Car dead

[rachel]

Dude I have known this same problem to be caused by low tyre pressure so fit the spare to th ns front and your car will start just fine.
Or just stop worrying and fit a battery or you could try a bale of hay nod some petrol
Oh and a match .
Sorry for the post but just fit a battery please .
X Rachel

[1chris]

Thank god Rachel is sane as well

[stuskimac]

Had a similar thing with my 06 ford focus, only had it 3 weeks, went shopping with the Mrs, 10 min drive to shops, went shopping, came out to car park, doors wouldn't open on central locking key fob. Opened car door with key, turned ignition, nothing, no lights , completely dead. Called out recovery, man turned up, tried to jump start, battery kept arc'ing out/ shorting, he swapped battery, same problem. He was puzzled, said its shorting out the electrics, needed to go to garage. Eventually got it to the garage i bought it from, turned out the alternator was the problem, when it went it sent the electrics to earth, knocking everything out. They replaced alternator FOC, as it was under warranty, no probs after that.

[wilo76]

[QUOTE=stuskimac;709412]Had a similar thing with my 06 ford focus, only had it 3 weeks, went shopping with the Mrs, 10 min drive to shops, went shopping, came out to car park, doors wouldn't open on central locking key fob. Opened car door with key, turned ignition, nothing, no lights , completely dead. Called out recovery, man turned up, tried to jump start, battery kept arc'ing out/ shorting, he swapped battery, same problem. He was puzzled, said its shorting out the electrics, needed to go to garage. Eventually got it to the garage i bought it from, turned out the alternator was the problem, when it went it sent the electrics to earth, knocking everything out. They replaced alternator FOC, as it was under warranty, no probs after that.[/QUOTE]

Thank god you didnt just keep buying batteries:D

[1chris]

Yes wilo76, but that was that car, this one has a battery showing 8.8 volts, that battery is probably knackered

[Dedcalm]

Using a multimeter you could measure the dark current, I.e. The current drawn by the car even with everything off. CAT1 alarms are current hungry beasts for example. You could also measure the voltage from the alternator once the engine is running, should be 13.4v or more I think... Don't bother with cheap replacements go with a good brand (and I don't mean Halfords). I recommend Varta myself, there are a few places online that I have used and saved lots as a result.

[wilo76]

[QUOTE=1chris;709389]Ok, how about take it to the dealers let them sort it, save a lot of messing about, dont think anybody on a helicopter forum is going to know the answer[/QUOTE] The reason i posted my car problem on this forum is because in the short time i have been here i have come to respect alot of peoples opinions on varied subjects other than RC helicopters . This forum is full of very intelligent people from all aspects of life and is a great resource . The guy with PS3 problem could of sent it off to Sony but he chose to post on here and see if there was a way to fix it himself (smart man) , he has probably saved himself alot of money by doing so and i was glad to post in his thread offering any help i could .........but hey thats the kind of guy i am . If you chose to offer no constructive advice thats fine , but just posting "change the battery" might not solve the problem and like i have allready stated i dont have endless funds to keep throwing away blindly buying £100 battery,s .

[challis349]

[QUOTE=1chris;709389]Ok, how about take it to the dealers let them sort it, save a lot of messing about, dont think anybody on a helicopter forum is going to know the answer[/QUOTE]

Easy there tiger, there have been many car problems sorted out on here thanks to the help of the forum members, we all enjoy helicopters yes, but other things happen in our lives, and sometimes problems we have are able to be sorted on here

[dave j]

I personally would try and charge the battery if it takes a charge and is ok i would then check that the earth leads from the battery to the body and engine are all tight as if they are loose they will drain the said bettery over a short time

[wilo76]

Hi Dave , the battery is on charge right now and will be ready by 7am and if it holds enough charge to fire the engine i will take it to kwik fit for a battery and alternator check as iv checked all suggestions made by every one one the forum , was kind of hoping to find a loose earth lead (cheapest solution lol)

[cjcj1949]

One thing you can check with your voltmeter is if the battery is charging. Then you have to work through all the possibilities. The cheapest option is that you left something on, or something didn't manage to reach a stop position. Your battery may well be ok once charged. I had one about a year ago that was completely flat for about a week, but charged up ok. It does depend how long they have been flat. You could have a dead cell though, or almost anything else. You need to keep charging until the battery gets above 14V at about 0.5 amp charge. It should be above 12.6 volts when off charge. It can take a long time to fully charge a modern car battery. Especially one that's a few years old. You could find it settles down to a 1 amp charge at 14V for a long time. Boosting it will not do it any good. Once you get it started, and borrowing another battery may help, the battery volts should settle at 14.4V until the battery volts rise above this. You might find that although your car was starting ok, that your battery wasn't fully charged. It takes a long time to fully charge a battery using the alternator. I had a car a few years back that started fine until I used the radio for 30mins. That flattened the battery enough so that it wouldn't start the next day. When I tested it I found its fully charged capacity was 1AH.

[wilo76]

Just got back from local garage , alternator and battery are ok but there was an intermittent click (well more of a click/chirp) noise coming from the boot this morning:ack2: . It was on for 2-3 mins then went off for 2 mins then on again for 2 min , has been suggested it might be a sticking relay draining the battery but needs further testing . Any how the car is running at the moment so all the world is good once again:sifone:

[tiddler]

Glad your back up and running m8 :)

A clicking / chirping sound in the boot. Hmmm, only thing I can think of that might make a sound like that from that area is the fuel pump. Or maybe a relay for the heated rear window perhaps? [IMG]http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/images/smilies/shrug.gif[/IMG]

[cjcj1949]

Now you can measure volts, keep an eye on the battery volts. It needs to stay above 12.4 after it's been left a while. It's easier to give it a quick charge now and then rather than getting stuck. Hopefully it was a one off. You will need an old battery for field charging though, so perhaps a new battery would be a good investment. There is someone giving away small 12V batteries that would do the job. You can also use one to charge your main battery if it gets flat somewhere.