battery draining

hi lads just had the AA out to start my 4.6 p38
my battery was flat, alternater is charging o.k so it's down to the battery i was told,
but i've heard this is a common fault were the battery drains when sitting idle because things like remote controled garage doors etc do somthing to drain the battery,
can anyone confirm this and advise me on any way of fixing this like a after market solution, not had the car a month so this is the first time its happened
cheers

yes i can confirm that in some cases the BeCM can be woken up and discarge the battery over night. it may not be this but it has happened to some. an idea may be with the battery charged enough to start it, disconect it over night and see if it starts in the morning when reconnected.
you may have to install the EKA code through drivers door lock to start engine but its no big deal (as long as it works)
this way you will know if the battery is holding charge, lets hope it isnt.....changing a battery isnt hard to do or that expensive
(done mine today £49 and five minutes, garanteed for 3 years too)

redrange said:

yes i can confirm that in some cases the BeCM can be woken up and discarge the battery over night. it may not be this but it has happened to some. an idea may be with the battery charged enough to start it, disconect it over night and see if it starts in the morning when reconnected.
you may have to install the EKA code through drivers door lock to start engine but its no big deal (as long as it works)
this way you will know if the battery is holding charge, lets hope it isnt.....changing a battery isnt hard to do or that expensive
(done mine today £49 and five minutes, garanteed for 3 years too)

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cheers mate. were did you get that price as my mate has the same car and he said the best price was halfords £90

maddstaff said:

cheers mate. were did you get that price as my mate has the same car and he said the best price was halfords £90

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i went to south ockendon motor spares in (wait for it) south ockendon, sth essex, if you know lakeside you prob know sth ock.
phone 01708 854914
Map of Ockendon Motor Spares - powered by Multimap
its not a price, its a sale, brought yesterday.
i paid £49.80 and it wasnt on special offer i dont think, 3 year gaurantee as well.........hurry hurry hurry and if ya down there i may be too!

i had the same problem, my battery would usually last about 2-3 days if I did not use the car, I got an optima red top and its brilliant, there about £110. but it certainly wont go flat on you.

You can check if its the BeCM staying on most of the time, on your auto gear lever when you put it in park with the ignition off you get a dull red light come on in the park condition, check it several times during the night to see it its awake, if its seem to be on more than off, the likelihood of its the BeCM draining your battery is good, i done the fix and it worked for me, its a 15 min DIY job to sort out

thanks for all your replys lads,
not had a chance to sort out battery yet, but went to look at it tonight and it started first time, and it only had a 2 min drive home from were it broke down after being jump started, cant beleive it
brought a battery pack engine starter and compresser on ebay just now so i will see how it goes,
thanks again lads

Dopey said:

You can check if its the BeCM staying on most of the time, on your auto gear lever when you put it in park with the ignition off you get a dull red light come on in the park condition, check it several times during the night to see it its awake, if its seem to be on more than off, the likelihood of its the BeCM draining your battery is good, i done the fix and it worked for me, its a 15 min DIY job to sort out

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So what's the BeCM, and do I have one on my 300TDi Auto Disco ??

My battery seems to sometimes go flat (fine for a week, then only lasted two days)
Whenever I get the battery checked it seems OK and a full charge later everything is fine for a while, so something is draining it I think.

Problem is, this disco has spent 90% of it's time garaged - which makes it harder to say exactly what is happening.



Tim.C