*Urgent help needed please*Could this just be a flat battery?

WantToBeSE

Ok, I am going to bite the bullet and see if it'll start. If so, I'll run it for 30 mins.
Fingers crossed!

M0ney

OK scratch my comment I posted after only reading the first post. Something noone has mentioned is, do you have a set of jump leads? If not, get some, if you ever have this problem in the future all you need to do is find someone else with a car and you can get a start off them, my jump leads have got me out of a couple of sticky situations and if you'd had them today, you wouldn't have needed to call out your breakdown van. If you have any trouble tomorrow morning, try and find a friendly neighbour to get you started, if they have a set.

And like everyone else says keep all electronics to a minimum when you do get going. If you can go at a time you don't need to use your lights and keep the radio, blowers etc. off when possible.

M0ney

Joe_Horner wrote: »

It always amazes me how many people jump immediately to "you need a new battery / it'll explode / die on a motorway / kill polar bears if you don't get one yesterday" in situations like this!

Yes, you may need one but Marlot summed up reality in Post 3 on this thread. The only thing I'd add to his comments is that "alternator failing to charge" can be either a fault with the alternator or simply that the car doesn't get run long enough in normal use. If it's mostly used for that daily 10 minute drive to work there's a better than even chance that the problem is lack of time to charge.

There's no way the breakdown guy could have diagnosed a faulty battery accurately "on the spot" simply because you can't diagnose a battery with no charge in it. It's a physical impossibility because a dead battery will read exactly the same in all measurements whether it's "dead" dead or "flat" dead, with a few unlikely exceptions such as shorted cells.

Unfortunately, because of your situation of needing the car for work, you're probably going to have to buy a new battery anyway in order to stay mobile.

But do yourself a favour and also buy a cheap battery charger. It doesn't need to be anything flashy - the cheapest you can find is fine. Then use it to recharge your existing battery as a spare. If it takes a charge ok then top it up with a couple of hours charge every couple of months or so.

That way, if it turns out that the fault was in the charging system (or lack of use), when you find yourself in the same situation in a few months, you'll have a charged battery ready to go on.

If it doesn't take a charge, then next time you're stuck, you can recharge it to at least get to work and back.

This man talks a lot of sense, this is the sort of battery charger I have...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILVERLINE-TRICKLE-BATTERY-CHARGER-12V-CAR-BIKE-634004-/141098732631#ht_3017wt_1170

Joe_Horner

Mine was a little more than that, and 6A max output, because until June both of our cars were 6V with dynamos and they don't do 6V in really minimalist ones

Was still less than £15 from our local hardware and we're running on batteries at least 10 years old without a problem. If they start sounding a little sluggish they get an overnight charge and they're good for another 6 months or more

WantToBeSE

Hi guys.

Am sat in the car. It started perfectly first time. Am just running it now, without lights or blowers on.

Joe_Horner

You'll probably be fine in the morning then.

If it does start easily in the morning after a short boost like this then it's unlikely that the battery is seriously faulty. I'd honestly leave battery replacement for now and get a charger, then give it an overnight charge. That's certainly the MSE approach rather than buying a battery "just in case".

Even if the battery is weak, once you have the charger you won't be completely stranded if it does it again, because a quick half hour charge will always get you running even with a failing battery.

adonis

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi guys.

Am sat in the car. It started perfectly first time. Am just running it now, without lights or blowers on.

It might be an idea when the engine bay is still warm but NOT HOT
to put a blanket or something like that over the battery and engine.
make sure it is non conductive by that I mean no foil or anything that can short out the battery.

Also leave a note on the steering wheel or keys to remind you to take it off because you may not remember to.:).

WantToBeSE

Thanks Joe.
Was going to risk taking it to the filling station, only realise its Sunday so they are not open.
Just idled it for 25 mins, revving occasionally (yep, i bet the neighbours are loving me!). It started getting a bit 'shaky' near the end.

Fingers crossed for the morning! Will definitely look into a battery charger and jump leads!

Joe_Horner

You're welcome.

When you charge a battery, the first thing that happens is it develops a "surface charge". That's the charge that you're relying on to restart very soon after stopping with a flat battery (such as getting fuel). It's also what you're relying on after a short "emergency" charge of half an hour or so. Once the charging current is disconnected most of it dissipates quickly (within a few minutes to an hour or so) and all will be gone in 3 or 4 hours.

The fact that yours had retained enough to start 4 or 5 hours after its last run means that it is capable of taking a "proper" charge at least to some extent. If it holds enough of that charge to start again in the morning then it ain't dead yet. So the MSE next step is to give it a full charge and see how it lasts.

At 3 years old it won't have the full capacity it started with but, if it's the right battery for the car and the car normally starts well, it won't need anything like full capacity anyway.

arcon5

When my mondeo battery was dying I put replacing it off... Was a little sluggish starting after a day for a few months. Used it so often for so long though it wasn't a major deal. It finally failed to start the car costing me about £75 locally - could have bought one on eBay for about £50 - so the few extra months cost me about £8/month. As opposed to about £1.50 per month based on 3 year life span.

Dragging out repairs isn't necessarily money saving!!!!