New car to me that is: 3 years old exactly; got it three weeks ago. It's a Toyota Corolla 1.4 T2; previous car was a Toyota Yaris: best car we've
*ever* owned, hence we stuck with Toyota. The car is kept garaged when not in use.This car has now had a flat battery three times in three weeks. It's going back the dealer on Monday "for tests", but I'd like to be fore-armed against any possible bullshit they may give me.
Is it a duff battery? Is it a duff alternator? What else might it be? Loose connection?
The car (our only car btw) is used mainly as a 'shopping trolley' by my wife, to travel a couple of miles to town and back once a day. Once a week it comes with me to work -- 40 miles round trip. But I don't buy any crap about "short trips not charging the battery well enough": cars don't do that these days. Especially not 3 -year old Toyotas. And our previous three cars *never* had a problem with this regime.
Any suggestions to fore-arm me against the Service Department? (Just in case I need it -- they sounded very nice and concerned on the phone; but I've met dealerships before).
The circumstances of the discharged battery have been:
(1) Drove into town and back (2 miles one way) in the evening (hence: all lights on). No visible dimming of lights, but battery dead the next day.
(2) Went on holiday: left car at airport for 7 days (after a 20 miles drive to airport). [GREAT: came back off holiday, and sat in the airport car park with a flat battery for an hour.] [[But yes: aren't we lucky to go on hols for a week - granted.]]
(3) Exactly the same as (1) above.
As a post-script: "my mate" says that you should always lock modern cars (even inside the garage) because locking it ensures all systems are shut down. Folklore? We did that anyway last night - it was still dead this morning.
Cheers for any comments John