Opel Corsa Battery Issue

O

oukie

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Hiya Guys/Gals/Ladies/Gents

Having a strange issue on my Corsa. When driving everything is fine, as long as I don't use the headlights, this drains the battery and in 3 days of using lights for about an hour each day, battery is drained and won't even start the vehicle. Can use it fine otherwise.

Tested the battery, 12.6v non started, 12.6v when idling, and no increase in voltage when applying fuel. Switch lights on and voltage starts dropping slowly.
Assuming alternator is not charging/charging properly, got hold of another alternator and fitted this. Nothing changes except that reading over battery terminals is now 11.8v. Refit old alternator and reading is back to 12.5v.

With original alternator, battery light is off when started or driving. With alternative alternator battery light is on when started or driving.
Went to battery centre and battery checked out to just need to be charged, yet it starts the vehicle without issue.

1. Alternative alernator might be faulty and needs to be returned and another one found for testing.
2. Battery might be stuffed and current alternator is fine.
Any advice?
Anything else I can have a look at, check or have checked?
 
Alternative alternator sounds dodge, you sound try with another. Have you tried other ways to drain the battery? Does using the radio or using a car charger show load?
 
Either both alternators are not 100% or one of the cells on the battery is short circuit. The alternator will try to output just over 14V, but if the battery is taking more than that, the voltage will drop.

It's also possible that there is another short somewhere which is draining more current than the alternator can put out, but that's usually due to the boost heater and I doubt that they're fitted to Corsas.
 
Will have alternative alternator swapped out for another one, fit and test it then. Have not tried draining any other way yet, have no radio fitted at the moment. Will charge the battery tonight.
Had an issue with the radio a while back where it didn't switch of even though the ignition was off, removed at that point. Might be worth looking at and disconnecting the entire harness for that.
Went as far as checking all fuses and these are all fine as well.
 
When the vehicle is idling ,remove one of the terminals,negative or positive.

If the vehicle switches off..that means your alternator is the problem.

If it still idles that means your alternator is not the problem.

Change the battery.:)
 
battery is dying

did the same to my wifes car ...we tested the battery with the car switched off and lights on

battery went from 13v or something to like 11v in seconds
 
aj81 said:
When the vehicle is idling ,remove one of the terminals,negative or positive.

If the vehicle switches off..that means your alternator is the problem.

If it still idles that means your alternator is not the problem.

Change the battery.:)
Click to expand...

Should have done this. Forgot about this simple test.




I.am.Sam said:
battery is dying

did the same to my wifes car ...we tested the battery with the car switched off and lights on

battery went from 13v or something to like 11v in seconds
Click to expand...

And it was driving fine otherwise?
 
I.am.Sam said:
battery is dying

did the same to my wifes car ...we tested the battery with the car switched off and lights on

battery went from 13v or something to like 11v in seconds
Click to expand...

Sounds like what my car did a while back, changed the battery and its been happy ever since.
 
has no one ever bothered to see current draw for the entire car electronics,If its real high no battery will last long,New or old,If current draw for opel corsa is over say 60mA you having a slight problem,when we get to 70mA and more you got serious issues with some component taking the juice out of your battery,

if you running in 100mA and over....chck for custom made car bombs under chassis..:D

Most cars from latest to oldish current draw should be about 50mA in standby mode after say from 1 min to 3 hours after car is locked and parked
 
Did your problem get sorted out as I'm now facing the same problem.
I have a new battery but now the battery light came on and my radio was on for around 40 km then it went off
Someone is saying it might be an alternator
 
aj81 said:
When the vehicle is idling ,remove one of the terminals,negative or positive.

If the vehicle switches off..that means your alternator is the problem.

If it still idles that means your alternator is not the problem.

Change the battery.:)
Click to expand...

tsm said:
Did your problem get sorted out as I'm now facing the same problem.
I have a new battery but now the battery light came on and my radio was on for around 40 km then it went off
Someone is saying it might be an alternator
Click to expand...

Do the above simple test and take it from there. As a safety precaution remove the negative terminal.
 
So you reckon the negative terminal is safer to remove whilst the car is idling ?

I recently bought a new battery in March and now my car is doing what i had previously with my older Probe battery.

My battery light in the dash board is very faint and pissing me off because i dont understand why its doing it.

I know my previous battery took a hammering because 3 times i had left my ignition on and battery was so so low the car didnt want to start , so i most likely damaged the cells. The battery at the time was 4 years old anyways.

Now i have a new Energizer battery, and i just hope to god it is not broken already.

I have a multi tester and a general automatic china market battery charger , it automatically charged at whatever Amp rate it thinks is right....

Anyways, i will check the volt reading in the morning and i hope it is 12.6 then its good.
If i turn the switch on then i will see what the volts do, i think it should not drop far down.... maybe low 12 or high 11 ? if it goes beyond that then i know its cooked. Which i really hope it is not, i have lost the receipt for my battery, i got it from Kotwals in Germiston and i am not a regular there.

Strange thing ,,,,,, i got home turned off the car , after my fan has come on and gone off to cool the engine.
I then cranked the engine again and that battery light went off completely , not even faint , so i dont understand that.
I let the car idle again and i let the fan kick in again...didnt see any faint red light at all.... i just let the fan go off and then i let the car idle for 30 seconds and then i turned it off.
 
Okay, and anything else to add to the rest of what i detailed?
My last paragraph:
"Strange thing ,,,,,, i got home turned off the car , after my fan has come on and gone off to cool the engine.
I then cranked the engine again and that battery light went off completely , not even faint , so i dont understand that.
I let the car idle again and i let the fan kick in again...didnt see any faint red light at all.... i just let the fan go off and then i let the car idle for 30 seconds and then i turned it off. "
 
Cause its strange how the light doesnt even show faintly after i just cranked the engine again.
Any takers?

I checked my battery after being parked overnight. It says 12.47 on the multi tester.
I cranked and let the car idle and then it measures 13.84 to 13.1 , around there.

*sigh* i dont know , cars a real pain
 
ichocolate said:
Cause its strange how the light doesnt even show faintly after i just cranked the engine again.
Any takers?

I checked my battery after being parked overnight. It says 12.47 on the multi tester.
I cranked and let the car idle and then it measures 13.84 to 13.1 , around there.

*sigh* i dont know , cars a real pain
Click to expand...

Must be some intermittent problem with the alternator which needs to be monitored over time, is it only the battery light that is showing?
 
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