Low Battery Every Week

[chessington]

We have a seat Leon, its only a few years old and keeps saying low battery, so we replaced the battery last year, still happening!!! admittedly we don't do many miles but seriously, what do you think could be the problem? TIA

[johnk]

You might have a soft short somewhere, that is a short that isn't big enough to blow a fuse. You'll need a multimeter to check.

[theshedman]

I know someone with a Jag and gets the same thing. Garage told them it's because they hardly do any miles in it. They had new battery and it still happens. Garage told them it's because they hardly use it. Short journeys dont charge the battery.

[bhg481]

Do you leave the car locked? The alarm takes only a very small current but, if it's left for a couple of weeks without use, it adds up over time. As others have said, it takes a few miles to replace the charge taken by starting the engine, so lots of short runs will also run down the battery.

[Bazile]

Sometimes I don't drive my car for 4- 5 days in a row and in winter .

However on the 6th day , it still turns over and starts first time

I only do short journeys , so I'm not convinced your problem is short journeys .

It sounds like it's a problem , with retaining charge .

[chessington]

thanks for replies

[davebro]

My Toyota warns of low battery in the key fob - could it be that rather than the car's battery?

Is it sluggish to turn over - any other signs that the battery is not charged?

[bhg481]

Are you petrol or diesel? In the days when I had petrol cars the batteries lasted for many years. Since changing to diesel 20 years ago the batteries only last about 3 or 4 years, even 5-years guaranteed batteries two of which have been changed under warranty. Diesels take a much higher current than petrols because of the higher compression ratio so will be more sensitive to a battery losing capacity.

[barry1010]

bhg, that's odd, I've had diesel cars for 30 years and never had a problem with the battery. My current diesel is 12 years old and the original battery had to be replaced last year.

[bhg481]

barry - I must say it surprised me. I'm very battery-conscious and expect batteries to last "for ever". About 20 years ago I switched to a new diesel Volvo after 30 years of petrol British Leyland and Vauxhalls and was surprised when the battery started complaining after 3 years. I replaced it with a Bosch which also failed after 3 years and was replaced under warranty. Three years later another replacement. I replaced the car in 2008 with another new Volvo. Three years later I had to replace it, so chose Bosch again. Another warranty replacement after 3 years and three years later I had to replace it again and went for a Yuasa which is now 3 years old. I should add that we go camping and rely on a reliable battery so have sometimes changed the battery after several "low battery" warnings rather than waiting for a failure but the fact that some were changed under warranty after a test implies that they were failing.

[netherfield]

Do you have a garage to keep your car in?, If you do invest in a smart charger, Ctek or Ring are reliable makes to look for.The battery you replaced, was it a named brand or bought as cheap as possible?.

[bhg481]

Does your car have "stop-start" technology (whatever it's called) where the engine cuts out when you come to a halt and restarts itself when required? If so, does it have a secondary battery for that and could it be that battery which is failing?

[chessington]

netherfield, it was fitted by Halfords and is a named brand battery

[chessington]

bhg481 yes it does have stop/start and don't know if it has a seperate battery, but the battery that was installed was bought for stop/start purposes and is a normal size car battery.

[bhg481]

I know nothing about cars with "Stop-start" technology other than the fact that SOME cars have a separate battery for it; it could be worth checking if that applies to your car.

[ToraToraTora]

if you don't use the car a lot or for only short journeys then this will happen. The energy required to start a car takes about 20 minutes for a normal alternator to replace so if you start it and do a 10 minute journey the battery gets steadily flatter. I recommend and optimate 6 battery optimiser.
https://tinyurl.com/yr8jydxb

[theshedman]

I have start stop on my car, not that it's ever worked that well. I was told it has a different type of battery than normal start cars and also a different type of starter motor to be able to cope with it. I was also told that we didn't do enough miles for it to work properly.

[ToraToraTora]

ahhh stop/start?? disable it, terrible idea, can't possibly save any fuel, if you want to save fuel use Vpower/premium it costs more but you get more MPG and your engine likes it.

[mjwman]

I have a Leon too and it too gets little used. There is no problem with the battery.
However, I have had the key fob battery go on me twice and get a dash message to that effect.
I doubt very much if you would get such a message about the main battery. I would also ask you, has it ever failed to start with that message?

[ToraToraTora]

" I was told it has a different type of battery than normal start cars and also a different type of starter motor to be able to cope with it. I" - I've heard this but if that's the case then why aren't all cars just fitted with the "new better" type by default, regardless of "stop start"?

[theshedman]

TTT, cars with start stop tech are fitted with different starters and batteries because of the number of times they start and stop. They are made to take this sort of treatment whereas a normal one wouldn't last very long. That's what the garage told us when we bought our last one. So to answer your question a battery for start stop is around twice the price. Fitting all cars with these batteries would add to cost of buying new cars and replacing the batteries.