[Closed] Wife's car has died!

Get better jump leads (seriously) or charge the battery.

Have you tried a trickle charger on it yet?

If that fails I'd gamble its new battery time. Modern ones do seem to suffer "sudden death".

Yep, battery.

Where are you? Maybe someone can lend you a charger.

Sounds like battery is toast.

You might get it to work for a short period with a charger.

If it's your wife's car I suggest getting a new one to save the hassle going forward

A deep discharge for an extended period is a good way to kill a battery, unfortunately!

Try a slow trickle charge with a charger if you can use a "smart" charger they sometimes have recovery options.

If it’s your wife’s car I suggest getting a new one to save the hassle going forward

Wife, or car?

I had a Fiesta of similar vintage and when the battery went dead you couldn't use jump leads if the battery voltage had dropped too low without disconnecting the battery first, some sort of protection circuit would cut in. Disconnect the battery for a minute or so, reconnect then put on the jump leads before turning the ignition on. Start the car you're jumping from and let it run for a minute then try and start the Fusion.

Tried jumping it off mine and all I got was clicking relays.

You’d be surprised what a difference a set of heavy duty leads can make, and what you use to jump from. At work we’ve had some vehicles just refuse to start from a fully-charged jump-pack, so we’ve tried two, then we’ve had another vehicle with jump leads as well, and it’s still taken a couple of hours to get it started. I’ve had plenty of occasions when a car wouldn’t start using one set of leads, tried another set and it’s started, but we usually try to use something with a diesel, like an SUV/crossover; a Kia Picanto just wouldn’t really do the job, a Sportage or a Santa Fe is ideal.
Kia Vengas are the worst for flat batteries, they’ll just die on their ass after less than a week, although to be fair it’s mostly down to a light switch for the boot light not working properly when the hatch isn’t shut firmly.
I’m not looking forward to going back to work after a couple of thousand cars and vans have been sat idle since March... 😫

Oh and I only know the trick as the then girlfriend had a habit of leaving the lights on every time she used it. The light switch in her car was the other way for off so she always left it on dipped beam!

Just had a text from a mate. He's going to lend me a charger so we'll see how that goes.

hot long did you leave it connected to your car first?

hot long did you leave it connected to your car first?

Dunno. 5 minutes perhaps.

Never had to do this before so I was making it up as I went along.

If it’s your wife’s car I suggest getting a new one to save the hassle going forward

webuyanywife.com

I have used cheap leads before and the secret is to connect it for 10 mins before trying to start, however as said if battery is knackered you could struggle with leads, if you need a battery and can wait a few days you should try this place I got my last couple of batteries here and they were a lot cheaper than ECP etc
https://www.tayna.co.uk/policies?msclkid=0daa8265cdd81dc2a0f1dc8d0da4a9a2

2nd plug for Tayna , next day service and used them a few times before (sitting here with two batteries on the table for both our cars from Tayna ... one stop/start car with notoriously sh2t Fiamm dud battery , and another car that has a weakening elderly battery.

Oh and I only know the trick as the then girlfriend had a habit of leaving the lights on every time she used it.

Cannock Chase?

3rd for Tayna for batteries - quick, efficient and the best prices I could find!

If the battery is that dead itll need at least a surface charge.

Leave it connected for 20min n try it. Or just put a battery on it. If you give me a reg I'll get one on my trade account

I can't be doing with threads that don't update, even dull ones like this.

Had it on a trickle charge for the last 27 hours and now I've gone from 25% and a red light to 100% and two reds, a yellow and a green one.

Will pop it back in once the rain stops.

My next thread will be about seized handbrake.

Leave it parked in 1st gear without the handbrake - That's what I have done.

^^^ The Vauxhall method.

Might be a bit late if the hand brake was already on.

Get yourself under the car with a hammer to take seized brakes. Couple of tips though...

1. Don't do it on a slope and i can't stress this enough ESPECIALLY if its pointing uphill.

2. Don't do it on your own.

Ask me how I know.

It should have been left in gear with the handbrake off. There is even a Post It stuck on the instrument panel with IN GEAR, HANDBRAKE OFF written on it.

I left the handbrake on*. Not cranked right on, but on.

*Like a dick.

I can’t be doing with threads that don’t update, even dull ones like this.

Quite right! (on both counts. 😉 )

Leave it parked in 1st gear without the handbrake – That’s what I have done.

My gravel drive has developed little sink holes where the wheels sit, so I don't even bother with 1st gear. My old van once dragged two nice furrows through the gravel right accross the drive until the wheels got enough traction on the road to clunk them off.

Just taken it for a spin and it ran like a dream. A rattling 16 year old egg box of a dream, but it ran!

I'm suspecting that if the boot had been properly closed than the interior lights wouldn't have drained the battery*, but what do I know?

*This may have been my fault.

Leave it parked in 1st gear without the handbrake – That’s what I have done.

Despite leaving the handbrake off the camper had seized it brakes when I moved it on the drive the other day. Need to take it for a drive to see how well it frees up and cleans the discs up, but it’s SORNED at the moment. It seems to be the pads corroding on to the discs rather than the calipers seizing, fingers crossed it’s not another new set of pads & discs.

My Grand C-max was in a similar position. I could charge the battery and get it started but it was dead within a couple of days. New battery sorted it completely.

When my previous SMax expired it sat on the drive for 8 months with the handbrake on.

The scrap dealer needed a Chinook to move it.

I've put the trickle charger on ours every couple of weeks. So far both are just fine.

My battery (10 years old) was totally dead after not using it since the start of March. Bought a charger on Mon morning, dragged the battery back to my house and charged it until I got bored waiting (about 5 hours), popped it back in the car and it started first time 🙂

Now I need to decide how often I'm going to have to go for a drive to stop it going dead again.

dragged the battery back to my house

You don't own a recent ford where you have to remove the blasted air box to get at it then - not looking forward to that little job when the time comes (we have two of them of just the right vintage that this is going to be an issue at some point in our ownership). Although kudos to Ford for making the + terminal and the earthing point very easily accessible.

Cannock Chase?

Lorraine...?

Now I need to decide how often I’m going to have to go for a drive to stop it going dead again.

Probably need to drive it every couple of hours come winter.

I predict a roaring trade....even higher than normal at the first cold snap after this extended *no run * period for cars.