(T) Car battery Dead

just checked voltage and its on 12.55v so it doesnt look likes it getting drained.
Could possibly be the alarm system. altho when it was doing this before i dissconnected the alarm and got similar issues

ive had a feeling i could have a faulty starter.. cause ive had problems starting it sometimes..
Like if i turn engine over it will act like theres no power, but then it will always start straight away from jump start.

Normally if the altanator is failing then the alternator light stays on when the key is removed (but not always)

If the battery is going flat overnight when connected then try removing the fuses half at a time,if it doesnt go flat then it something in that half. If it goes flat then put the first lot back and remove the other half, if it still goes flat then start looking at other items, i.e. disconnect the starter lead.

A battery can show 12.5V but have some cells with next to no charge capacity. If it spins over OK on jump leads then its not the starter and most likely to be the battery.

Remove, clean, abrade, refit very tightly, the grease all ends of all engine bay earths.

Cheers

SPD

i did the test to check if it was a faulty earth and still same effect.
I drove about 100miles yesterday after jump starting so its had a nice little charge.
This morning i unplugged my heater motor and it started up fine so atm its going ok

I thought it could bt the heater motor because the wire is just under the glove box and people may have caught it with there feet.. and the other day i went to start my car and there was hardly any power (very dim dash lights). I put car into first to roll start it, but then thought there wasnt enough power to do it. As i took it out of first gear all of a sudden the car got power from somewere aand the dash lights became very bright. so im thinking this wire may be causing my problem

More likely a coincidence, the heater circuit isn't enough on its own to prevent the car from starting. Very bright lights suggest the generator voltage regulator isn't doing regulating things and likely to burn things out. If so, you could end up with blown electronics as well as a cooked battery. Get it professionally tested before you bills go any higher.

Have had a problem with third party radio/CD (Cheap Aldi radio CD). Appears that Fiat radio cassette had some sort of time out device which closed it down on turning the ignition off. The Aldi equipment kept drawing power and would cause starting problems. Local electrician changed power supply to run through ignition switch which solved the problem. Check for current flow through Earth lead when ignition switched off. Cost £30 at local auto electrician found in yellow pages.

oo ill give that a go.. didnt think about the stero. had it in for over a year and only just started getting problems now.

A generator that loses its rectifier will show the charging light - a.c. wont charge a d.c.system.
If the voltage regulator has failed you could be getting 20V or more rammed into the battery. The battery will hold the voltage down - for a while but it will overheat and very soon be scrap.
Get the system properly tested.

Is this the test with the single jump lead?

Cheers

SPD

OP tested system as above/below. Siad he was getting about 14 volts, which I think is fine.

Cheers

SPD

yer.. i put the black jump cable from my mums battery neg to mine

since unpluggin my heater motor the car has started first time in the past 3 days so im thinkin its that.

Whats weird tho the knob which you turn to were the air comes out (ie feet, windows ect) was getting stuck on something. since unpluggin the motor that knob is now spinning round freely like it supposed to.. Quite bezar IMO lol
I think i just realised why its only chargin at 14v and not say 14.5v and i think its because ive got a high maintenance battery on so my alternator isnt quite big enough to give it that bit more charge.

Doh, single jump lead is from your car battery earth to the engine block, but your earth connection on the battery must be clean and tightened to 'ft'.

The connector for your heater isn't trapping the flap is it?

Cheers

SPD

whats the flap?

when i bought the car, the middle controller was snapped so me and my dad tried to fix it.. and i think that we may have caused a perminant feed to it cause its still broke and to turn the heater on you had to try and it too catch to the switch too turn it of if you get what i mean.