Pulsing battery charge

Grumpy_chap

Battery remains on charge and, throughout the day I have been checking fluid levels.  Everything is as expected, except coolant level which is totally dry in the reservoir.
I have checked below the vehicle and through the engine bay and no obvious signs of a leak having occurred.
Last check was In October 2020, with strength of -22decC.
I suppose all I can do is to top up again and hope for the best.

coffeehound

All dry in the front footwell?

Grumpy_chap

coffeehound said:

All dry in the front footwell?

I am currently unable to get into the passenger and luggage compartments. 
The driver's door is essentially inaccessible and the other doors require the central locking which, in turn requires the battery to hold enough charge. 
If I can't gain access via this approach, then I can take the fence down to gain access to trim the bushes to gain access to the driver's door lock and open.  It was no-where near as tight when I parked up, but the bushes have grown rather more than anticipated.

Why / how would coolant make it's way to the front footwell?  It is not something I have ever experienced before.  FWIW, there was a lot of moisture over the winter and I and to load the inside with PINGU's.  I put this down to it being warm and damp when lockdown started in December, then the temperature dropping over Christmas.  My neighbour's car was affected in the same way.  The PINGU's are now dry / blue.

The car is a 2007 Focus petrol if that makes any difference to this line of thinking.

cattom

if the heater matrix or the pipes that feed it., are corroded or perished , the coolant can leak into the inside of the car. what vehicle is this and how old is it?

cattom

ok. I just seen above what vehicle it is.

coffeehound

If the pingus have dried up any leakage you might still get the whiff of coolant in the cabin, which would be a clue.  Hopefully it's not matrix leaks as it's usually a case of removing the dashboard to get to it -- not sure for your car.

Honest John site doesn't mention heater matrix leaks as a common problem with the model.  It does say water collects in the spark plug recesses though, so you might want to make sure they are clean and dry before attempting to start it up.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/ford/focus-2004/good

Grumpy_chap

Thanks @coffeehound and @cattom - the solution must still to replenish with new anti-freeze solution as the first step.  I'm assuming, even if it was coolant leak into the cabin, it would not generally be rapid.

I have not gained access into the cabin since February, when I had the Pingi's.  There was no unusual smell at that time.  Since then, the plants grew rapidly and with the central locking off because no battery, access via other doors is not practical either.

Grumpy_chap

Well, two days of charging and the battery was not holding enough to even operate the central door locking.  I topped up the coolant and then jump started and it was all happy started first turn

No smells or damp or anything inside the cabin, and mechanically seemed to work as expected when I shifted it around and turned it about so that the driver door is not parked up against the plants should they grow mad again.  Also parked it in a position that is easier to get a vehicle next to for jump starting.

It was really quite nice to be back in the car and makes me realise what a great car it really is.

The my wife pointed out that there is limited point in getting the car MOT'd as it has been (and still is) on SORN because I'm not using it for work and might as well get that all sorted when I will actually need to use the car again.  She is correct, of course, and who knows how long until we need to actually go to work rather than WFH?

The Honest John link was useful as the car has always had some kind of battery drain and I wonder whether this could be the first fault listed - "the Power Control Module cluster gateway not closing properly and draining the battery overnight. May need to be reloaded with manufacturer data to overcome a sofware error."  Seems possible.  Mine is also suffering from the rust on the front wheel arches, which is the 8th common fault mentioned.

Thanks every one for the advice.

One thing I did note was that the "information display" was entirely blank - I'm wondering whether that is because I had not bothered entering the key-code into the radio. (?)

Richard53

I once recovered a lawn tractor battery from apparently dead by leaving it on a low trickle charge (Optimate smart charger, not a Woolies special) for about 10-12 days. One or two days charging wasn't enough. It revived it enough for another year's use before I replaced it. Someone with technical knowledge could explain why, but I was told that a 'dead' battery needs a small charge in it before it can charge normally, and leaving it on a low charge for several days can sometimes do that. Perhaps leaving it longer might have helped.

Grumpy_chap

Richard53 said:

I once recovered a lawn tractor battery from apparently dead by leaving it on a low trickle charge (Optimate smart charger, not a Woolies special) for about 10-12 days. One or two days charging wasn't enough. It revived it enough for another year's use before I replaced it. Someone with technical knowledge could explain why, but I was told that a 'dead' battery needs a small charge in it before it can charge normally, and leaving it on a low charge for several days can sometimes do that. Perhaps leaving it longer might have helped.

Thanks, but this battery was really in need of replacement way back last winter - even then it would not start the car on Monday morning if I had not used it over the weekend.  

Grumpy_chap said:

One thing I did note was that the "information display" was entirely blank - I'm wondering whether that is because I had not bothered entering the key-code into the radio. (?)

A leading internet search engine suggests that this is an outcome of the knackered battery and once a new battery is fitted it will likely be all OK.