another battery question

...and cyberwraith spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

If all the cells were similar, I'd say it was either a charging or earthing problem. The fact that some of the cells are lower than others suggests the battery itself is faulty. If it's got some warranty on it, take it back.

If the starter is getting low voltage then the engine will be slow to crank over - and diesels don't like starting when cranked too slowly.

This could be dirty connections, faulty battery or a faulty starter. You need to check all the connections between battery and starter, especially the earth connection. It's probably also worth checking the current draw of the starter - unless you've got a clamp style ammeter that reads to about 500A you'll probably have to get a garage to check it for you. I'm sure someone here will have a sensible figure for tdi starter current - my books are miles away so I can't look it up but my gut feel is ~250A.

Also the uneven sg of the battery cells doesn't sound great so it may be worth getting it properly tested with a view to claiming on the warranty. Be aware however that a new battery may have sufficient extra power to initially overcome a fauly starter problem, but as the battery ages the problem may reoccur - it's probably well worth checking the starter current just to be sure that all is well.

My policy with car batteries is always try and fit the biggest "size" battery as possible, these new designs don't account for cold weather, and in all the years I have been driving it is always the 2 to 3 year old bat which is sized just about to cope with the car its fitted to which lets you down in the depths of winter. there is no substitute for cross sectional area of plate or layers, this can only be achieved with a physically big bat. This is what I do and touch wood have not had any problems in the cold also you can get away with leaving your side lights on and still start the car..

Rich

-- To reply remove " spam "

On or around Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:34:41 GMT, "cyberwraith" enlightened us thusly:

does sound iffy if some cells are down more than others.

another thing to check is glowplugs. Although a good TDi shouldn't *really* need 'em, if the battery is up to it. The 300 TDi here only once failed to start, when its original battery gave up at about 8 years old (!).

The Ford Di in the minibus doesn't seem to have any, and it's started so far this year.

See other thread about batteries for discos though. You can put a biggun on it, 643 or 644 - need a minor mod to the battery clamp and IIRC move a cable from the side of the engine bay to get it in. Gives peace of mind that the battery is big enough, and they tend to be cheaper to boot.

If you need to know which number, I'll look it up tomorrow.

Take it to a proper garage/battery specialist with a load tester if it is dodgy it will take a charge and appear ok for a day or so but not maintain the charge That on a hyrometer test may appear similar to a battery which is just not being charged sufficiently. A load tester will show up any deficiency by stressing the battery the same way starting does have a look at

answering a different question but covering your concernDerek ( we used to check individual cells before progress sealed them away)

Thanks for all the help and advise folks. Tomorrow morning I will take the Disco to my local garage and get the test done. I shall keep you all updated.

Thanks about the info regarding larger battery. Off the top of my head I cannot recall what is on Edie, pronounced eedee, except that it is a heavy duty one. When I go to the garage tomorrow I shall enquire about a larger one. ooer!

Right update time, I have had the battery tested and it failed! The alternator is ok putting out 14.4v so this afternoon I am off back to a certain chainstore which shall remain nameless, and which I will certainly never go to again. This will be the 4th item returned! Guess the store, think of a murderous sci-fi computer and then add the name of an American car manufacturer, who stole LR, in my opinion anyway.

On or around Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:27:09 GMT, "cyberwraith" enlightened us thusly:

hehehehe

whereabouts are you? If you have any tractor or agricultural type places, they generally have nice cheap big batteries.

Ok this is the outcome, to start with Austin I live in Atherton, Wigan nr Manchester. I took the battery back to Halfords where they tested it and their machine said the battery needed replacing. So I now have a brand new battery. I do have one question arising from this, the original battery had a 3 year guarantee with 1 year left. The new battery is a 3 year the same but I was told that I can only have 1 year as that is what was left on the original. Which should it be, anyone know? Thanks once again to everyone who has helped.

cyberwraith uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Sounds fair, chances are you were unlucky so fingers crossed you should get an extra year for your money so to speak (use anyway).

Lee D.

On or around Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:33:33 GMT, "cyberwraith" enlightened us thusly:

sounds like a con. "Sale of goods" only gets you a year anyway, though... so presumably the 3-year ones are some sort of additional thing, and it might well have a limit of one replacement per 3 years or something like that.

"> sounds like a con. "Sale of goods" only gets you a year anyway, though...

Actually the Sale of Goods Act doesn't specify a period, it has to be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose. For some items a 3 year like would not be considered as reasonable and therefore breach the Act. Shops/manufacturers would like us to believe that there is a one year guarantee period, but will often cave in before legal action after much longer than that.

Regards Jeff

...and cyberwraith spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

Standard procedure IME. You bought it (say) two years ago with a 3-year guarantee. It fails, so they replace it, but they don't give you a new warranty, just agree to honour the balance of the old one.

That seems fair to me. You've had what you've paid for - a battery and a

3-year guarantee. In fact, you are a bit better off because you've got a new battery again. If they didn't restrict the warranty like this and gave you a fresh 3 years every time, guess how many batteries they would get back at 2 years 11 months with mysterious "failures". The unscrupulous need never buy a battery again.

Did you get a receipt for the new battery with todays date on it? B-)

Well... you have not *bought* another battery (and thus warranty) why should the old warranty restart with the replacement? It fairly common practice that you only get the remains of the warranty with a replacement.

Erm, I don't the Sale of Goods Act goes into that level of detail. Fit "for the purpose" and "reasonable use" are terms it's more likely to use. Things have wildly different life expectancies, the SoGA is a very broad brush to insist on a 12 month guarantee on *everything*.

I agree with the folks saying I got 3 years and should be happy, although if continuous batteries did indeed fail after 1year and 11 months as this did, then I would suggest quality control needs looking at. Anyway the Disco starts nicely and I am a happy camper.

Like QuickFit did some years ago - a "life-time" warranty on a Series II exhaust - Gary goes back every 2 or three years for his free new exhaust!

Richard

1 year, to all intents and purposes it is the original battery. You only bought one and thus one warranty. Stoopid I know, but I believe that is the state. Had it once with an exhaust, original with 1 yr warranty fitted because of MOT failue, failed next year for same, but test was 1 day earlier, so got replacement under warranty @ no cost. Sometimes worth getting a test before previous expiry!