Hi, I've got a '95 9000 CSE 2.3 Ecopower. On Sunday I went to start the car and the battery was flat as a pancake. I had last driven the car two days before - there were no lights left on or anything evident that would drain the battery.

The AA man recharged it and there was no obvious problem and I took it for a nice long run and the battery seems to be holding the charge fine. Are there any common causes for this, common drains on the battery (it wasn't the boot light - I checked) or is it likely that I just need a new battery?

Cheers

Gareth

The last two batteries that I've changed on 9000s' have failed due to them not having any reserve capacity.
ie: The battery voltage drops to say ten volts after just a few minutes of running the radio or interior fan etc.
Otherwise the battery has been fine, starting the car with a low-point of say 10.8 volts. They even pass the short-circuit load test that garages put on them with their specialist test set.
To see if you have this problem try leaving the side lights on for twenty minutes, a good battery will not lose more than .1-.2 of a volt over this time. If you are losing much more than this and the display gets down to ten volts or so then it's time for a new batt. (Assuming the charging cct. is OK)
PS. The correct battery was far more expensive than the 065/4 Lucas Supreme 4-year guarantee batt.(£39.67 inc vat) that I bought due to the good luck of Lucas UK not having the correct batt. in stock!! This batt. is just slightly larger than the correct batt. and has just a bit more cranking power, but is cheaper as it is a common light commercial battery (so I was told at the time).
Look in the Yellow Pages under Motor Factors for LSUK (Lucas UK)

I think I've got this problem too. My batt goes flat in just over a week, but nice garage man refused to sell me a new one because he said the old one is OK on his tester.
Q. What should the voltage show during a run? Mine says about 14V. It drops to 10V starting now but was about 8V last winter.

Thanks Mike

My car performs the same as Mike's.I recently changed the alternator,with only marginally better results.So it seems a larger battery will be worth a try.

Just a thought, most sealed batteries, these supposedly maintenance free types, have caps you can remove, usually covered by the manufacturers stickers to throw you off the trail. If you pull off the caps and check the electrolyte level, 9 times out of 10 the level is low, causing the above mentioned problems. Top up with demineralised water, and usually the battery lasts another couple of years, crazy but true! My 1993 Audi 80 is still on the original battery with no problems, despite the owners manual saying the battery shouldn't be touched. Hope this helps!
Cheers..