Low battery?

[paco]

Parked up my Xantia 1.9TD N reg at a petrol station last night, left the lights on (I know) whilst i refuelled at the pay-at-the-pump, restarted the car and pulled over to the air/water the put some air in my tyres and by the time i finished and tried to restart the car it turned over really slowly and eventually died.

I had been at work early and to help defrost the car i had the rear window heater, the blowers, radio and lights on for the 10 mile journey to work. After 10 hours standing i did the reverse with the same things on.

I got jumped on the forecourt and drove to my friend's house (2 miles) with just the lights on. Left it parked for 4 hours and it started fine and drove home (10 miles) again with just the lights on.

It was left outside over night and when i got to it this morning it started fine again. The problem i'm having is every time you open the door the headlights blink on and off for about 20 seconds (which didn't start happening until well after it became apparent the car wouldn't start at the petrol station) and when the car is running the blowers and rear window heater won't come on (although they will when just the ignition is on!?).

Basically, is my battery just low and needs a good run out or do i have a bigger problem.

Many thanks in advance.

[reblack68]

Has the alarm activated itself when the battery was low? Pull fuse 17 and see if it behaves itself.

[myglaren]

Put it on charge for at least 24 hours then get it checked at somewhere reliable. It needs a load test to establish if it is failing.
How old is it?

As you have realised, running lights, heater, rear screen heater etc gobbles power like nobody's business and will give a battery that isn't 100% a very hard time. Ultimately it will let you down when you need it most and this is only the early stages of the winter.

Maybe Santa Clause will have one on his sleigh for you

[paco]

Car started first time again when i went to it, pulled fuse 17 and put it back in, problem solved. No blinking of the headlights, heaters worked etc. so i took it out and ran it down the road for 10+ miles without anything on (only indicating when it would have been unsafe to not do so!) and seems all is well now.

Thanks for the tip reblack68, seems it was the alarm because the LED next to the clock has stopped flashing too.

Thanks for the advice too, myglaren. It starts great as usual now so i think its sorted but will keep a check on it. Looking back i just kicked the arse out of it without giving it any chance to recharge.

[handyman]

Paco, I think you have the first symptoms of a battery having reached the end of its service life. As the weather gets colder, the battery will fail to respond to the greater loads put on it.

The load you put on it whilst refuelling the car and subsequently should have been well within the battery's capacity, if it were in good order. Take the car to a decent auto-electrician and get a load test on the battery, output test on the alternator and a cranking test on the starter motor, as this is the largest load the battery has to cope with. New batteries are not expensive.

Just because you have run the battery down and successfully recharged it does not mean it will not fail you again shortly. If anything, if the plates are failing, running an old battery flat will hasten its demise!

If you were in the South East, I could recommend ActivaSussex, a local auto electricians, 01892 662673.

Good luck and I hope the temperature stays above freezing for you.

Handyman

[deian]

This time of year is a bad one for batteries, they don't do well in colder weather.

Your problem is a dying cell. If it isn't a sealed battery, check the water levels.


You will see it will work well sometimes, and other times it will hardly turn over but may just start it. Other times it will die and need jumping. If this is the first time it's like this expect more weird behaviour.

I had exactly the same symptoms on my zx td, and many other times before, and the last thing you think it will be is the battery with all the odd problems, working well one time, then hardly working at all, then dead, then working well etc etc.

I will bet you my xmas tree you will need a new battery real soon.

[deian]

You beat me to it by 1 minute handyman. I totally agree with you there.

Being a diesel the starter will be stronger and therefore need more current to turn over, and the glow plugs zap a lot of current too, and if you start with ur headlights on, that won't help either.

Rear window demisters take power too, as well as fans on full to clear the windscreen on cold mornings, and with all the noise of the fan demisting, you may turn ur radio up!

[Peter.N.]

Because of the construction of modern batteries they will go on starting the car until they have lost perhaps 75% of their capacity but they have little in reserve, leaving the lights or even the radio on for any length of time will consume the remaining capacity.

[lolingram]

I got jumped on the forecourt and drove to my friend's house (2 miles) with just the lights on. Left it parked for 4 hours and it started fine and drove home (10 miles) again with just the lights on.

Just a word of advice about emergency starting any diesel... if one is obliged to attempt to either tow or push start a dioesel vehicle, NEVER use a gear lower than 3rd, and at the moment of engaging then clutch, operate the starter. Even with a pretty flat battery, this action will help the engine over compression, thus avoiding horrendous snatch torque to drive shafts and gearbox.

[jgra1]

also, check your earth to geabox strap... mine died recently and caused slow-starting problems....

I still have a cheap jumplead doing a backup job alongside the original strap , must fix it properly soon

[Xaccers]

If you've got access to a Halfrauds' trade card, their standard TD batteries are around £51 and their calcium ones are £54 (saving £30!!)