Alfa Romeo 156 (1998 - 2005) - Battery

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Wed 7 Nov 2007 08:29
Battery - romeo156
My battery is running flat after 3-4 days. AA man has been out twice now, he has told me that it is the battery, however, having changed the battery, still getting the same problem. AA man states it the battery beacuse it fails a load test. I am unsure as this is the second battery that it is happening on.

Car is not used every day, it can go 3-4 days without being used, but it used to cope with this.

Car is having its MOT and service on Friday, but garage has already looked at alternator when it put the new battery in 2 months ago.
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 10:11
Battery - Dynamic Dave
You need to check if anything is draining the battery when parked up. If you've got a multimeter, then disconnect the +ve battery lead and hook up the meter (set to amps) between the diconnected lead and battery terminal. With all doors shut, and everything turned off, the meter should be registering virtually zero. If it has an alarm, then set it and there should be only minimal current drain shown on the meter.

Obviously make sure you've got the radio code before disconnecting anything.

Lastly, I take it you've checked the obvious - that being the boot / interior/ glovebox lights are not remaining lit?
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 11:41
Battery - adverse camber
give it a minute or so after locking up - some alarms have a fair drain at first, then arm and the current drops.

When your testing like this - if the current drain is high, then start pulling fuses (remove and replace one at a time- dont just pull them all out) to see which is protecting the circuit with the drain
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 11:55
Battery - romeo156
The AA man did the drain tests and there was nothing registering as causing any issues. I cant believe that two batteries are faulty, but as I said the AA man is convinced because it is failing a "load test"

Thanks so far for your replies
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 12:53
Battery - Screwloose

If the AA man thinks that load testing a flat battery gives any sort of reliable results, he should take their 5-minute "all you need to know about selling batteries" course again.
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 15:06
Battery - normd2
do you have a friend with a similar battery? - try swapping batteries for a couple of days and see if the problem follows the battery or stays with the car.
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Thu 8 Nov 2007 07:51
Battery - Collos25
As Screwloose pointed out not really the correct way to do a load test ,it needs a to taken for a good run to fully charge the battery then do the test.There could be a faulty charging circuit which needs checking if it's not charging properly it will never work,then you need to test for any current leakage.
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