WR1 Owners Club

swiss tone wrote: A car should last 3 weeks if fully charged.

You still have a problem if your battery is only lasting 3 weeks from fully charged

You're definitely not alone with the drain. I've had one intermittently for over a year now but not had any time to sort it. At first I had a new battery and a local garage found the alternator was dodgy so I had a re-con one fitted. My 1 is driven daily for work but if I don't drive it on the weekend it will be dead or or its last legs by Monday. Highly irritating when you're in a rush for work! I dread turning the key as I can tell by how quickly the fuel pump charges as to whether she's down on power. Sometimes the alarm will bleep quickly before she turns over but I guess that's because the battery is so low the car thinks its being discomnected and she is being stolen. One occasion the battery died and the alarm went mental for an hour or so. I was at work and the car was home though so I guess the neighbours weren't happy!

Local dealer have looked for drain before and not found anything so I guess I'll have to failure it out for myself - very helpful YouTube link by the way. One thing I've noticed though is that you can't leave the car unarmed as the immobiliser arms after about 30secs, so even if I leave the car unlocked it will still kick in. Grrrr

Bloody hell two days that's a big draw from the battery. Is the battery being charged properly when in daily use to begin with?

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-dead-car-ba ... 56455.html

That's what I need to check really, drive to work is about 20mins but i go for longer cruises at the weekends sometimes. Got a few days off at the start of May and will check it properly then. Strange thing is it doesn't always drain and the problem is intermittent. It's not as if it's even cold at the mo either. Battery is only a year old too but there's a chance it's faulty I guess.

Pulling fuses will identify the problem? Hope its something simple?

About 6 months ago I actually did find some chafed wires going to the drivers side rear door that must have worn thin. Was causing the radio noise to cut out although the controls still worked. At the time I could get the speakers to work if I either held the window control or put the window lock button on lol. I reckon a blind man wired my car! Sorted that problem and didn't have any issues until about 3 months later when battery died again and now it's happened this past week too.

Venkman wrote:About 6 months ago I actually did find some chafed wires going to the drivers side rear door that must have worn thin. Was causing the radio noise to cut out although the controls still worked. At the time I could get the speakers to work if I either held the window control or put the window lock button on lol. I reckon a blind man wired my car! Sorted that problem and didn't have any issues until about 3 months later when battery died again and now it's happened this past week too.

This could still be the problem?

I think I could be that Gary, or a similar issue - maybe I have mice living in the doors lol. Latest news is I check my battery Saturday lunchtime and it was showing as 'good' but not fully up. This eve I went to start her and only just managed to along with a serenade from the alarm. Giving it a charge over night and if I have time tomorrow aftie I'll set about pulling fuses. That should help reduce my search area!

I checked my charge output out of curiosity the results with engine running ( hot engine )

12.39 volts with all electrical items off
13.99 volts with radio, lights on etc

Volts would slightly increase with higher RPM

Engine off left overnight engine off.

12.69 volts in battery.

Engine running from cold

14.52 volts

Thanks Gary. When I tested at the garage it was charging at just over 12 until I added more draw by turning the lights on and air con, then it was charging at 13.8 so I assume the alternator is behaving itself. Ordered a few bits including a multimeter which should arrive this week so I'll let you know how things go.

Yes 13.8 on a warm engine is good.

Il admit I seem to get the same drain but I put mine down to lack of use. The chirping of the alarm on start up was starting to annoy the neighbours at 4 in the morning Ive bought a trickle charger now and just stick that on once a month. Never had an issue since

Apologies for the delay, I've been a bit preoccupied lately. Well I bought myself a c-tek test and charger and tested the battery. Result was 'bad' so I charged all day and when I tested again about 14hours later the result was still 'bad'. So , new battery it is then! Had a little break away on the mainland with the other half and treated myself to a Bosche s4 after researching it on this fine forum car has performed a treat since so I think this has resolved the problems. Thanks to all your help and advice as always

Glad you got to the bottom of it. That C-tek charger is what I bought and its a great bit of kit for the money