New K12 owner

[Inkey5]

Hi all

Just bought a 2005 1.2 auto K12 on just 24k miles, and thought I’d better join a forum as they are often great places to learn about your car. Lots to do as she’s been off the road for 6 months:

- Investigate parasitic battery drain (any and all ideas gratefully received!)

- Oil change and service

- Check fluids including coolant (can’t seem to locate the MAX mark though)

- Two new rear tyres

- Clean, clean and clean the car some more!

- Check the common faults section on here!

[Trevor]

Hi Inkey5 ....welcome to the Club

- Battery drain, quite possibly the laying up of the car for a length of time has caused the battery to sulphate and discharge.
Either use a battery conditioner (not a charger) on it and see if it recovers over time or replace with a new one
Also, once charged then you can look for a drain-source using a multimeter - also check earth straps and connection points on the chassis

Oil service and fluid checks are always advisable after laying up a vehicle - also a chance to check over the car and find things to address in the near future
Coolant level should be halfway within the expansion bottle and/or at the top of the radiator when you remove the cap

Good to have you onboard and keep us updated on your progress

[Inkey5]

Firstly, thanks for your response and guidance. Very much appreciated. I’ve since replaced the battery (old one was shot after being laid up for 8 months), checked all fluids and all seems good (coolant was indeed only halfway up the tank!). Good enough to pass its MOT yesterday and she ticks over beautifully, so I’m happy.

The only thing remaining is the current draw, but I’ve also discovered whats causing that and yes - its the immobiliser. After pulling Fuse 7 the amp draw dropped from 0.25mA to 0.02mA. Not sure where to go with this now as I’m guessing its not going to be cost effective to sort out.

Is there a way around for the immobiliser? At the moment I’ve put a physical battery isolator switch on the positive terminal, which means I have to lock the car, unscrew the switch and then unlock the car with the key when i want to use it to put the isolator back in 🙂

Any ideas?

[Trevor]

Not sure where to go from there unless you dig deeper with the immobiliser to find out what is causing the draw (internal circuitry or external connections with a high resistance?)