Wont start - electrical issue. Advice please.

[racer2011]

Hi Guys,

I have experienced this electrical problem for the 2nd time now, firstly it being 3 months ago. I wondered if anyone has had the same problem.

I got in the car this evening and I put my foot on the brake and pressed start button as normal and steering lock unlocked. The car was trying to turn over, clunk clunk clunk, with all the lights on the dash flashing on and off, some of the messages coming up with airbag disabled, TC and ESP deactivated, then it said brake failure.

Whilst this is going on, the immobiliser light in the middle of the dash is still flashing. When I also remove the key from the slot the steering lock doesn't lock automatically like normal. The car locks fine though.

Fortunately tonight I was outside my house so just went inside after but previously when the same thing happened I was at my friends. I dropped mate off outside his house, turned off engine kept lights on for 5 mins and went to start it same thing happened. That night Green Flag came out and jump started car with his battery booster and it started fine. Just like this evening there was no battery light on on the dash and when I last checked the voltage a month ago on the alternator and battery it showed good charge, as well as this I do regular motorway journeys so the battery even though it's from factory (car is 2006 reg) is getting charged regularly.

Could it be the immobiliser, battery not holding it's charge, alternator relay fuse? I did take a vid but having trouble uploading it off my phone onto pc.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris :thumbup:

 

[Foxspeed]

your battery is 7yrs old assuming its the original...so I would say that its on its last legs as the fault you describe is classic battery drain!

 

[Rogue]

First port of call would definitely change the battery as Si says. Then go from there.

 

[Warren]

As above, Halfords tested the battery on my old Megane and found it faulty. Might be worth a trip.

 

[ken182]

Modern battery's don't last as long at all. If you get more than 2 years out of a battery you've got to expect it to be last its best.

a slight drop in voltage can cause loads of electrical faults.

euro car parts do good battery's cheap.

 

[racer2011]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your feed back it's much appreciated.

I went to Halfords auto centre to get a free battery check and they found the voltage on the battery fine, if anything higher than normal. They also tested how much current the alternator was pushing out and it was just above 14.5 around 14.7 average. They couldn't find any battery discharge either.

I shall keep an eye out for the next 50% off everything deal which Euro Car parts have and go and get a battery from there. Like you guys have said the standard Delphi battery is still in which was fitted from when it came out the factory so it's gone well. The next time it happens i'll put a new battery in there, fingers crossed it won't happen from there after.

I started car up today and my auto one click didn't work for the drivers window, I had to keep on pressing it to get it to go all the way down. My onboard trip computer started off really dim and was sluggish when scrolling through the readings however did brighten up and go back to normal after a while. Cars do strange things at times.