Starter saga.

Some may remember the saga of this a few weeks ago, but here's a summary and update. Ish.

Old Rover went into a local garage to get the sump gasket changed. I'd sorted out all the other oil leaks, which were embarrassing, and an MOT due.

Went into the garage with zero of the problems I'll now mention. Battery good, if a few years old.

As well as breaking a door lock handle ;-) they mentioned the starter had been soaked in oil. They'd steam cleaned the underneath before sorting the sump gasket. Which now is leak free, so good.

On picking up the car, the alternator wasn't charging. Since I live close by, just drove it home. Certainly didn't want to leave it to have them sort it. Voltmeter on the car was showing pretty low volts - around 11.

When I got some time and decent weather, the problem was the warning light wire not connected properly. That sorted. it now charged - but volts showing only 13 rather than the normal 14 or so when running.

And the starter now deciding to not engage on occasion, but its motor running.

Guessed that it would likely be the steam cleaning that the starter didn't like. But it's not easy to remove.

Intending using the car this last weekend, I charged the battery in situ. And the charger didn't change to green as normal overnight - and the volts engine not running still low.

I'm just going to remove the battery and charge it on the bench. And then check with my ATC tester.

But it might well be the battery is the problem with both the faults.

Just why it would be fine before going into the garage and failed there, I've no idea. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News
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I suppose batteries do just fail suddenly. A thought though; could you have a leaky diode/regulator on the alternator dragging the voltage down?

Reply to
Chris Bartram

Two of my wife's cars have had a spontaneously dead battery, after driving for about 20 minutes and doing a bit of shopping.

With the second (last summer), the battery had done very well. It never gave a moment's trouble. The car was new in 2010, and it's unlikely that it had been replaced before she bought it, in 2013. But one hot summer lunchtime, in the supermarket carpark, while it would light the instrument display it showed absolutely no inclination to even engage the starter motor. When the key was turned, there was a slight click, and the instrument lights went out.

I duly attend in my car, and thought that the application of my jumper leads and a few revs would get her car started. But no - it took several minutes of fast revving before her car eventually burst into life. [It was essentially an "I don't believe it!" situation, and although I had taken a multimeter with me, in my perplexity I failed to measure the battery voltage.]

Anyway, I followed her home, then went straight to the local Halfords for a new battery (not the cheapest place, of course!).

As for the old battery, IIRC it was about 11V (possibly a shorted cell - but this should not have made the car appear so dead). I checked the level of the acid, and it was just covering the plates, and then gave it a good thrashing with a high-current charger (it started at 20A, but soon dropped to 5). After that, the voltage was about 13.5V, and I used it for a couple of weeks to power some radio gear (giving it the occasional bit of a low-current top-up charge). However, it wasn't long before it died again, the voltage being around 6V, and which I could not get back up again. All I can think of is that it had some cells shorted or reverse-charged, and maybe also a partial open-circuit.

Reply to
Ian Jackson

The battery must have been extremely low. Took a total of about 20 hours for the charger(s) to say it was full.

ATC tester reports it as 65 amp.hr, so it is actually OK. (70 amp.hr nominal)

Next thing is to get it back on the car, and see if the voltage reading engine running is normal. I'll bet it isn't. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News

The usual mechanism is that debris slowly shed from the plates eventually fills the space provided for it below the plates.

Once that happens, there's a permanent partial short circuit.

And once that happens to one cell, others follow very soon after because they get constantly overcharged.

Reply to
John Henderson

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