[Ellenb]

My 12 V battery has now died twice- one week apart. I have an AGM battery , that was replaced at my cost while a dealership was "fixing" the AC charging, and killed the 12V in the process. They couldn't fix the original problem so I took it to a different dealership who did finally fix that problem 3 weeks later. Then I had a Check vehicle system warning light, which turned out to be a motor that controlled a cooling flap in the front of the car. Had that replaced. I then went out of town for 10 days, and left the car plugged in. When I returned it was dead. I had the 12V jumped, drove it to the dealer who said the battery was fine, and we presumed it was because I had been away. But exactly one week later, the car was dead again, needing a jump. Again I had the dealership look at it , and the battery status said I hadn't driven the car for a week, but I had actually driven it every day. And it stated the car was on for 19 hours the day I was away out of the country. I am realizing that both times the mirrors were open, and not in the closed state as they had been when I left the car. Last night, I came home in my husband's car, to find the mirrors in the open position, and I am sure I had left the car in the closed position. Any thoughts!?

 

[Ellenb]

Thank you for all this great advice. Diagnostics were done recently when the electric vehicle warning system light was on about 2 weeks ago , so although they didn't do it this week it has been done a few weeks ago. This time the only thing that was checked was the 12 V battery and it was in good condition, just needed to be charged. This may not have been a load test though. I will have them check for ghost drains, as well. Interestingly my husband signed us up in January for a program with our electric system just to communicate with the car, so that may definitely be the culprit. I just had him take my car off the program. He has a Tesla on the program without difficulty. It merely tells the electric co. the status of my car, and does not regulate when we charge. If that process does not work, I will redo my Kia app. I will bring my car into Kia yet again ( I should move in there!), and see what they can do. I love the car, but am seriously thinking about abandoning it for a new car. So sad.

 

[Ellenb]

Thanks for the advice. Last night I have discontinued the electric company pinging on the car status and the yellow light went out which I think is good. I will observe for now and let you all know!

 

[Ellenb]

thanks again for all the great advice. Since the electric company program was disconnected the yellow light has no longer been on. I know it is normal but it had been on almost constantly. If the 12V dies again I will look into all the other options you have mentioned. But for now I hope I am good.

 

[Ellenb]

Not sure I can request anything as it did not cost me anything except my own personal time. The new 12Vbattery I had to buy was long before the program started. That battery was killed by a terrible service dealership in December.

 

[Ellenb]

I had a similar problem and it was because I had signed up for a monitoring program through my electric company. So they kept pinging my car. Once I ended that program my problem with the 12V was solved.

 

[Ellenb]

Agree totally. There was a change with the electric company though as we added this monitoring to help them with future planning. I tried to be a good citizen but it didn’t work out.