Battery trouble - advice requested
Discussion
My car died on me yesterday morning - after successfully starting up and driving away. It is a 2001 P38 Range Rover 4.6. I had left an interior light on overnight (yes I know, I am an utter plonker) and though it started, idled and drove fine, then 1 minute into the journey I started getting warning messages on the dash about literally everything in the car - lights, gearbox, airbag, you name it. Then the instruments failed and finally the engine died just as I was pulling into the train station car park which is 1.5 miles from my house. It wouldn't start again, no action at all from starter motor.
My train was cancelled anyway so I had time to call breakdown and wait. 2 hours later lad turns up with recovery truck (took him that long as he had broken down himself and had to organise another truck!) Now by that time my car had been sitting in the sun for 2 hours and had warmed up a bit. So I tried to start it and lo and behold, she fired up. Left her idling for about 15 mins but then she died again and wouldn't turn over anymore.
Got recovered home, removed battery and hooked it up to Halfords battery charger. 5 hours or so later little green light on charger comes on saying it's ready. So I refitted it, gave the car a little test drive and everything seemed to be fine. This morning though, same again, started, everything looks OK, no warning lights, but then after 30 secs driving the warning messages started flowing again and I headed for home, the engine expiring just as I pulled into my parking space. Off I went to the station on my bicycle; wife reports that she got it started a couple of hours later, it idled for 15 mins but then died again.
It was running absolutely fine even in the cold temps prior to this episode, and I thought she would be OK with the battery fully charged up. And especially with the car idling, with no electrical systems working - radio off, heating off etc etc - I would have thought that the engine would charge the battery up? Battery is less than a year old, a sealed unit from Halfords; not bought by me but I would doubt that battery is broken.
Any suggestions of what's up and what to try next?
(Yes I know 'what's up' is that I have foolishly bought a P38 Rangie, and yes I know that 'what next' is 'buy a decent car' - looking for alternative suggestions please
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My train was cancelled anyway so I had time to call breakdown and wait. 2 hours later lad turns up with recovery truck (took him that long as he had broken down himself and had to organise another truck!) Now by that time my car had been sitting in the sun for 2 hours and had warmed up a bit. So I tried to start it and lo and behold, she fired up. Left her idling for about 15 mins but then she died again and wouldn't turn over anymore.
Got recovered home, removed battery and hooked it up to Halfords battery charger. 5 hours or so later little green light on charger comes on saying it's ready. So I refitted it, gave the car a little test drive and everything seemed to be fine. This morning though, same again, started, everything looks OK, no warning lights, but then after 30 secs driving the warning messages started flowing again and I headed for home, the engine expiring just as I pulled into my parking space. Off I went to the station on my bicycle; wife reports that she got it started a couple of hours later, it idled for 15 mins but then died again.
It was running absolutely fine even in the cold temps prior to this episode, and I thought she would be OK with the battery fully charged up. And especially with the car idling, with no electrical systems working - radio off, heating off etc etc - I would have thought that the engine would charge the battery up? Battery is less than a year old, a sealed unit from Halfords; not bought by me but I would doubt that battery is broken.
Any suggestions of what's up and what to try next?
(Yes I know 'what's up' is that I have foolishly bought a P38 Rangie, and yes I know that 'what next' is 'buy a decent car' - looking for alternative suggestions please
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