Ages ago I had a problem of my battery going flat, found out it was the glove box light and fixed that, lately I have killed a battery and now killing another but I charge it every couple of nights so we get by, Bought a ctek 8 stage charger which has seemed to have given life back to the battery compared to the 3 stage i was using.

If we leave the car for 24 hours it struggles to turn over (sometimes doesn't start). I put the battery into another car and it sat in the yard for 2 months and still started the other car. (probably can't do that now cos my car has flattened it to many times).

A few symptoms that I have are, the panic button on the remotes no longer work, the transmission doesn't change down gear to stop over speed while cruise control is set. another thing i have noted that the voltage inst always at 14v sometimes drops to around 13.5v (sometimes above and below) flashing high beam and turning fans up, then turning off high beams and fans doesn't make voltage the budge.

The car is a

BF MKII GHIA 07

I have been to Ford they plugged the computer in and couldn't find any codes that might lead to the problem. They said it sounds like it could be the BEM but that is costly to replace by trial and error.

Anyone else had any of these issues any idea would be good.

thanks.

Possibly the first thing to do is clean all your earth terminals. This includes the ones on the battery, chassis, starter and any other ones you can find. Use emery tape and electrical cleaner. Bad contacts can cause battery to drain.

Dont have time until the weekend but I had a look and there is no build up on any earth connections and they look clean.

I think the first one was a 460, which lasted 2 years then started going flat all of a sudden, but when put into another car it would sit there for a week between starts. the new one is a exide 400 I think. which had just been bought for the other car. which is now in the ford. I know its a bit on the small side but should last more than a day,

For example on the weekend the car was parked at about 2:00pm on Saturday then on Sunday at 4:00pm I had to put the charger on it to start the car. this has been since the battery was new, got the battery tested it showed back then it had full capacity. probably doesn't anymore form being discharged so often. the old battery also tested fine, we used a exide electronic battery tester and also tried the old style with big turn knobs (can't remember what ya call them)

Thinking I might try one of those Exide X56D, it has 550cca with a reserve of 105.

Edit: When the battery has been on charge all night the engine turns over with great ease.

The newer models are very sensitive to weak batterys and can cause funny symptoms like you describe with the cruise etc.

A 400 is probably far too small for a BF. I'd put in a Much better one like you suggest and go from there. I suspect that is your problem.

Good luck!

have you checked your boot light?
i assisted in the purchase of a ba mk2 for a female friend and on inspection the boot light had been unpluged for some reason, so i pluged it back in, next day battery was near flat, the day after it was completely flat.. turns out the previous owner had the same problem and just unpluged it..

thanks for that will check the boot light, and will have to look into getting a bigger battery.

500-550CCA should be far better for the barra i6

I had the glove box light problem in my GT-P. would flatten an Optima in less than two days.

got that fixed, still has some weird faults.

Replaced the battery, no joy.

Recently replaced the alternator.

Win.

thanks data mine, I didn't want to hear that cos I have noticed voltage seems to be all over the place, it hangs around 13.5v every now and then, normally the battery needs to be charged then it hangs around 14.4v again.

Will be looking at battery's today, will report back.

Will also test the battery again.

take voltage readings from the battery and write them down, whilst pulling different fuses/relays at a time overnight to see which circuit is causing the drain.

faulty alternator can cause battery drain like datamine said........ try disconnecting that too as part of the test i mentioned

If it is not the boot or glove box lights then ....

You need to use an Ammeter.
Checking earths and fault codes will tell you nought.

It can be almost anything causing the problem...only way to find it is with a process of elimination.

First make sure you have your radio security code available.
Turn everything off and remove the keys.
Disconnect the +ve terminal and place an ammeter in series.
You should only need tha mA range.
Look at the current being drawn.
It should be well under 100mA (see note below in windows relay).
If it is high, then you can disconnect things until the culprit is found.
If you have a carkit wired or an aftermarket radio or amp then try those first (I have found two crook car kits this way).
As suggested, disconnect the alternator...can be a leaky diode within the alternator.
Otherwise, beyond that, it will be a matter of disconnecting one module after another (dash, radio, BEM, Airbag and ABS controllers, ECU, etc, etc)....disconnect those items at the fuse panel first...it is a real pain getting to some of the modules.

I would be a good idea to do a read of the "steady state" current on another BF to see what it should be before attacking yours.
Also, there are some functions in the BEM which time out so, after connecting the ammeter, lock the car and wait a few minutes for the window relay to release (you will hear the click as it releases).

Oh, and bad connections will not drain your battery, but, will limit current flow.
Bad connections to the battery will limit charging and bad connections at the starter motor will impact on cranking. Check those. If the terminals are encrusted in salts then use hot water from a jug to wash them clean (just boiled water works far better that any other terminal cleaner).

Hope that helps.

Well my battery was only giving out about 350cca using a carbon load tester (was about 15c outside at the time). got a new 600cca with a rc of 105 will see how we go with that. bothe glove box and boot lights go off when they are shut.

Im gonna put it down to poor battery capacity until i get to test things properly, the first battery lost its power from age and the battery i took from the other car to put in the ford was only just putting out more cca than the one that was in the car in the first place that had just about died.

The motor just about spins out the car now.


Cheers for the response i didn't really think it was going to be the battery, only time will tell, will report back if i still have issues.

I pretty much think it had the cca but the reserve capacity had dropped