General Help - battery drain

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General Help - battery drain

vix92008

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Hi all, I am new on, I bought a 2001(51) Ulysse last week, been really pleased except 3 mornings the battery has been flat and its needed a jump start. Have FSH, new alternator last Oct and new battery last Jan. Thought at first children had pressed buttons on everything and light had been left on but definately not, been through everything inside. Also had battery check just in case and battery fine. Anyone have any ideas? Fiat want £70 to put on diagnostic which sounds alot for nothing to me as they wont even guarantee for £70 they will find whats wrong. Only thing I could think of is that had hands free and sat nav before I bought it, wondered if anyone knows if they could have shorted something when removing kit from car. I would be really grateful for any help/advice off anyone as its not good at moment. Victoria
 
Re: Help!

im sure you would be able to get that looked at elsewhere. I had an Seat Ibiza doing the same with a recently replaced battery and alternater, went to a local autoelectrics place,and the charged me about £5 and tested the car. The fault was the alternator (which was a refurb) and its wiring. They showed me the problem and i fixed it myself.

The guy said for problems like this it did not need to go on diagnostics. Might not be the same for yours.
 
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Re: Help!

Hi.

I presume this must be an old-shape model, or am I mistaken? What model and spec is it?

Interesting that you had a new battery - was it the right one for the car? What about the alarm system running, that may be draining the system. Are you sure no interior lights are left on overnight.
 
Re: Fiat Ulysse Works manual and Parts CDs

Any ideas on the battery drain?
 
If your in the AA, call them out when it is flat and they can test the alternator output, battery condition and if there is any battery drain while the car is parked. I had the same problem on our Punto and although the Fiat garage said the battery was fine, the AA found it wasn't and I got a new one myself which fixed the problem.

There will be some drain for the alarm, but it should be small. In order to really test the starting capacity of the battery, you need to crank it for a few seconds and then try again while measuring the current from the battery under load. The AA do this by putting tin foil over the key to prevent the immobilisor working as it blocks the receiver from getting the key code. It does allow the engine to crank though.They then have a computer with sensors to do the measurements.

The best thing is, it is free if you have home start and call them with a flat battery.

The only other thing I can think of is that if you have a diesel version, it may have an auxillary heater which could be over running when you stop the car.

Good luck

Andy
 
Re: Fiat Ulysse Works manual and Parts CDs

vix92008 said:
Any ideas on the battery drain?

Put a volt meter in series with the battery to get an idea as to how much drain there is then start pulling fuses.

Have you added anything?

Paul
 
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