My brother has a knackered '01 1.2 8v 3dr - done 43,000 but looks like its done 100,000 - which died on him there a few days ago. Went out to take a look as he's about as effective with handling cars as I am with women; battery was dead. Jumped him and followed him home.

Now, the battery in her was replaced after a previous complete flattening while I was waiting for a replacement ECU to arrive with the leads unplugged; and the one it replaced was the second it had had too. Cars electronic bits are factory spec still except an ECU-Testing replacement ECU (had the coil problem) and a non factory radio; nothing major I'd think...

Now, I've got his battery recharging now, and going to see if the former one can be recharged too so he can do a very 1980's Fiat thing of having a spare and swapping them over but ideally I'd like to figure out whats causing it. The radio does stay on a blink-light all the time but the car is driven every day so shouldn't be a problem - unless the alternator is dead? Would a decent quality battery have lasted 3000 miles of daytime driving (so just starter / radio really) with no recharging?

If the alt. is gone I'm presuming its a mechanics job to replace - any idea the kind of hours and parts cost there'd be?

Stereo's as innocent as they can look - they might yes be stil draining the battery without you knowing yes

And a decent battery should do 3000 miles easy

So i'd see about getting the battery and alternater tested at places that do it for free

And u'll soon know what's what

If they both come back fine - then i'd suggest its the radio still sucking power - disconnect it and run and see what happens

Ziggy

Had the problem with my radio draining my battery - just took the fascia off at night, and when wasn't using car. Alternator isn't a difficult job - just fiddly

Went to swapsie the battery there today, first twist of the spanner and the terminal connectors popped off - and wouldn't sit back on at all. Put the old but charged battery back in and took the new one out and put it to charge.

Took a pliers, and the roundy-bit (there must be a technical term for this) of a spanner to get it true again. Got it attached to the battery again - theres some serious upwards force being put on it by the cable to the fuse box - and it all seems grand... could this have been a contributory factor?

Also noticed how terribly cared for that car is in general, the drains for the window were blocked so there was a few litres of water sitting in the drain area; cleared them. And its overheating but doesn't appear to be oil in the water or water in the oil so I doubt its a HG problem.

Cian said:

And its overheating but doesn't appear to be oil in the water or water in the oil so I doubt its a HG problem.

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Might not be a problem right this second but the HG will go soon enough if left like that, heck, they normally fail if the car overheats once!

Sort it out - empty and flush the system, re-fill with fresh coolant and water and bleed correctly.

Thats probably beyond my abilities at the moment - and I'm not that willing to learn considering its not my car; will make him take it to a mechanic or buy the Haynes manual probably.