MR2 Roadster Owners Club

The Workshop => Maintenance, Problems & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Paianni on February 22, 2026, 18:28

Title: No power from working battery
Post by: Paianni on February 22, 2026, 18:28
10/02, 17/02 and 19/02, car starts and drives fine, albeit passenger (left-hand) electric window is dead

21/02 - car unlocks from fob but power is immediately lost afterwards. No power when turning ignition.

22/02 - attempt to jumpstart using working battery from a different car, still no power.

I'm leaning towards it being an electrical or computer fault of some sort, has anyone had something like this happen before? Changing fuses alone would leave me nervous about leaving the car away from home in case there's an underlying fault that's causing them to blow.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Gaz mr-s on February 22, 2026, 18:45
Passenger window is likely to be accidental pressing of disable switch on r/h side of dash.

Power likely to be a poor earth.  Get wd40 or similar & loosen earth connections & spray them.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Carolyn on February 23, 2026, 08:22
Corrosion on battery posts?
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Paianni on February 23, 2026, 12:14
Battery and terminals were changed last year.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Carolyn on February 23, 2026, 12:43
What voltage does the battery show?
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Paianni on February 23, 2026, 18:04
About 1.6V.

The transport plugs were removed from the battery when new.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Gaz mr-s on February 23, 2026, 18:08
Quote from: Paianni on February 23, 2026, 18:04About 1.6V.

The transport plugs were removed from the battery when new.

Typo?   12.6 ?
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Paianni on February 23, 2026, 18:28
Quote from: Gaz mr-s on February 23, 2026, 18:08Typo?   12.6 ?
Nope, it was definitely around 1.6V.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Carolyn on February 23, 2026, 18:56
Quote from: Paianni on February 23, 2026, 18:28Nope, it was definitely around 1.6V.

That battery is deep discharged and useless. Something left switched on?? The car probably won't start with that battery in place.

I don't know what warranty you had when you bought it, but one year is usually the maximum.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Gaz mr-s on February 23, 2026, 19:46
Quote from: Carolyn on February 23, 2026, 18:56That battery is deep discharged and useless. Something left switched on?? The car probably won't start with that battery in place.

I don't know what warranty you had when you bought it, but one year is usually the maximimum.

+1. 
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Ardent on February 23, 2026, 22:56
Quote from: Paianni on February 23, 2026, 18:28Nope, it was definitely around 1.6V.
:o
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Paianni on February 24, 2026, 00:19
New battery (YBX5053) is on the way. Poor/no charging from bad terminals must have triggered sulfation last summer and it finally collapsed just now.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: moredun on February 24, 2026, 05:56
I had a similar problem recently where the battery would discharge over a short period of time (1 or 2 days if unused), even after installing a new battery.

I traced the problem to the car alarm. The Horn body holds 3 rechargeable batteries that no longer hold a charge and was constantly drawing power from the battery. Having removed the alarm batteries I no longer have problems with the main car battery.

Worth checking out  ;)
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Ardent on February 24, 2026, 07:57
As a side note, that would explain why the sounder is comparatively heavy for its size.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Joesson on February 24, 2026, 13:54
Yuasa battery on my 2 for more than the 5 year warranty that came with it.
Always disconnected when not using the car ( too often) and kept in a good state of charge.
Hopefully still going strong for the new owner. @utterclarity
Similarly a Yuasa on my diesel daily. Regularly used, but for more short trips than long these days. Charged when needed. I check it when a cold spell is forecast or unused for a while.
I suggest a battery is not unlike tyres, look after them by checking regularly and they last longer.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Beachbum957 on February 25, 2026, 11:20
We regularity get 7 to 10 years out of a 12v battery in a couple vehicles that don't get driven a lot.  The secret is we have battery maintenance chargers hooked up whenever that are sitting for more than a week. We use a small 750 mA Battery Tender charger on the MR2, but there are many good brands like NOCO.
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: fawtytoo on February 25, 2026, 22:06
Quote from: moredun on February 24, 2026, 05:56I had a similar problem recently where the battery would discharge over a short period of time (1 or 2 days if unused), even after installing a new battery.

I traced the problem to the car alarm. The Horn body holds 3 rechargeable batteries that no longer hold a charge and was constantly drawing power from the battery. Having removed the alarm batteries I no longer have problems with the main car battery.

Worth checking out  ;)

Apologies if I'm hijacking this thread but this is interesting.
I take it you're referring to your MR2? Mine also has an alarm that drains the battery. Can you explain what you did in more detail please?
Title: Re: No power from working battery
Post by: Gaz mr-s on February 26, 2026, 00:40
@moredun   ^^^^^^^^^