flat battery problems.

B

ben g

Elite
 Essex
when i test drove the car before buying it, the red battery light was on, on the instrument cluster.

2 days later when i picked it up (in march), it had gone out and didn't come back on until january this year, when it was very cold. it would come on intermittently, sometimes when cold and sometimes not.

i had not driven the car since saturday, although yesterday i moved the car from driveway to garage, took about 1 minute. today, i went to start the car up and it just kept clicking rather than turning over, so had to get a jump start.

i then drove it to work, left the car 8 hours and when i started it again (from cold), it was fine.

is this a battery problem or an issue with the alternator? the easy thing to do would be to get a new battery and see what happens, but i've heard that if it's a duff alternator, it could end up killing the new battery, so would end up being a waste of money.
 
Sometimes when the starter is knackd it will work from cold but then just click on 2nd start up ?
Have you attached a conditioner to fully top the battery ? Should take 4 /12 hours to fully charge dependent on how drained it is
 
With the engine running you should see 13.5 to 14.5 volts across the battery terminals. This indicates that the battery is being charged correctly.
The red light on the dash would indicate that the alternator was not charging the battery and had a fault. This may be an intermittent fault with the alternator.
You may also have a battery fault. Batteries can be frustrating things and may 'open circuit' appear dead when they develop certain faults and then behave normally the next day. They don't like the cold weather we have been having.

How old is the battery and has it been regularly fully discharged this damages battery life as car batteries are not 'deep cycle' type batteries.

Have you checked also for a parasitic discharge (slow drain of the battery)
try the link below to show you how to check.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUoXApI89Q


Good luck
 
All been said - but go for the cheap option first and check the voltage across the battery terminals with the car running. As toe-side says 13.5-14.5 volts. If this is OK then get the battery checked. Cold weather will start to catch a bad battery out.
 
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