Battery or more issues after 3 months rest.

I spent three months away with work over the summer and returned to what I thought was a flat battery in my 83 Driver. After a couple attempts at jump-starting it, much to my relief it sparked to life, ticked over and revved nicely.

Still have a few issues though. After running for about 10 mins at fast idle, the battery still had no charge when I tried to start it again. Is there a chance it could be a dodgy alternator or just a capput battery. Or did I not let it run long enough? I'm not particularly experienced in things like this. Is there an easy test to check the alternator?

Also I'm having some issues with the dash. The only lights coming on are the handbrake and carb lights, and the full beam LED on the dash. No other lights are working along with the rev counter and fuel gauge.

Any help would be appreciated as I would love to get her running for a trip down to Players

If you left the battery 3 months and it went flat, it will be sulphated now. Unless you have access to a battery charger which can recondition the battery (unlikely), then its new battery time.

Wait until you have fitted a new battery before doing any more electrical diagnostics.

OK cheers.

We were playing again earlier and it got to the stage where the engine cutout as soon as we removed the jump leads. Does that fit with a dud battery scenario?

Rich

Yes, but why not simply test the battery using a voltmeter?

I'm not sure what that will achieve?

I know the battery is flat, just not not sure why its not keeping any charge.

I'm gonna get a new one tomorrow I think, the current one is at least 3 years old and it would probably help having a decent battery for winter.

Looks like you've killed it by letting it go completely flat;

Wikipedia;

Lead-acid batteries should never be discharged to below 20% of their full capacity, because internal resistance will cause heat and damage when they are recharged

blue-BUF said

I'm not sure what that will achieve?

I know the battery is flat, just not not sure why its not keeping any charge.

I'm gonna get a new one tomorrow I think, the current one is at least 3 years old and it would probably help having a decent battery for winter.

Basically if you discharge the battery too much you can (not always) kill it and it will never hold a charge again.
Didn't start mine for about 2 1/2 months and only got a few turns from the starter before it died, put on quick charger for a bit and would turn over but not start (bit impatient of me I know) Got some booster cables and started up straight away so that ruled out any other probs. Then put battery on slow charge from morning to evening and after that started up with no help and has done since.

Just for future if it does all end up as a knackered battery, I would recommend disconnecting when you know your leaving it for a while again, also invest in a charger (Halfords do one for £29.99). Give the battery a bit of a slow charge when your back (this bit can be hard as I know your want to just start her up and have a drive) and hopefully this should avoid you spending £60 odd quid on a new battery.
I know on mine it's only running the clock but it obviously does draw a current and drain the battery + not sure if you have an alarm system which again draws more.

Anyway hope you get it sorted.

Dan

Early-1800 said

Looks like you've killed it by letting it go completely flat;

Wikipedia;

Lead-acid batteries should never be discharged to below 20% of their full capacity, because internal resistance will cause heat and damage when they are recharged

That's a good reason never to believe anything on Wikipedia! Its a load of balaerics.

A deeply discharged battery will, if left discharged, start sulphating, which is a more/less permanent chemical process on the cells reducing the active cell area available, and therefore battery capacity.

A deeply discharged battery can be recharged if its not left, so long as the voltage/current regime is appropriate to the battery and its not allowed to gas off, which will reduce electrolyte volume, or heat up too much, which could potentially result in a runaway reaction and explosion of the battery.

Decent battery chargers will be 3 (or more) stages (bulk, absorption, float) and will have temperature sensor to allow higher charge current with no danger (ie too hot and it will reduce charge current).

A battery will still go flat even if disconnected. Not too sure about the stuff from wikipedia either but always understood if you let a battery go flat over time or flatten it trying to start car its never the same again and permanently has a lower capacity. Then in winter its got even less uumphh due to it being a chemical reaction and that is reduced by colder temperatures coupled with a cold engine being more difficult to start, thicker oil etc, the owner switching everything on before they start the car etc

I remember years ago a mate with a totally flat battery trying to bump start his Polo down a 2 mile hill and it still wouldn't start.

Best to fit a higher capacity battery designed for a Diesel Golf and keep it charged by using the car regulary or if laid up get one of those CTEK chargers.  Hope I'm not tempting fate but the GTI battery is about 6 years old and seems to be going strong….

The ctek chargers are great, can get quick connect adaptor that has led indicator on battery charge,

Thanks for the help guys. I got a new battery in the end for about 40 quid from euro car parts and its done the job.

Ive still got an issue with the dash if anyone has any ideas. The rev counter, fuel gauge, temp gauge and battery and indicator lights have all packed up in one go. They won't all have broke at the same time surely?

sounds like you lost the ign live feed for the cluster. this is the black wire it goes direct to the ignition switch. note that without the battery light the alternator will not charge properly!

I think you might be right John. Went back to start my car yesterday and there was nothing!! I'll have to read up on ign live feed then. Hope I haven't wasted a new battery……..

I haven't been able to have a crack at this problem yet, but I'm free this weekend so I'm going to get stuck in.

Just a quick question John, if I lost the live ignition feed, would I still be able to start the engine?

yeah the feed to the cluster comes direct from the ignition swithc, and is a separate wire from the ign feed for the fusebox and engine (though it goes to the same pin on the switch)

Yeah, now I've taken it apart I can see what you're on about.

So far I've found that the earth for the instrument panel is good and that there is continuity between the connector from the inst panel and the ign live feed from the cluster. Now I'm stuck as if I follow the black wire back it gets all complicated because of the immobiliser. Also I don't have a battery in at the moment so I can't do any voltage tests.

Do you know if the immobiliser could be causing these problems?

only if its on the wire between the switch and the cluster, otherwise no. can also be down to poor contacts in the clock plug itself, or worn copper on the pcb where the pins touch

OK now I'm pretty certain the alternator has died. With the engine running on a full battery I get 12 and a bit volts over the leads, it should be 14 ish right? Also tried the windscreen washers and the engine just stalled. Is it possible, or worth it, to fix an old alternator? Or am I better off getting a spankers one? Also, just to make sure, the alternator is the thing at the bottom front left when you look into the engine bay from the front, oui? If you haven't guessed already I'm not exactly a car mechanic!

I still haven't solved the dash problem   but I'm going to focus on one bit at a time, starting with the alternator.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Rich

This is so weird!!!

I have had a battery problem also which i posted about 5 days ago, Halfords told me the battery is ok, i charged it today and fitted it, First thing i noticed was i had no dash lights (battery-oil) only thing that worked is the high beam light and clock. my car starts ok and runs, i have checked the alternator and everything is fine.

Why no Oil and Battery lights? the were working when the battery wasn't fully charged!!