Griffith Power Failure - Help please
Discussion
First USA, then London and Italy, now my Griff.
Managed to set the car alarm off by opening the garage door last night. Didn't get to the keys before it had shut up so I just left it to reset.
This morning, got in the car, turned on the ignition and adjusted the heating (all gauges and lights normal). Turned it over and it did half a turn before dying. Volt meter reading 9V, oil warning light and heating LEDs dim, no alternator light at all. Turned it over again, nothing.
Turned it off, fiddled with electrics in passenger footwell and then tried again. Volt meter back to 12V, alternator warning light on but only half a turn before dying again, same symptoms. Given a few minutes, it seems to reset itself back to 12V.
My chief suspect is the fuseable link near the starter but I'm also a bit worried that it is the alarm that has packed in - it doesn't seem to be responding to the blipper but the imobiliser still sets and unsets.
Any ideas before I get the overalls out this evening? It was working perfectly on a 100 mile burn yesterday.
Thanks,
Ian A.
Managed to set the car alarm off by opening the garage door last night. Didn't get to the keys before it had shut up so I just left it to reset.
This morning, got in the car, turned on the ignition and adjusted the heating (all gauges and lights normal). Turned it over and it did half a turn before dying. Volt meter reading 9V, oil warning light and heating LEDs dim, no alternator light at all. Turned it over again, nothing.
Turned it off, fiddled with electrics in passenger footwell and then tried again. Volt meter back to 12V, alternator warning light on but only half a turn before dying again, same symptoms. Given a few minutes, it seems to reset itself back to 12V.
My chief suspect is the fuseable link near the starter but I'm also a bit worried that it is the alarm that has packed in - it doesn't seem to be responding to the blipper but the imobiliser still sets and unsets.
Any ideas before I get the overalls out this evening? It was working perfectly on a 100 mile burn yesterday.
Thanks,
Ian A.
hexhamhc said:
Flat battery? Not unusual for the battery to be ok and then fail due to a cell shorting or similar. Other causes could be insecure connections to the battery. The anti-surge fuse tends to put on the alternator light with the car running if it has 'popped'.
I did think of that. Would it revert to 12V and normal operation after a couple of minutes if a cell had shorted? Or can they short intermittently?
I did wiggle the connections to the battery and they seemed firm.
Yes, in our experience the battery will show 12v but when put under a load test will drop rapidly to 7-8v. Try a slave battery with jump leads and if the car starts fine then this would point towards the battery. I would suggest that if the battery is more than a couple of years old then it's probably had it.
hexhamhc said:
Yes, in our experience the battery will show 12v but when put under a load test will drop rapidly to 7-8v. Try a slave battery with jump leads and if the car starts fine then this would point towards the battery. I would suggest that if the battery is more than a couple of years old then it's probably had it.
The battery is probably 3 years old so I'll investigate that when I get home.
Thanks very much for the help.
Ian A.
simpo two said:
I'd vote for battery too. The prevention for next time when your new battery is fitted is one or both of the following: leave the alarm off when in the (locked) garage and/or get a battery conditioner, eg Airflow, and plug it in to the cig socket.
The car is used every day and if I don't use it for more than 3 days, the Optimate is plugged in. I guess the battery is just too old (about 3 years).
Ian A.
Not that it's any comfort, but I managed to knacker a battery in two years.
Left the interior lights on one night (by not properly closing the passenger door) and despite RAC getting me started the battery couldn't hold charge from that day on.
I think it's a case of once they're on their way they're done
Left the interior lights on one night (by not properly closing the passenger door) and despite RAC getting me started the battery couldn't hold charge from that day on.
I think it's a case of once they're on their way they're done
IPAddis said:
The car is used every day and if I don't use it for more than 3 days, the Optimate is plugged in. I guess the battery is just too old (about 3 years).
Well I tried! I have a theory that conditioners keep a battery in good nick for longer, but that when the battery finally lets go, it goes with less warning. Like 24 hours!I'm trying out one of those Priority Start units at the moment. This is a circuit breaker that basically isolates the battery if the battery starts to run down, leaving enough charge to start the car. Tested it once by deliberately leaving the lights on and it left enough charge in the battery to start the V8S, haven't had to use it in anger yet though. I think the main drawback with this is it deliberately doesn't isolate the battery if anything 'noisy' (electrical noise) is on, so things like fans and (potentially) alarms would flatten the battery without tripping it. But it seems like good protection against lights being left on, or the battery running down over weeks.
It was indeed the battery. The local Crapfords attached a test meter to it and it barely registered as a battery. 30CCA left out of a battery which supposedly had 590CCA. Oddly enough, the Optimate didn't register it as defective (it was plugged in all day yesterday).
The bible suggests the battery should be type 072 with 630CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) but such a battery did not exist at any of the local motor factors. The existing battery (fitted by a dealer) and the recommended battery (from the Lucas manual) is 069 but that only has 590CCA. In the end, I managed to squeeze in a Lucas 033/4 (with some creaking from the fibreglass battery box) which has 670CCA. It will now do 30mph on the starter motor alone!
Thanks again to everyone who replied.
Ian A.
The bible suggests the battery should be type 072 with 630CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) but such a battery did not exist at any of the local motor factors. The existing battery (fitted by a dealer) and the recommended battery (from the Lucas manual) is 069 but that only has 590CCA. In the end, I managed to squeeze in a Lucas 033/4 (with some creaking from the fibreglass battery box) which has 670CCA. It will now do 30mph on the starter motor alone!
Thanks again to everyone who replied.
Ian A.
Ian, It is worth getting a check of your alternator, I had similar symptoms to you and changed the battery, it was fine for a day or two then the battery was down to 9V. The rectifier of the alternator was sticky, sometimes sticking to the charge side, this drains down the battery when the car is turned off.
kevinday said:
Ian, It is worth getting a check of your alternator, I had similar symptoms to you and changed the battery, it was fine for a day or two then the battery was down to 9V. The rectifier of the alternator was sticky, sometimes sticking to the charge side, this drains down the battery when the car is turned off.
Hmm, I'll have to look into that. The alternator was fixed about a year ago and given the diagnosis of the battery on the test meter, I think it's just the battery was too old. I usually check the volt meter before, during and after starting the car and yesterday morning is the first time that it has been in the kaput range (< 11 volts).
I might get them to recheck the alternator though.
Ta,
Ian A.
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