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possible flat battery question and help if possible

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kai666
kai666 Posts: 1,431 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
I'm hoping someone might help me

My car (a 4 year old renault megane) won't start. Nothing works. So I attached some jump leads, got the lights etc working, but the car still wouldn't start. It turned and that's it.

With in 24 hours nothing works again

The car has only been used 4 times this year due to a move to london and a drive through the congestion charge to get to work

Is it possible for the battery to be so dead that jump starting won't work? Or is it more likely to be something like the starter motor?

not a member of a breakdown service, and trying to avoid having to pay to have it towed to a garage

thanks for any help

Comments

  • pnwilliams
    pnwilliams Posts: 15 Forumite
    Put Jump leads, on to both vehicles and leave the doner vehicle running for aprox 15minutes, this will start charging the inop vehicle

    Has the vehicle Got red LED/light( poss could be a little yellow light ) cant remember when they changed over......Will be on the speedo area, Turn on ignition (megane). The light should come on and turn back off after a couple of seconds. If it is flashing with ignition on, the immobilizer Is active, Vehicle will crank but not start ... Try locking/unlocking Via remote

    If goes off......... Poss could be starter

    If you have got vehicle book it explains about immobilizer light.

    or

    If you have one of those credit card key types... charge batt as above. Then disconect Battery(negative lead ) leave aleast 5mins....reconnect and TRY.... Poss computer in car frozen like are home PC's Doo....This is like us doing a reboot on are home PC...

    There Many Reasons why Vehicle dont start as this is what i do every day as a job... but this is a couple of things for ya to try Before you start getting Volt Meters ETC and also had to identify a problem without seeing a vehicle..

    Good LUCK
    Reclaimed £1793 First direct
  • kai666
    kai666 Posts: 1,431 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    pnwilliams wrote: »

    Has the vehicle Got red LED/light( poss could be a little yellow light ) cant remember when they changed over......Will be on the speedo area, Turn on ignition (megane). The light should come on and turn back off after a couple of seconds. If it is flashing with ignition on, the immobilizer Is active, Vehicle will crank but not start ... Try locking/unlocking Via remote

    yeah I have a red light in that area, it was on all the time when the jump leads were connected. The jump leads were only connected for about 5 minutes as it the buildings porter's car, and he was more interested in getting back to work!

    I will have to try and persuade him to leave his car running longer. I have battery operated jump leads which i tried leaving connect for a couple of hours the night before, but didn't get any luck with that either.

    Will try the batteries out the keys see if that works. I bought new batteries for the keys initially hoping it was flat key batteries, as they both went flat together before. Unfortunately it wasn't!

    thanks for your help
  • reduceditem
    reduceditem Posts: 3,057 Forumite
    You could bump-start it if you have volunteers/a slope/a towrope. If not, try to charge off a bigger vehicle with a big battery. Let the engine run for a good 20 minutes. If you manage to start your car let the engine run for a good 40 minutes or so (go for a drive if you can). Leave your car at the top of a slope (if there's one handy) in case it won't start again the next day so as you can bump start it down the hill. If the battery doesn't retain a charge after a good long run then its likely knackered and time to buy a new one.
  • kai666
    kai666 Posts: 1,431 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    My car is in underground parking at my flat which makes bump starting etc very difficult, and being london, virtually no one has a car, so I practically have carpark to myself, which also makes jump starting hard!

    I was thinking about getting etyres out to change the battery, but want to make sure it is the battery first and not the strter motor or something
  • derrick
    derrick Posts: 7,424 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you try to bump start, you can damage the CAT,assuming it has one.
    Don`t steal - the Government doesn`t like the competition


  • kaya
    kaya Posts: 2,465 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    sounds like a flat battery and crappy jump leads, you need thick heavy leads, not the £5.99 jobbies from the petrol station, next time feel the leads to see if they get warm, the hotter they get the more innefficient they become
  • kai666
    kai666 Posts: 1,431 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    they were service station jump leads. that I borrowed. So maybe that was the problem

    Anyway I am using https://www.etyres.com to come out to my home and install a new battery. They seem quite cheap

    Hope it is the battery!
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