Big Car Club - MPV and SUV Forums

Hi All,

Yesterday our Ford Galaxy had problems starting with what appeared to be a flat battery. We hill started it and it worked fine. This morning I tried to start it and again the battery appeared to be weak. I took it to Halfords who checked the battery and alternator with their computer and said  they both appeared to be fine but I bought a battery charger as they said the battery was a little low. After about 5 mins the battery charger reported the battery as fully charged and my multimeter said just above 12 volts.

Next I checked for a short by checking the current usage. My meter read about 70mA after a few minutes of connecting the battery which to me didn't seem to extreme (although is maybe a little high from what I have read). Anyway I removed and replaced the fuses to check which would affect the current consumption and the only one which seemed to affect the current consumption was the one marked as "Alarm Supplies, interior lights, multi-function modules".

I cleaned the battery terminals and connectors and connected them back up and now.........it's even worse. When you turn the key in the ignition without starting the car it clicks audibly and the dashboard display flashes for about 5 seconds. When I try to start the car it just clicks rapidly. I have placed a video here on Dropbox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20657917/IMG_1573.MOV

Any ideas?

Kind Regards,

Rich.

By look of rev counter you have a 1.9tdi?

Have a check inside the fuse box by battery for signs of corrosion and heat build up where cables to battery etc connect.

Also could well be the lead to starter or starter itself. Try carefully connecting a jump lead between battery positive and positive on to starter,be very careful not to short it as it won't be fuse protected.

If all that checks out try connecting jump lead from battery earth to engine block in case earth lead is poor.

If still no different I would be looking at changing the starter motor out.

Hi mate had a similar problem over several months also thought i had a battery drain.Turned out i had a bad positive lead to fuse box.Cheap fix got new positive lead from halfords under Ã,£5.Hope this is helpfull.

Thank you both for your help. This morning I tried jump starting it from my Fiesta and it started up first time. I checked the fuse box by the battery (which I've actually had problems with before!) but it all looked fine. I've bought a new battery and it got me to Guildford....AND BACK without the need to physical assistance.

Thanks again,

Rich.

Sounds very much like your battery was duff after all then,much like the test equipment halfrauds used it would seem.

Fingers crossed no more problems encountered.