(T) Battery drain

Hi - hope someone can help with this problem (seeing as my local dealers can't !)
Punto Mk II - reg.V (2000)

In April the petrol gauge suddenly dropped to zero - took it to the dealers (Toomeys - Westcliff) who couldn't identify the problem , but suggested fitting a new ECU.....I wasn't happy about this , but , knowing nothing about cars (!) I reluctantly agreed.

All was fine until a couple of weeks ago - wife got in car , turned ignition - nothing happened. Called out AA - he said faulty battery.

Took to shop where I bought battery last November - he did his own tests - said nothing wrong with battery BUT something must be draining it cos the levels were very low.

Took car to Toomeys - asked them to sort out ASAP (as I had been told that it was prob something to do with the replacement ECU) - after much "debating" they agreed to take the car in for repairs a few days later (after telling me there'd be a 2 week wait - and to disconnect the battery after using the car every time !!!)

Charged battery up over weekend - drove car to Toomeys - they phoned a few hours later saying they couldn't find anything wrong with the car...(and charged me £102.00 for the privilege !!!!!) Fine , I thought...maybe it was just a glitch.

Got in car last Sunday - dead again. Called out AA - he did a thorough check and found that the headlights were staying on , even after being switched off on the stalk , and the key removed from ignition. So that was what was causing the drain !

Phoned Toomeys - again , told there would be a 2 week wait for repairs - said I had paid £102.00 to be told nothing wrong , when clearly there was - asked to speak to manager , line went dead !!!!

Phoned back - was told to bring the car in , which I did immediately.

They phoned an hour or so later - and told me that the lights weren't staying on and that unless the fault occurred when it was in their possession , there was nothing they could do !!

I said that was ridiculous - there must be something they could check , and was told "Well where do you suggest we start ?"



I politely informed him that I wasn't a mechanic , and he replied that "it could take weeks to find the problem - and who would pay for that ?"

At the end of my tether , I told them I would come and collect the car.

So far , the problem with the lights hasn't re-occurred....but is there anything I could check to prevent it happening ?

(sorry about the essay !)

right you need to get a multimeter and put it onto the battery to se if theres a drain. if there is a drain then i would if it was me start taking out fuses one at a time(and replacing before removing another)to see if i could find the circuit with a drain to try and narrow it down.

dont have a punto so wait fro some punto guys.
very poor service from the dealer though,have you thought about contacting fiat UK direct to complain?

Quote"Got in car last Sunday - dead again. Called out AA - he did a thorough check and found that the headlights were staying on , even after being switched off on the stalk , and the key removed from ignition. So that was what was causing the drain !"

Headlights or parking lights ? parking lights are operated through the ignition switch, it could have been that the aa had the ignition switch in the park position. Do you know how to operate the park lights? Is it possible that you are inadvertantly leaving the parking lights on? Other possible causes are radio fascias left in, alarms, any other wiring mods, boot lights.

If a computer was changed in April, and it was faulty then you would have had battery problems from April and not in August.

Adding to previous post,ignition switch fault can produce similar 'flat battery' problems.Also if its a intermittent fault then its 'intermittent'! whos to say it will reproduce itself in the workshop? These are the worse kind of faults to track down & require understanding from both dealer & customer.
In this situation I asked the customer to leave the car for a few days (increasing chance of fault re-occuring) & every hour or so go to the car & see if the fault is there,thus costing the customer no money...only charging when fault is found & its repair time.
p.s.If your using a multimeter use a inline shunt or you'll blow the guts out of it if you put on lights,heater etc as everything is running inline through the meter(put keys in your pocket).

Errmm....ok

Well I went to start the car on sat morning and it was dead again - phoned Toomeys who came and collected it.

Just had a phone call from them to say they reckon it's cos of a water leak , and they've got to take the wings off etc to find the leak , replace the computer and fuse box......so I'm looking at £1,200 minimum !

Oh well....thanks anyway

Give Clovertech on 020 8470 7809 a call. They are factory trained independent.

I have done many late puntos with water leaks on the fusebox/body computer but NEVER taken the wings off?

If you look up to the right where the fusebox is you will see some sound proofing,pull that back abit to see if its wet.There is also a wire coming down from there that the water travels down.In the cases I have done its been the windscreen seal.You can take fusebox out & dry it out inside if it is wet & cover it with a plastic bag etc as short term temporary repair.

p.s.Take it elsewhere