Current pun

I have a 2000X BMW 530D estate, which my father had owned from nearly new. Over the past 8 months it has developed an intermittent battery drain fault and I was hoping you may have some clues about what...

Lies, damn lies and static tests

Regarding battery leakdowns, I have a friend who is a modern auto electrician, by which I mean he has all the latest kit code readers, etc., but for a suspect earth he does the following: Connect a multi...

Mothballing a MINI

We live in Hong Kong but spend 4-5 weeks each summer in the UK. My wife bought a 2005 Mini Cooper (not the 'S' model) Automatic 1,598cc with 47,000 km on the clock earlier this year (trouble free so far,...

BMW battery bother

I have water leaking into the battery compartment of a 2006 BMW 525D. This caused a breakdown and major electrical problems which will cost me about £1,000. BMW have not identified the cause of the...

How does the use of electrical appliances in an electric car affect the vehicle's range?

I am a regular reader of your excellent columns in the Telegraph, however, the following points do not seem to have been covered. Nothing appears to have been said in the media about the effect of operating...

Why do Range Rover batteries run flat so often?

The AA and other forms of assistance are kept extraordinarily busy at Royal Ascot re-charging the flat batteries of innumerable Range Rovers: this is an annual performance that I have been witnessing for...

Mondeo keyfob battery change

I've heard there can be problems changing a battery in a fob key. Is this true or can you just simply change it?

Battery draining

I have a 2006 Volvo XC70 D5 SE with the safety package which included the built in phone and the Volvo "on call" system. The car was in fabulous condition and had only about 29,000 miles on the clock,...

This is a good method for finding the source of a car battery drain.

You wrote of a chap whose batteries ran down after three idle days and gave him a possible theory. Actually, the matter is simple to prove - to anyone with any electrical knowledge. You switch off everything...

I found that frozen moisture in the doors of my 1997 Golf was causing the battery to discharge.

Last winter I experienced flat batteries with identical symptoms to those experienced by ST, Eltham. I have a '97 Golf TDI, which I have had for nearly six years. During the very cold spell last year I...