Hi all,

I know battery issues have been covered on here a number of times but I haven't yet discovered a similar case to mine.

2002 Punto Sporting

In the last two weeks I've been experiencing starting issues. I swapped the battery over last Saturday for a new one as I was doing a 70 mile journey on Sunday. When I left my destination I had to jump start my car even though it had a sufficient drive to charge the battery, it had been stationary for 8 hours. Over the last week I've been experimenting with possible issues.

1. I've previously rewired the aftermarket head unit to the cigarette lighter but to rule it out I removed all associated fuses for a few days. Each time I went to start over this period I still had the same starting issue if the car was left for a period of 8 hours or more.

2. I read the other day that sometimes the headlights can still be draining power if the auto off doesn't work so I've had a couple of days with lights manually turned off each time I leave the car - no change.

3. Before doing all the above I checked that the alternator is charging as I previously had an issue. I still have a spare one lying around.

I have noticed over the last couple of days that if I continue to crank when the engine sounds like its suffering from a dying battery that it will kick over, just sounds very laboured. I now think the issue could be the starter motor could anyone verify my thoughts or suggest any other possible solutions to my problem. If you need more info just ask.

MJ

It works when jumped
New battery and it still struggles

sounds like an earthing issue to me?

Simple and quick test
Negative jump lead, stick it on the negative terminal and the engine mount of the vehicle as well

if the car is able to start alot better (wont be perfect) your looking at 1hr of cleaning a few minor points up

Ziggy

Ok I'll be trying that one out tomorrow. I'll double check current draw as well but I can't think of anything that could be staying live except for the ECU relay but I'm not heading any relay issues.

I'll report back tomorrow.

Right, I've removed and cleaned up three earth points, near side chassis leg x2 and gearbox. All looked ok but cleaned them anyway.

The car was an absolute pig to start this morning, had to try two different batteries to jump it, could just be poor batteries.

I did record current drain, immediately after ignition off 0.07 amps which dropped to 0.02 after a number of minutes. The battery is charging at 13.86v so I think all is well. I'm leaving the car to sit for a few hours before testing to see if there is any improvement.

BUY A BATTERY
puntos hate batteries that arent up to scratch ive never known a car like them you cant kid em either
trust me ive tried

I'll let it sit overnight and test it in the morning.

It is a week old battery. The previous one, a Bosch S4 was only in there for 4 months.

As promised - an update.

So far today the car has started without me having to open the bonnet. That being said it was a bit laboured at cranking. I gave the car a good run on my way home tonight having a 3/4 hour journey at speeds over 40, hopefully this will charge the battery. The test will be tomorrow after sitting for 14 hours.

If it fails I'll pick up another battery as I think it could have been a faulty earth.