Different Problem & Symptons Linked To Repair

[hanc]

Hello,

 

I will cut the long story and give just the basics.

 

My car was taken into the garage with suspension problems.

The garage diagnosed fault and after many problems sourcing and acquiring new part eventually replaced and fitted the allegedly faulty component.

 

This had the effect of making the problem worse.

It transpired that it was not a component failure but an electrical problem.

 

The first garage was not able to carry out the electrical work so submitted to a second garage who specialises in auto electrics.

 

After some time I received a message from the first garage that my car was finally finished and ready for collection from the second garage as they had managed to source and repair the fault.

 

Since then, I have been having problems of a different kind but which I am sure are relted to the electrical repair.

 

I am now finding that my vehicle is going into "Economy Mode" after only a very time.

This is a mechanism to prevent the battery being depleted too much.

 

It is happening after approx. 5 minutes of the ignition being on without the engine running, while listening to radio for example.

More worryingly though is that it will kick into this mode on first insertion of the key in the morning after the car being parked over night from a journey of 25 / 30 miles.

 

This was not a problem I have before the car went for repair.

I believe that is linked to the work that was done on the electrical system

 

I have made the original garage, who were paid for all the work including that of the second, aware of this issue with no feedback or response.

 

What would now be the best course of action ?

[oddjobbob]

If the problem goes away once you start the car up then its likely to be a battery or alternator fault

[hanc]

Yea, the point is though that this problem did not exist untill after electrical work had been done on the car.

[oddjobbob]

Doesn't matter. The two are probably unrelated. One cold morning can kill a battery that was perfectly ok previously.

 

Get a cheap tester, with the engine running the output to the battery should be 14vor so. If it is then the alternator is working.

 

Then you need to test the battery..look online, not sure of figures but its not difficult to do, check voltage with no load, turn headlights on for a few minutes, recheck, see how much its dropped etc.

[chiefengineer]

My car was saying low battery on the dash. Turned out the battery was knackered. Was only taking 10A when the alternator was trying to give it 40A