[AJPxx]

Just thought i would post this in case anyone else has same problem.
Picked up my new i30 Auto diesel in June 2011, was ok until Oct, then while out driving stopped to flash another car accross, my car immediately cut out & stalled, i  re-started the car ok & continued driving, but noticed the ESP was turned OFF. I made it home ok parked overnight. Started car next day all seemed fine.

Went for a five hour appointment at hospital all seemed fine when i parked up, on return turned on ignition & noticed radio & clock had reset (Time was wrong & radio pre-set stations were lost.) ESP was OFF.

I phoned dealer who supplied car, who told me to take it straight round for computer analysis. I was only a couple of mile away so no problem.   After the analysis they said the computer had reported a fault, they had re-set it & should be fine.

Two days later i went out to take my wife to work at 9.45am, unlocked with remote key, boot & driver door unlocked passenger door did not, opened it manually to let wife in, turned ignition, made a clicking noise but would not start!!

Wife set off on foot to work (Very annoyed ) & i phoned dealership, they put me through to service dept, who then passed me on to a technician, i explained problems to him, he said he would be right over to pick up car & do a full computer analysis again.

After waiting 2 hours phoned to see where they where & was told "Sorry there as been a mix up, we can't spare a technician, you will have to ring the RAC." :   

I rang the RAC who told me the earliest they could get to me was 1.30pm as it was the coldest day this year & they where extremely busy. However the lady on the phone said that from the description i had given it sounded like a flat battery. I said i may as well put my charger on it for an hour & see if it helped.

I got my charger lifted the bonnet went to undo the Positive battery lead & guess what?......... Yes you guessed it, it was lose, i could just lift the lead off with my fingers. So the battery had not been charging. When i braked & flashed my headlights the lead must have lifted causing the car to cut out & can only assume that when i parked at the hospital when i slamed the door shut the lead must have momenterily jumped off.

After charging it i re-attached the leads & have to say tightening the pos lead was not easy, i tightened it as far as i could & it was still lose, I had to slacken it right off knock it down as far as possible on the pillar then was able to get it to clamp.

It has now been three weeks since i charged it & it is running perfectly. I just can't believe that with all this technology they have now days it can't find a loose battery lead. And if you had, had the same symptoms 20 years ago that probably would have been the first thing they would have checked.

I just hope if anyone has the same problem this is helpful.

I intend to send the dealership a link to this post in the I30 forum.
The end.

[Phil №❶]

Good post, just 1 thing also. it is VERY BAD for the car's alternator to be spinning (engine running) and not have a proper connection to the battery, + or to ground - . There are diodes fitted inside alternators and they don't like that sort of treatment. Given your car's history, I'd ask them to give the charging system the once over, just to be sure. ( Not that their computer would pick any anomalies up by the sound of it.) Make sure this event is well recorded, just in case there are any problems in the future.

[Dazzler]

Thanks for the heads up AJP .. glad it was sorted in the end..

[Surferdude]

I think I might have told this story before but it adds to the content of this one.
Waaaaayy back - probably about 1980 I had a woman call in to work and ask for a new battery. She had been caught out with it flat. RACQ responded, checked the battery and reported it cactus, telling her to get a new one after jump starting her car.
I lifted the bonnet to start removing the old battery and something made me look more closely at the terminals.
Reached in and lifted the negative lead off the terminal with two fingers.
She was watching and knew enough to realise what had happened. Her battery was fine. She drove away, thanking me and wondering what she paid her RACQ membership for.

[Shambles]

Glad that's sorted out

... After the analysis they said the computer had reported a fault, they had re-set it & should be fine.

Shame it didn't report "battery +ve lead loose" 

[eye30]

Just to be sure I'd ask for the battery to be check to make sure it is holding the charge.

Make sure they do a drop test...

As we are getting into the cold months the last thing you want is a battery that won't start the car on a cold morning.