Maruti Ertiga battery drain issue when the car is left idle for a week

I haven't experienced such an issue with my previous cars. I have had a Zen & a Versa which used to start even if they were left idle for 2 weeks.

BHPian arnprasad recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi All,

I have a 2015 Ertiga ZXi which till now has covered only 23K Kms of which 80%+ is highway driving as I prefer to use public transport in Bangalore.

I have been having this issue regarding the battery getting fully discharged in my car. I have had a Zen and a Versa which used to start even if they were idle for two weeks. But this car doesn't start if it's idle even for a week.

Post lockdown and now on a career break - I just don't have a need for the car and hence it's very minimal driving and every time I try starting it - I pray to God and almost once a month at least, it doesn't start and my kids have to push it to jump start.

While I do understand the need for the car to be driven at regular intervals - this kind of battery getting fully discharged in a week is something I haven't experienced with my previous cars.

Since I have been having this problem for more than 5 years now - I have had the car battery replaced once already but still, the issue persists.

Mandovi is where I bought my car and where it gets serviced. I have complained numerous times including some escalations - they just take the car and that's it...There is absolutely no change in its condition.

Every time I call Mandovi to come and jump-start the car - they charge 650 although they are just 2 kms away.

Since I am a bit technically challenged, I have been postponing the idea of getting some kind of a jump start kit - but today was the final straw. Just took my mom to a doctor and I was in the car with the headlights on and music playing - In just five mins the battery drained and I had to abandon my car and walk home with my mom.

So was googling to find out if there are affordable kits so that I can jump-start myself and I found this 4-star-rated contraption. Although it is listed as a device to charge the battery rather than jump start - some of the comments on the URL suggest that it can be used to jump-start as well.

I wanted to get rid of this car and get a Carens - but then being on a career break and driving an average of 3K km a year - seemed like another dead investment.

Please help me with the following

• Does this device help in jump-starting the car?
• What are the other affordable alternatives assuming the car needs a jump start in (i) places where there is an electrical socket available say in front of my house and (ii) places where there are no electrical sockets available - I am assuming for situations where an electrical socket is available. Do I just need to buy some long jumper cables to jump-start it?

I will Google myself for answers and look forward to some affordable help on this forum as well.

Many thanks in advance for all your help!

Here's what BHPian Jeroen had to say about the matter:

Clearly, there is something wrong with your car. Either the battery is on its last legs, it’s not being charged properly, or you have a parasitic drain.

Note that draining your battery regularly is very detrimental to the battery condition. It will go from bad to worse.

You need to take it to a different service centre or a good car electric specialist.

A car battery should hold its charge for at least 6-8 weeks, at least. And that icon modern cars with immobilisers and alarms and so on.

Fully drained means there is something wrong. Jump starting is a last resort, and should not be the default way of starting. Also, jump-starting on a badly depleted and old battery will deteriorate your battery further to the point of damaging it. Just the other week I damaged my (pretty) old battery on my Jeep Cherokee trying to jump-start it. Busted one of the battery cells.

Here's what BHPian SS-Traveller had to say about the matter:

It does not make sense to buy a portable jump starter when your battery or charging system or electrical system is faulty. Fix that issue first. If your battery is over 3-4 years old, get it load tested from a battery shop, and discard & replace if it is at the end of its life. Check for parasitic electrical drain (anything above 300-400 mA is not acceptable), and check for charging voltage.

A portable jump starter pack will last about as long as a new battery will (3-5 years), and with very limited use when your car's electrical system is working fine, it'll be a wasteful investment.

Here's what BHPian condor had to say about the matter:

I think you need to get the root cause fixed. Till then, you could try to disconnect the battery when not in use.

I don't know which part of BLR you are in, else could have suggested a couple of alternate places that are good, where you can get your car checked and get the main issue resolved, rather than attending to the symptom of the battery getting discharged.

Here's what BHPian ajayc123 had to say about the matter:

A few things that come to my mind:

Have you added any/too many accessories to the car like a dashcam? Sometimes they may drain the battery.

How old is your current battery? It may have weakened if it is old. In case you have the option to check the water level requiring top up, you may try.

You may want to take it to a battery shop to check battery health and seek advice.

Lastly, it could be the alternator not working properly.

Finally, you may want to check if you want to sign up for an annual roadside help package till your problems get settled.

I have noted some people who are infrequent users run the car at idling in neutral for a few minutes every few days to charge the battery.

I have also seen some people keeping battery chargers, but I am not very familiar and you may want to research more.

Avoid load on the battery when the engine is not running (like music, fan etc) till your problem is solved.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.