battery losing charge

c3 1.4 2008. Brand new battery and alternator, but charge is lost over a week. A discharge test has proven negative but there is the chance of a poor earth connection. Where is the battery earthed to and are there any other related earthing points.

alsie2 wrote:c3 1.4 2008. Brand new battery and alternator, but charge is lost over a week. A discharge test has proven negative but there is the chance of a poor earth connection. Where is the battery earthed to and are there any other related earthing points.

Hi alsie2, earth points for the C3 2002-2009

Arfur Dent wrote:Hi alsie2, earth points for the C3 2002-2009

The rest of the information

Hi guys! Wow C3car! Never had this map of earthing points before SOOOOOOOOOO handy!

If a fully charged battery is discharging over a week, it can only be a small number of things, either the battery is being run down, by something being connected to it that you are unaware of even when you have removed the ignition key and locked it up, or the alternator is not charging properly. So the car is running on battery power only.

Both of these situations should be testable with a meter, switched to current (start on high setting) connected between negative battery pole and negative battery connector when the rest of the car is as parked and locked but with bonnet up, should show "at rest" current draw. Don't forget you will have to let the car take the time it takes to shut all systems down, so go and have a cuppa!
Unless putting a meter is a no-no, on these cars. At rest, a car's alarm etc should not draw more than 50 milliamps. If a current test shows more than this then you have accidentally left something connected/switched on.

After market stereos, not wired in properly, or aftermarket car alarms, not so popular now, glove box and boot lights that are not going out when they should be. All these are common battery drainers. Only way to find it if it is not obvious, is to start pulling fuses until one pulled fuse drops the current right down, that will get you nearer it. Hope this helps!


You could also try popping the negative connection to the battery off, each time you park it overnight, pain in the rear I know, if you then reconnect it and drive off and after a week your car is still starting and driving, you know the situation is the first one. And yes I do realize that this will mean reinitializing every darned thing all the time.

An auto electrician should be able to diagnose the problem quickly. You do not say whether you have tried one or not but you have obviously paid out for a new battery and a new alternator, without solving the problem. It might be cheaper in the long run

Great advice from Stanleysteamer.

Just to add a bit of information to measuring battery current. If your car has a factory alarm there is a switch on the bonnet catch, with the bonnet open and the car otherwise locked you will get a false reading of leakage current because the bsi won't close down fully.

I had a current draw problem which was draining the battery, mine was down to a VAN Bus interface which was connected to an aftermarket radio. The only way to get a true reading of current on a car with a factory fit alarm is to put your meter leads through the front grill and close the bonnet. You also need to wait a few minutes after locking the car for everything to go to sleep, you can hear a relay click when it happens and the current from the battery will drop. This last part applies to cars without factory alarms as well. If you don't get the current drop and relay click then the problem is something stopping the bsi going into sleep mode.

Hi again guys. Thanks for the comment Missing Lincs. Re the leads through the bonnet grill. What an absolute pain!! Is there no way of actuating the bonnet switch via something like a screwdriver in the hole where it locks, wired to the bonnet if necessary? Cannot believe these cars are built so stupidly complicated that you can only test for battery current leakage with the bonnet shut. Who the heck designed that in?

Thanks for the info folks, as the battery was recharged i am now monitoring things. Also disconected a dash cam, as Stanley Steamer says, with Citroen wiring you never know. Will keep you posted.

Alsie2 Hi,

If your dash cam is wired in directly, you may well have found the problem, but if it is simply plugged into the "cigar lighter" as we used to call the accessory plug, then that should not make any difference, as power to the plug should be cut when the ignition is turned off and the key removed. That is how it works for our TomTom.

Interested in the concept of a dash cam. Have heard that evidence from them cannot be used in court as it is not provided by an independent source. i.e. if you are involved in the incident then you are one of the parties either plaintiff or defendant. But can of course be used if you witness something happening to someone else.

You see so many adverts about these cams but I think they would only be a help in an accident situation if the third party does not know this part of the law.

My wife was once involved in an accident, being rear ended at a T junction. I jumped out and took a load of photos, the insurance company and everyone involved just took it as read that she was not to blame but years later I heard of another accident that was hotly disputed, the driver of one of the cars had a daughter who took pics on her phone, they were not admissible in court as she was not an independent witness! Hmm!
What do you think?

Hope you've solved your problem. Do let us know.

Looks as though it was a bad earth, points made about connections is understood.
On to dash cams, seems they are not all they are said to be. Must be kept out of direct sunlight, batteries not lasting etc, and the legal side of it wont help in a claim. But they could help the police in crash for cash evidence.