Vauxhall Astra G Petrol (1998 - 2004) - 01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days

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Mon 23 Jun 2008 11:17
01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days - wengren
l have a vauxhall astra envoy 8v estate. the problems are. the battrey goes flat when car is left standing after 2 days. l have a radio which someone put in before l brought the car. the radio is conected to the battery , so l can work the radio without starting the engine. is this way the battery goes flat. l take the front cover off the radio when car is not in use and there is a little flashing red light behind it. another problem l have is just latley the engine electronics immobilizer light comes on after driving the car for about half hour.

subject header amended to give some brief info about the problem

Edited by Webmaster on 23/06/2008 at 11:59

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Mon 23 Jun 2008 13:15
01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days - Dynamic Dave
I take it there is a fuse between the battery and stereo? If not, then there should be for safety reasons. To see if it is the stereo causing the problem, remove the fuse (if one is fitted) when the car isn't in use and see if the battery still goes flat.

Is this is an aftermarket stereo that's been fitted? All the person who fitted it needed to have done was to swap over the red and yellow wires as these are the main live feed and switched live feed to the stereo. For one reason or another aftermarket stereos always seem to have a different wiring set up (although it's supposed to be ISO complient).

If it's the original stereo, then holding down 2 buttons (1 & 3) before switching on the stereo changes the ignition logic so that the stereo doesn't switch itself off when you remove the key.


As for the engine electronics immobiliser light, this is also a engine fault light. You will need to have it plugged into a diagnostic reader to extract the fault codes.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 23/06/2008 at 13:18

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Mon 23 Jun 2008 23:19
01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days - Peter.N.
It could of course that the battery is on its last legs or that the alternator is not charging properly. A voltmeter across the battery with the engine runnung should read about 14 volts. If you connect an ammeter in series with one of the battery leads, it shouldn't read more than a few milliamps with everything switched off. But check what Dave says first.
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Tue 24 Jun 2008 02:21
01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days - Dynamic Dave
Generally when either the battery or alternator on these start to fail, the electric power steering is the first to stop working or become intermittant.
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Tue 24 Jun 2008 17:20
01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days - wengren
l have a new battery on the car and the alternater is fine, the car charges ok and the car runs ok. l think its the radio, l will take the fuse out of the radio tomorrow and see what happens then. also can anyone tell me how much it cost to put my car on the machine to find out why this light is coming on , it only comes on after 30 to 60 mins of driving. the car runs ok.l have been taking the battery off every time the car is standing overnight could that make the light come on. thanks for all answers

Edited by wengren on 24/06/2008 at 17:22

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Tue 24 Jun 2008 21:36
01 1.6 battery goes flat after 2 days - topbloke
unlikely to cause the light to come on, approx £35 at dealers, disconecting battery will not cause any long term problems but will cause the learnt parameters to be lost, which will be re learnt as you drive it next day/time driven
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