2004 Citroen Xsara Picasso battery drain - its a toughie for you

Car: Citroen Xsara Picasso
Year: 2004
Variant: HDI
Categories: Electrics, ECU, Warnings & Lights
I have a citreon picasso 2.0 HDI 2004. I have recently had a clutch change done by the garage, also change was a censor that went when the clutch went. I picked the car up and the battery was dead. Garage said that they had the ingnition turned on all day and most have drainned it, gave it a jump start and everything was fine (drove around for an hour to recharge) Got up in the morning and the battery was dead again. Had an auto electrician out who said the battery needs charge buiding back up and the way to do it was to disconnect it after use until its back to normal for a week. Tried this but everytime I reconnect te battery and leave it over night it drains. Had an AA guy out once to jump start who said the battery is fine and drawing enough power so its not that. Its left me thinking the garage may have done something here. Any ideas guys??? Be much appreciated
Posted: Sep 11, 2011 (12 years ago)
Dont know why garage had ignition on all day .Common cause of this fault after clutch replacement is the earth strap from engine / gearbox to body either left off , loose or dirty connection .You should get battery load tested for any dud / weak cells as it will never hold a charge if it has .If still not right , you will have to check for parasitic drain .
Posted Sep 12, 2011 (12 years ago)
if the battery is still going dead when disconnected then you have a faulty battery as it needs both leads attatched for any component on the car to drain it. if one lead is off then the electrons cant flow there for power cant escape from the battery. as for the surgestion of a earth strap being left off or dirty connection. if this was the case then the car wouldnt start or be hesitant to start
Posted Sep 13, 2011 (12 years ago)
Hate to correct wrong info again but " as for the surgestion of a earth strap being left off or dirty connection. if this was the case then the car wouldnt start or be hesitant to start " This from Picasso site verifies the earth cable fault

" Posted 29 April 2011 - 09:41 AM

It sounds to me like you might not have re-connected the engine earth strap usually on one of the gearbox housing bolts.

Just to clarify the car is a negative earth therefore anything connected directly to the body or engine/gearbox housing will be negative.

A simple test for the engine earth, connect a jump lead on to one of the gearbox housing bolts and the other end to a good connection anywhere on the car body then try to start it.


Posted Sep 13, 2011 (12 years ago)
even if the garage left ignition on it shouldnt drain battery as the battery goes into economy mode
Posted Sep 19, 2011 (12 years ago)
The same thing has just happened to me!!! I actually need a new clutch and it is booked in for the end of the month ( I have another car) but now, my car keeps being drained of all its power. The AA man came and started it up and even though i took it for
a long spin by this morning it was drained again!!!
Posted Jan 9, 2012 (12 years ago)

This problem is archived

If you're having a similar problem please click below to re-post this problem, you can then customise it to suit your situation.

Join the community
Got a question? Can you answer other questions here? If so please...
More problems with the 2004 model year Citroen Xsara Picasso

We have 94 problems and solutions in our database for this model year of the car.

View all Citroen Xsara Picasso Problems