[Corsa C 2000-2006] corsa c no electric power

[damian743]

Hi I own a 51 plate corsa c 3dr 10 and I tried starting it on Thursday and we had to push it off the drive to jump start it with another car so we jumpstarted it left the engine running on idle for half anour 45 minutes to charge the battery and I turned the engine off and tried starting it again and the battery went completely flat. so me and my dad jump started it again with another car this time it struggled to jump start and we took it on a 70 mile anour road for about half anour 45 minutes and we parked the car up for the night and we tried starting it yeasturday and it went splutery like there wasn't enough power in the battery to turn over the car. so I opened the car this morning tried starting again and the lights on the dash wouldn't come on this time and the light didn't come on that comes on when you open a car door so I lent my aunts car charger and put the car on charge all day tried turning it over to night and still no lights came on the dash and the light didn't even come on what comes on when you open the door the charger definetly works as we charged my dads car the other day.

[tomush]

Struggled to see what you was on about bit I think I got the rough idea.

Battery is either knackered, alternator not working or a combination of the two.

Try putting a voltmeter on the battery and it should read 14v when the engine is running.

[Taurus]

As Tomush says - start with the battery. Some things to bear in mind:

An alternator won't recharge a flat battery. The old dynamo systems used to, but an alternator only replaces the starting charge used. eg - if you jump start a car with a flat battery which is fitted with an alternator you can drive it 400 miles and the battery will still be flat. So your road trip won't have charged the battery at all.

You used a charger - but a charger won't always charge a totally flat battery either. A totally dead battery needs a priming charge of less than 500Ma to 'prime' it before a normal charger will be able to charge it. If you connect a totally flat battery to a normal charger it just doesn't put any charge into it at all.

You can buy a low output 'maintenance charger' from Halfords or Maplins - look for about 500Ma output. Or you can buy a smart charger than will do this automatically for you. I use a 400Ma charger and have resurrected many dead batteries with it.

The other possibility is that the battery plates have deteriorated to the point where the battery is now useless - in which case you will need to replace it.

[damian743]

some one just told me it could be an ecu failure could that be right

[tomush]

I doubt it personally.

Get the battery checked first then go from there

[Aaron]

As above rule out most common and cheapest parts first.

[CorsaEdi]

Just lend somebody's battery and try that, then if it works go to halfords/motosave whichever does the free battery check and then you will see what's what, doesn't sound like a ecu fault at all

[walksall]

Why do people always go for ECU failure? - this is probably the least likely cause of most problems.

As said above, it sounds very much like you have a flat or faulty battery which MAY be due to the alternator failing to provide a charge. BUT it could also be down to poor or dirty connections. Suggest that you check the main battery AND starter connections, not forgetting the earth points.

Regards.

[damian743]

disconnected car from battery and tested on mufti meter reading about 11.60 volts central locking dosent work light in boot doesn't come on put key in ignition and the only power im getting what so ever is the airbag warning light phoned a few places and told the whats happening and the said might be the battery and it might be a massive electrical problem

[Taurus]

At 11.6v the battery is flat. As said above, as battery that flat will not take a charge from the alternator or from a normal trickle charger. So far nothing you have done will have put any charge into the battery.

If it is salvagable it will need a priming charge of 500Ma or under. Or it may be past saving.