i have a punto active sport 1.2 02 reg, bought from new. i use it to do long drives to visit family (5hours) once a month but weekly to the local shops. When i came back from Cornwall to london after christmas, just as i pulled up at my house the engine light and the oil light came on and stayed on when the car was stopped and key removed. i had checked the oil before i left for the journey and it was fine. a few days later i went back to my car and the battery was completely dead! my local garage said the battery was gone and charged me £100 for a new bosch silver battery. my car was fine for a few days and then like before the battery was dead. i can jump start it after a few tries and it runs like a dream, no warning lights at all, then, as before, after a few days its dead again Ive checked for the lights and none stay on. there is no light in the boot either. can anybody offer advice? i bought a multimeter to check each circuit by removing fuses after reading some other posts on this site but i dont think im using it correctly... Can somebody advise me what settings to have it on and wheres best to put the probes? Also, small point, there's no cover to the positive on the battery, how likely if at all is this a problem?

thank you for any advice!

I,m sure one of the more experienced guys on here might correct me but was told a simple way of checking for a general electrical fault is to have every thing turned off including ignition ,,take a well charged battery and connect the positive side ,, then on connecting the negative side if you get any sort of spark at the terminal, something is draining the battery whilst stationary,, after that its a slow process of elimination to find what is still draining, if no spark the battery is shot , but with new battery would think that unlikely

thanks jaybee, i took the battery back to the garage where i bought it days earlier, they checked it out and tell me its good. just need to findout which circuit is doing the draining

Do you run any heavy ICE on these journeys? Found that caused problems as the battery did not have time to charge.

Steve

have you checked the alternator? and make sure the boot light isn't on

jaybee said:

I,m sure one of the more experienced guys on here might correct me but was told a simple way of checking for a general electrical fault is to have every thing turned off including ignition ,,take a well charged battery and connect the positive side ,, then on connecting the negative side if you get any sort of spark at the terminal, something is draining the battery whilst stationary,, after that its a slow process of elimination to find what is still draining, if no spark the battery is shot , but with new battery would think that unlikely

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I wouldnt do that...connect a ammeter in series to check for battery drain.

thank you all for the replies, ive had the alternator checked and i am told it is ok. also there is no boot light. the car has factory fitted sub-woofer in the back but i never run the ICE heavy.
T14086, sorry i am technical but not yet so good on cars electrics, although im learning fast! can you you give me some advice on what to do with the ammeter? i have a multimeter that tests for DC V, AC V, DC A and Ohms. I assume i use the DC A but not sure where to put the probes in serial...
thanks again

set the meter to 20v dc connect red to positive terminal and black to negative terminal

You need a ammeter capable of 60amps or lower if used with a shunt.

oops!! thought you were checking voltage

the amp settings are 250m, 10m or 0.5m and the DC V 500, 250, 50, 10 and 2.5. am i testing two things then: voltage between the two terminals (as Toad101) and amps in serial (as T14086). In serial do i disconnect one of the cables from the battery and attach it to the ammeter then the other ammeter cable onto the battery to complete the circuit? does it matter if i do this on positive or negative side?

voltage will always be 12v so no point in measuring that,you need to measure the current 'draw'...you need a dedicated ammeter,most multimeters 'fry' or blow the internal fuse if used to measure current draw.

thanks T14086, thatll explain why when i tried withe the multimeter i have the needle was way off the scale! Looks like im off shopping tomorrow then to buy an ammeter!

Hard to find these days,try ebay.

I have a similar problem. Though I have not left the car long enough to find out if the battery goes dead as I use it mostly daily.

I have replaced the battery to no avail.

What happens is that the car will turn over slowly - alot worse when its cold, after I have left it a day or two. Also get the abs light show on startup for a second when this happens.

I have tested the alternator voltage at idel (output a steady 14.1v and also checks out ok with heavy electrical load, and at high rpm also). The battery voltage is 12.8v after a drive in the car, but a day or so later its only 12.3v.

I have measured the current draw on the circuit a couple of times, which checks out ok (0.01A or 0.03A with alarm/stereo connected). I have done this for a good length of time to check too. Also have left numerous things disconnected for a few days to see if there is any difference.

So I have also checked the battery - ground - engine block earth strap by doing a voltage drop test as the car is cranked, but this checks out ok too.

Now I have given up and as long as I use it frequently until the warm weather comes I should be ok. Confusing though!

weewillywinky said:

I have a similar problem. Though I have not left the car long enough to find out if the battery goes dead as I use it mostly daily.

I have replaced the battery to no avail.

What happens is that the car will turn over slowly - alot worse when its cold, after I have left it a day or two. Also get the abs light show on startup for a second when this happens.

I have tested the alternator voltage at idel (output a steady 14.1v and also checks out ok with heavy electrical load, and at high rpm also). The battery voltage is 12.8v after a drive in the car, but a day or so later its only 12.3v.

I have measured the current draw on the circuit a couple of times, which checks out ok (0.01A or 0.03A with alarm/stereo connected). I have done this for a good length of time to check too. Also have left numerous things disconnected for a few days to see if there is any difference.

So I have also checked the battery - ground - engine block earth strap by doing a voltage drop test as the car is cranked, but this checks out ok too.

Now I have given up and as long as I use it frequently until the warm weather comes I should be ok. Confusing though!

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could be the starter motor sticking, try removing it and cleaning and regreasing