Engine 850: B5254S/2.4/20v: Battery draining, and intermimttent red warning light!

[iamrolling]

Either I'm not doing enough miles / my pattern of driving is wrong for the car, OR there's a problem (a leaky earth?).

I do a 100 mile (each leg) trip once a month, and usually in a week on three days I'll commute 5 miles from home.=320 miles per month.

The engine was cranking fine and quickly, now it cranks slowly and starts ok. I fear the battery is getting progressively lower and soon will need to be disconnected nightly and back to the old problems which make up this thread.......

I'll pay £100 cash to anyone who can come and diagnose and repair a leaky earth or the like, otherwise I'm going to sell this irritating car. Location NW of Reading, Berks.

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

Do you have a battery charger/conditioner?
Have you charged up the battery at all?
How old is this battery?
Have you checked the current at the battery poles and is it greater than 12v when the car is running?
Have you checked the cell levels if it is not a sealed battery?

Given for most of your trips you crank the engine, drive a bit and then stop, the battery is not getting the charge back that was used to start the car.
Although you do do one trip that is long, it may be that the battery is old enough now to not be able to hold charge as it used to.

Ergo, it may be new battery time, or use a conditioner on it to bring it back to life..

Des. . .

PS: Where do I claim my £100!!!

[mharriso]

As i am not an auto electricain i will not impose mythoughts after reading this long thread. (other than i appreciate your frustration).

One thing i have learned over the years is a ill maintained battery can cause a miriad of problems elsewhere on the vehicle, which can be expensive in batteried=s or other components subsequently damaged.

To that end i weekly plug both cars and my bike into my OPTIMATE 3 battery charger (now the OPTIMATE 3SL)...... (not at the same time.... To date i have not had any problems on any vehicle and have recovered x2 batteries which were rooted... after topping up the fluid...so it has paid for itself x4 times over...

Suggest getting one of these and agree with Des, keep the battery in good nick to avoid lots of other issues.
(appreciate if you have issues eslewhere this will not cure them but it does eliminate a very pertinent variable..)

Hope this is helpful.

[Conehead]

The tests are easy using a multimeter, but if I don't use the car for a week it still starts fine first time, and thats with what I believe to be the original ( 7YO) battery.

Maybe at the mo you are doing your short trips with the lights, wipers, stereo heating etc. This will reduce the input back in to the battery.
Think you still have the original drain problem.
out of interest what make is the battery, and rating. Just cause it's newish doesn't mean a great deal as modern batteries can be crap.

One thing I did notice before with 850's is the main engine earth breaks. Have you checked this?
The other thing is , when you were dis-connecting the battery overnight , did this stop the drain. Sorry for stating obvious things, but sometimes it really is simple things that are overlooked.

I would happily meet up but time is short for the next 2 weeks.

[iamrolling]

As I said on the 10th June, the battery was replaced at the same time as all the other work.

It is a Volvo battery selected and fitted by the Volvo Dealer......same price as Half0rds was offering!!.....so the specs should be correct. It was fully charged when it was fitted.

I think I still have the original drain problem also:-(

I havn't checked the 'main engine earth breaks' I don't think....

Yes, when I was disconnecting the battery, this stopped the drain.

http://cars.uk.freeads.net/1996_N_re...850-280554.htm

[Tervueren]

Haven't read the whole thread but I had a similar problem with mine, then one night I looked out of the landing window down onto the car and noticed a red glow from inside the car, it turned out to be a rear door red marker light which was staying on.

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

Unplug one fuse at a time each night until you find which circuit is causing the drain.

The door markers are a good source of current drains when the door switches go south..

Des. . .

[iamrolling]

There's definately something suspect about the aftermarket Thatcham Cat 3 alarm.......sometimes on startup the central locking locks, other times the doors are left unlocked.

It has already been suggested to rip out the second alarm, and to go back to using the original Volvo-own factory fitted one.

Charge in the battery seems to be holding ok at the moment! :-0

[bigandquick]

And I'll stand by that advice.

[iamrolling]

Yup, there's definately something suspect going on with the alarm. There is a numeric pad in the cabin (for entering code when fob is dead), there is a red light. For some reason, during driving, this red light flashes randomly, then stops!!!!......it may be time to find a local alarm fitter, to 'de-fit' this alarm!