Flat battery & fuel guage

ICE, Equipment, Options
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Brobat
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:19 pm
Qashqai Model: Mk.1 Qashqai - J10 (2006–2013)

Post by Brobat »

Hi, I have a 2012 n_tec 1.6 petrol owned since 6 months / 10,000 miles old . It has the original non-maintenance battery and 55,000 miles on the clock. Normally parked on the drive in hot sun for a few days (in Surrey so has been exceptionally hot).
2 days ago I parked it with the hazzard warning lights on and the boot open for about 45 mins (parking restrictions outside my 95 y.o. Mum!) and when I returned the battery was flat and it wouldn't turn over at all. After a half hour wait I tried again and it just managed to start (luckily it's a very good starter so doesn't need much tuning to fire up). However it had the fuel warning light on despite being filled up that day. Gingerly drove home and put it on trickle charge overnight. Put a meter on the battery & it drops to about 11V when starting without lights and about 10.5V starting with lights. Lights barely dim when starting. Fuel now shows about half full (the expected range also tallies with that reading, as it did when showing empty) although only done about 10 miles since filling up. After reading on this forum, spotted the marker "eye" on the battery and saw it was green. Car starts fine now, a couple of days later.
Did a factory reset on the maintenance / fuel economy on dash but that diddn't affect anything.
I know the battery doesn't owe me anything and I'll probably get a new one anyway (might give it one more chance & carry jump leads, charger & mains extension lead in the boot for a while just in case :-) ) but the fuel reading is problematic, esp as it seems to change. I'm suprised the battery would be flattened by hazzard & boot light alone although haven't done any long drives recently. Does anyone have any thoughts as to fuel guage cause? Could it have been the extreme heat? Will it gradually get better? Pretty sure the fuel wasn't syphoned out by nere-do-wells as it's now half full, unless the felt guilty and put some back later! :lol:
Thanks so much for any help.

Brobat
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:19 pm
Qashqai Model: Mk.1 Qashqai - J10 (2006–2013)

Post by Brobat »

Update in case anyone else has the problem:
After charging the battery it' seems to be fine, though when the cold weather comes it'll be interesting to see if it holds charge.
The strange fuel guage issue slowly cured itself over the following week, gradually creeping up to the correct reading. no problems since.
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