Battery drain, corrosion on terminal
 

Over the last 3-4 months, I've been finding that my CDT requires a jump start if I leave it for even as little as a week without using it. Most of my journeys are shortish ones so it is entirely possible the battery's never getting fully charged, but it's a new one, so I know there's nothing wrong with the battery as such. I clearly have some kind of slow drain.

Now, I know there's a system of diagnosing this which has been discussed on here before, but I have neither the time, patience nor sufficient confidence in my skills to do this, and have booked my car into a local (very good) auto electrics specialist on Wednesday for them to look at. The reason for this posting is that I did notice that the positive battery terminal/connector shows substantial (electrolytic?) corrosion, and I'm wondering whether this could somehow be a pointer to where the drain problem lies. Incidentally, I don't have sat-nav, which I know is one of the usual suspects.

Smear Vaseline on the top of both battery posts buddy - should keep the corrosion at bay
Regards
Chris

Good idea, will do. But could the corrosion be a cause of the drain?

I think it's unlikely - the only way energy can go anywhere is heat so it'd have to be getting hot to flatten your battery.

Irrespective, it could cause problems in the future - so I would clean it up with some sandpaper to get rid of the corrosion.

Buy a 'smart' battery charger (C-tek are good) and leave it connected forat least 24 hours, preferably longer.
You are correct John.
A new battery will still become flat if it isn't charged, as will an older one. So I'm afraid that your conclusion isn't strictly true.
Have you? You cannot be certain of that unless you measure it. ;)
Do you mean white powder deposits John? If so, wipe them off and smear the terminal post with Vaseline. If not, can you explain what this "corrosion" looks like?

Simon

I remember an occasion many moons ago when my father in law called my brother out to fix the mother in laws non starting xj6
The battery terminals were severely covered in white chalky deposits and when cranked gave all the signs of a flat battery
He poured boiling water over the terminals which instantly dissolved all the crud
The car then started fine :D
Didn't even need to get the jump leads out :eek:
Regards
Chris

Sorry about late reply. Upshot is that it was looked at by local car electrics specialist who found no obvious battery drain, so put it down to the changed pattern of car use (using it far less, for occasional short journeys). In fact I've not had a problem for weeks now, as I've been having a few longer journeys (50-60 miles). Something to be aware of, but clearly no major problem.

Yep; please see my post number 5, first quote and answer. :D ;)
I'm glad that you've solved it anyway.

Simon

Yes, you were right. Unfortunately I can't so easily charge the battery routinely as I don't have a garage for the car, nor an outside power point.

You could always try something like THIS