Had to have a new split relay a few weeks ago. Put the car in the garage for 10 days and next time out would not start. The AA guy came and started it. he said it started after he had checked battery etc including disconnecting it. No trouble since but i am suspicious. The Kia dealer service manager told me there were no issues with Sorento batteries and suggested that maybe the battery had not been reconnected securely after the new relay was fitted and the AA guy inadvertently rectified it. However the car has been parked 72 hours toady and the battery reads 12.4 volts. So where has the rest gone? The tow bar guy says although the relay stays live it should not draw any current when parked. I notice that there is 0.01 volts at some of the pins! The tow bar guy reckons this is normal, I will check that the split charger relay is off. Any one any ideas or met this before please?
car battery and split realy
- Thread starter waffler
- Start date
Hi Waffler .The first thing that came to my mind here wa to removed the Front of your radio.The memory drains batteries very quickly. This is just my thought worth checking .
SirRoger
SirRoger
Sounds like you have a Parasitic Draw not the easiest of things to find but if you haven't got a multimeter one of these will help as it plugs into the fuse and shows any battery draining .... there are two to choose from depending on fuse size.
Thanks guys. I know it is not radio as i have had the car 2 years and left for 3 weeks with no problem. The only change is the relay. I will try the current detector. (Measured everything this morning and everything was OK. No voltage drop and no pins live that shouldn't be.)
...........the common reason for this type of event when the car is in a garage, is the interior light or boot light staying on due to a door or boot not being shut properly.
Cars kept outside are normally locked for security so this scenario is less likely.
Cars kept outside are normally locked for security so this scenario is less likely.
Thought I would update you guys. Haven't solved the problem and think I'm going mad. I've been checking the voltage at the 13 pin socket, using the permanent live, and one day the voltage went up without having been run!!!!! The tow bar people checked everything and found the fuse holder was cracked which was duly changed. (The relays were switching off OK in the expected time.) I bought a new multi-meter, (the old one was 13 years old and wires were fraying- and it cost me £5.99), and immediately realised that how i measured the voltage gave me different readings. Going to the car and measuring gave me a high reading. If I opened the tailgate, no lights on, the voltage dropped about 0.1 volt. If the car is unlocked, no lights etc on, it dropped 0.2volts. This might explain why i get the varying voltages. So why did the car not start that time. One idea from the Kia dealer is that when the new relay was fitted the battery might not have been connected securely and that the AA guy refitted it properly when he got us going. Booked car with an auto-electrician for Thursday just o make sure all is well or find out what is wrong.
Another possibility if it is a high spec car, there are lots of memories being held. My Hyundai ix35 Premium manual advises removing the memory fuse if left for longish periods. Two weeks parked and my battery is dead. Yes, there is a single fuse covering all of them. I can't think that a faulty spit charge relay would cause power loss unless it feeds the fridge and that is connected and left on, or something similar.
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