Every car I touch turns to Turd these days..
The latest:


nice 1.7 TD Cavalier.
46mpg around town, 1million mpg on a run.
The problem:
Battery keeps draining while parked up.
The 1st battery went dead when parked in town. AA man jumped it and diagnosed a faulty battery.
Got a 2nd hand battery off John and off on my merry way again.
That battery died and stranded me while parked up. Hmmm.
Enter John with a bit of sense. Altenator belt feels slack. That could be the problem. Sweet! easy fix.
That was tightened up. Recharged battery on a trickle charger and off I go on my merry way.
Two days later, battery dead when I tried to start it in the morning.
Wasnt 100% sure of the batterys health, so shelled out for a brand new Kwik Fit Job.
Changed the Heated rear windscreet and Glow Plug relays as these are known to stick causing a drain.
And off on my merry way again.
Two days later, battery is flat when I go to start it up.
So I charge the battery, and take it to an auto electrician.
He can find no faults. Keeps the car all day, has it on a meter all day, runs it at idle and under various levels of load and nothing pulls a current and the altenator charges fine. No stuck realys.
FFS!
So, he diagnoses an "intermittent fault." and carries on to say "somewhere".
My remedy: take a battery terminal off every time I park up.
Which worked for a month, and now today, the battery is dead again. Took the terminal off last night, and this morning, there was enough power for a couple of spins but not enough to start.
So:
1)It cant be discharging with a terminal off? Surely. Must be discharging while running?
2)Possiblly an intermittent fault with the altenator? So the cars running off the battery intermitently, running it flat?
3)No dash warning lights (battery) ever come on.
4)When the battery goes, its normall DEAD flat overnight. No dash lights, no central locking, no power at all.
WTF is going on?
Why cant I find a reliable car?
Im not expecting answers.
Just felt like a winge.
Oh and public transport sucks.