fluctuated at around 0.4A for about 5 minutes, but every now and then it would spike up momentarily to about 1-2A and then fall back down rapidly to around 0.4A
- After about another 3-5 min, the drain decreased steadily to 0.3A, then 0.2A and 0.1A after which measurements were stopped.
The AA technician said that a 0.1A level of drain was acceptable, and further advised me to get the electrics checked out by Ford, as he wasn't sure of what the exact problem was.
For the rest of Sunday and as of now (Monday), so far so good. The dashboard lights all go out when I lock the car door as it always had done.
1. Anyone has a clue?
2. Should I change battery to a more powerful one? I got the car at 19k miles and today it's got 27k on the clock with no problems so far. Calcium battery is rated at 590CCA, not sure about the amp-hours rating but probably around 60Ah to 65Ah.
It'll be helpful before I take the car in and end up paying money to diagnose where the problem lies - which Ford may or may not detect.
Thanks,
Ernest
