No Electrics but battery fully charged

[Changeling67]

I have a major problem with my Puma 1.7 , I turn on the ignition but there is no response, nothing works, not even the immobiliser light on the dash. I took out the battery to charge it even though it is only a year old and found it to be fully charged so I am at loss to why it has zero electrics and nothing on the car works. Unfortunately I have no car skills to figure this out.

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

My bet, i.e. the first point of suspicion would be ignition switch

 

[mad4jags]

I'd check all connections to the battery are clean and tight,also double check all earth connections.Sounds like a main connection is failing somewhere.

 

[DOH]

Have you put the battery back and connected the correct way around ?
If not you may have blown a number of fuses.

 

[Changeling67]

Thanks, so far I have disconnected the battery and cleaned the earth to the body from the battery negative connection but this made no difference. I cannot see anything wrong and the battery connections are all clean and tight. I have not made any mistake in order of reconnecting the battery so nothing should have been blown.I am going to look at the fuse box today inside on the drivers side to see if anything is visible there but I am not really a hands on car person, more a wash it and drive it owner.

 

[Changeling67]

I have cleaned the battery terminals which already looked Ok and checked all the under bonnet fuses as well as those next to the steering column and all are intact, so no blown fuses and still no electrics.

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Now I would check the ignition switch.

 

[PaulZ]

How would you do that Wild.E?

I'm having a similar issue at the moment although haven't ruled out a flat battery yet so that's on charge now.

Only difference is I currently have no seats in the car but wouldn't have thought that would cause an issue so may have left a light on or something.

Cheers
Paul Z

 

[mad4jags]

is the clock working?

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

The ignition switch shoud have one permanent live that gets connected to the rest of the electrical network when you turn the key to position II (contact). So I would check if there is one wire (most probably red or yellow) that has live 12V. If that is so, the battery and the live connection is OK. now turn the key to position II and see with multimeter if you get 12V at one additional wire (as the ignition has been switched on). If you don't get 12V anywhere, the ignition switch is faulty.

This is the part you are looking for, it is on steering column, on the opposite side to the ignition lock

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-KA-FIESTA-PUMA-IGNITION-SWITCH-89FB11572AB/254158414781?hash=item3b2d05a3bd:g:U4MAAOSw7nJchSfQ

 

[Changeling67]

Unfortunately I do not have the tools or skill set for examining the ignition, but as I understand it headlights usually switch on without turning the ignition on, my cars lights do not work along with the dash clock or anything else.. so could zero electrics be caused by a faulty ignition?

 

[mmc757]

No power at all, to anything is almost certainly a battery cable. It could be a connection to the the Battery Distribution box, but that's less likely than a cable problem.
Sometimes the battery cables get moisture inside the insulation and fail in locations that you cant see because they are covered up by the insulation.
Without the ability to check voltages at different points, there's not much your going to be able to do that you haven't done already. You could get a very cheap little multimeter and we could probably talk you through checking some points to narrow down the problem, it doesn't really require any special skills. Something like this would be fine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Velleman-DVM821-Digital-Multi-Meter-Multi-Colour/dp/B01JE4Q3VM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=multimeter&qid=1586454192&s=automotive&sr=1-3

 

[DOH]

In agreement with the above advice.
However the Headlights on a Puma will only work with the ignition on. Otherwise you will just have sidelights.
Checking the ignition switch is the correct approach as Wild E has recommended.

 

[PhilLew]

If the interior light, clock and immobiliser light aren't coming on it's not the ignition switch, those are not ignition activated.
Check the obvious things first, is the battery connected the right way round, are ALL the leads connected properly (should there be more than one wire on the +?) is the earth strap secure etc.
If that’s all good you’re probably going to need a multi-meter and someone who knows how to use it.

 

[Changeling67]

Well the car is now running again after replacing the 15 month old Duracell battery with a new Varta battery. I bought a multimeter and found that the battery was only reading 1.94 despite when connected to a battery charger the needle being high in the green section implying that the battery was more or less fully charged. I did not have a receipt for the old battery that I bought in January 2019 so I just had to pay for a new one. My car is little used due to ill health and can sit for many weeks, ie, 7 or 8 without being used, so I guess that is what killed battery in just over a year.

 

[mmc757]

Good news! Glad to hear it was a simple fix, these things usually are.
You could get a simple battery disconnect switch to avoid the slow drain in the future if you think this is going to be an ongoing problem.
Something like this would be very easy:
https://www.amazon.com/Post-Battery-Master-Disconnect-Switch/dp/B001N729FS
(note this is just the first one that came up in my search, you need to order the right size for your battery)

 

[red]

Glad that you got to the bottom of it!

 

[Changeling67]

Thanks for all the advice, given that the car is not in weekly use a battery disconnect device sounds a good idea.

 

[YOG]

I would argue that disconnecting the battery for long periods of time, is the wrong thing to do. I doubt when you disconnect your battery, that it will be fully charged, and when disconnected, it will continue to gradually lose charge.

The way to get the longest life out of lead-acid batteries, is to keep them fully charged, or as fully charged as possible.
Your driving pattern is like mine, as my Puma is a second car, so it is used very infrequently, and I keep it connected to a battery charger, via a permanently attached connector.

There are plenty of charger manufacturers in the market, but I have used CTEK for many years(In fact, I have 3 different models!):
The one I would recommend is the CTEK MXS 5.0:
https://www.ctek.com/products/vehicle/mxs-5-0
This model has automatic charging and a float/pulse system, which is the most efficient maintenance mode when a battery is connected for long periods. In addition, it also has a recondition mode, an automatic desulfation program and can also charge the more modern AGM batteries, which you will probably have on your next car.

Under my bonnet, I have the battery terminals permanently connected with a CTEK Eyelets and Indicator Panel (2 sizes of eyelets are available) to check battery status. I also use these on our other 2 cars, which are driven more regularly, and are there to check the battery condition, at the same time as oil and screen-wash bottle. With the Puma, I just leave the charger connected for ‘connect and forget’, and just disconnect when I go for a drive. In this way, the battery is kept charged with the float/pulse system. This allows for the alarm to be working, as well as the central locking.
https://www.ctek.com/products/vehicle/indicator-eyelet-m6

With the lock-down, I am also ensuring the other 2 cars are kept fully charged!

 

[PhilLew]

That's great you've got the car running again.
Did you use the new multimeter to check the charger as well in case it's faulty and was never charging the old battery?