battery issues

[nicolas]

Hi everyone,

I have a little issue with my renault 4 GTL 1984 ....

The battery is getting discharged (from 13V to 7-8V) slowly and therefore giving me problem to start the engine. I cannot figure out where the problem is coming from.

I recently did the following changes:
- changed one of the rubber ban to recharge the alternator.
- removed the radio cables.
- repair front light electrical cable
- sparkling plugs

I have no idea where the problem could come from ... I dont know where the leak is coming from. Is it coming from a rusted cable, fuse, lights (signals, lights ...).

If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Thanks a lot everyone.

R4ly,

Nicolas

 

[malcolm]

I just replaced the battery in the R5 for the same reason. If it is an old battery like mine was it could well be dead and will just discharge by itself. A new battery only costs £30 so well worth a shot to save diagnostic time if yours looks a bit old. My new battery is brilliant!

If you have a voltmeter then you could disconnect one of the battery terminals and put the meter on the amp setting between the battery post and the disconnected lead. There you can see if there is current flowing with the ignition switched off. (Often a radio.)

 

[jjad]

We had a faulty radio that was draining our battery (and I blew the fuse in my multimeter testing for it - put it on a higher amp setting before checking for a small current (e.g. milliamps)!).

However, with the cold weather and not being used much, the battery doesn't hold its charge very well anyway, so a trickle charger overnight or top up before a cold start may help if you're not driving it for weeks at a time.

 

[pepper]

Mines been playing up on the Monaco, Its always this time of year when a weak battery starts to be noticed!

I've had to buy one for my Kia too, it seems to eat batteries for some reason and this is the fourth one in 10 years! Perhaps having to turn over a 3lt 4 cylinder motor takes a bit of churning!

 

[nicolas]

hi all,

thanks for your replies, highly appreciate.
The battery is a year old ... but i think I will install a battery cut switch and buy a trickle charger.

In regards to the radio, we didn't have just the cable hanging in the car so our garagist removed them ... and i was wondering if it could have been the reasons.

Anyway, I will elt you know if the battery switch does the job.
thanks
nico

 

[Sprackers]

I normally flip the lid and remove the battery cable if I know I am not going to be using it for a few days or weeks.

 

[billythefish]

Mine was a faulty radio took the life out of the battery over a day or two, then eventually overnight ripped the radio out and all was well

 

[jjad]

Snap! Ours was also a faulty Radio/CD.