Anyone gotten the battery discharging warning light yet?

Car is driven ALOT!

Any guesses?

 

Sounds like you have a battery issue. Maybe alternator, a broken belt, loose connection, low temps with old battery, or just old battery. I would start by checking battery connections and having the battery checked out. Usually that will cause most people's electrical/starting issues regardless of vehicle/brand especially if it's colder than normal.

How old is the vehicle? And you say driven a lot... You mean for long duration, or many very short trips a few blocks away?

 

Check for broken grounding wires near the firewall.

 

2012 roadster ( March build) with 53k

 

I would check battery terminals. If one is loose or corroded it could cause this. Assuming the car is driven for more than 5-10 min at a time and it hasn't been sitting in the cold for a week straight before getting this light I would guess that would be the issue. Just wiggle them and see if they move, if they do just tighten them up and let it run for 30 min or so to charge it back up. If that doesn't fix it I'd suggest having someone look at it to see if there's something else going on or needs a new battery. A battery should last longer than that though.

 

I've had that come up a couple of times, then it goes away. This has been a bad winter and I'm wondering if warming up the car or turning the defrost fans on when it starts is doing something? Do you warm it with the defrost on (so that it's at max fan?)

 

Maybe one of these would help you diagnose what is wrong? You read it without the car started and then with it started to see if the Alternator is charging the battery.

 

I also carry one of these in the boot. It is very small and I can jump start myself if needed. Maybe I worry about nothing and it might be over kill. About $60-$70 dollars and the unit is really small.

 

Noreen, Usually a battery can die after about 5 to 6 years or so. That said you have put a few miles on your car in just a few years...
Go to any kind of auto store and they car do a battery load test to see if it is the battery or not. Batteries don't do well in the cold so it may just need a full charge.

 

Actually think we figured out the problem.
In another thread I had read about being able to leave car running without keys in it. ( place fob in press start turn off remove fob press start car re-starts ) The cold weather we have had, admittedly I've been doing this a lot shuffling cars around the driveway for snow removal. Seems using this method starts car just fine but doesn't turn off accessories ( windshield wipers radio ect ) Lesson learned.

 

Do you have the convenience stuff? Buttons on door handles so you don't need to take remote out of your pocket? If so you do tneed to put the key in it at all. That what I do. And yes if you just hit stop to turn it back off accessories don't turn off, but if you lock it with remote or door handle buttons after then everything will turn off.

 

Nope no comfort access here, considering the area I worked and the late hours, it just wasn't right for me. ( Although I do have some of the extras programmed in thank you helix, one touch up ect). It was the automatic windshield wipers that were still on after turning car off that gave it away.

 

YUP!


Sorry it took so long to respond was shoveling again ugh

 

This winter has reminded me of that old blues song - "Have you seen my little red roadster" - to which the answer is NO! ... it's buried under three feet of snow.

 

Still not as bad as
Last year! Better to have multiple snows than one huge one.




Honestly never thought I would get it out.

 

I remember sharing that amazing pic of yours with my motoring mates last year. I had a hard time convincing some of them that there was a Roadster under there.

 

I really need to figure out how to do this at some point because pulling the windows up by hand for a minute drives me crazy . . .

 

Ugh got engine light this Sunday, had to wait till this morning for appointment for service.
Apparently we were running lean, dealer cleared code and sent us on our way.