New car battery going flat on focus

loracan1

Had a flat battery just under a month ago, had new one fitted, fine for 3 weeks and had a flat battery again last week. No lights left on. Garage checked out the battery, alternator and eventually diagnosed it as the radio causing the drain, reckoned the radio was faulty, so disconnected it.

I know it's a bit 'how long can a piece of string be' but would this be repairable, does it need a new radio and what are the chances a new radio would cause the same problem? It's one of the multicd ford radios and in itself works perfectly, just obviously don't want to be chancing a flat battery every other week.

Hezzawithkids

I had the exact same problem with my Focus - radio draining the battery. Only solution was to replace the radio. Fortunately I had taken out a servicing contract when I bought it so got it fixed without having to pay for it, otherwise would have cost £250+. No problems since then.

OddballJamie

Sounds like an issue with the Smart charge system, does it have a plug on the alternator that you unplug to bypass it?

If it is the radio staying on, as a cheap fix you could fit a separate switch to control the power to the stereo.

forgotmyname

A radio flattens the battery? If left on for a week and not driving the car maybe.

Not a boot light or interior light staying on? Why is the battery saver relay not kicking in?

loracan1

OddballJamie wrote: »

Sounds like an issue with the Smart charge system, does it have a plug on the alternator that you unplug to bypass it?

If it is the radio staying on, as a cheap fix you could fit a separate switch to control the power to the stereo.

smart charge? I don't know what that is:o - it's an 04 plate so not a new car. The radio isn't left on, in fact there's some sort of powersaver where it switches itself off after an hour if ignition isn't switched on (I do wonder if it's something within that system that is the problem). I'd not even put the code in from changing the battery so not used at all in last few weeks.

forgotmyname wrote: »

A radio flattens the battery? If left on for a week and not driving the car maybe.

Not a boot light or interior light staying on? Why is the battery saver relay not kicking in?

No lights staying on, googling brings up that the radio draining charge is not unknown and Hezzawithkids has had similar problem. I'm just wondering whether anyone has had same and had the radio fixed or problem has continued with new radio.