Starting Problem

[stewey]

About a year ago whilst driving along, the car cut out and wouldn't start again. One of the fuses in the engine bay had blown, was replaced, the battery re-charged and everything has been fine since. Now the same thing has happened again, i have replaced the fuse, checked the others and the relays, but the battery will not charge enough to start the car.

I can hear the starter relay clicking (machine gun-like sound) on the bulkhead which has always happened when the car hasn't enough juice in to get started. If this has happened before, i just put it charge for a few hours and everything starts normally. When i put a a battery charger on now, it says 'fully charged' but there is barely enough power for the air con to work. Can hear fuel pump priming ok.

Any ideas guys....? I have looked through the threads of past forums, but haven't found anything which answers this problem. My immediate thought is a faulty battery....the car does stand for 2 or 3 weeks without starting sometimes, but like i said, a quick charge and it used to be OK. Any help much appreciated.

[rsnoble]

check earth straps, poor earth will cause this!!

[gaz 7404]

Batterys do run low on the acid from time to time and if its one that can be opened up can be topped up with de-ionised water then recharged but as its a pain to remove on the Noble I would IMO just replace with a new one. Gaz

[worty]

Sounds like your battery is buggered. If it keeps discharging to that level it won't last long. Try a new battery and get a battery conditioner which will gently charge and allow partial discharge of the battery. Suggest one of these

http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php

HTH
worty

[snuffy]

In my experience, car batteries tend to fail like a switch, i.e. one minute they are fine, then they just fail all of a sudden and that's them had it. They dont tend to fail over gradually. also, letting them run down and charging them up again does them no good either. I'd get a battery and a battery conditioner like the CTEK one.

[stewey]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Will check the earthing strap and put a new battery in. Does anyone have any suggestions for a spec / manufacturer of a replacement battery.? Looks like a day under the car, up on jacks and bricks and bits of wood! I have read that this can be a bit of a pig of a job from other threads, so not looking forward to it too much! Any tips and tricks to make this as easy as it can be?

Thanks again

[snuffy]

stewey said:

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Will check the earthing strap and put a new battery in. Does anyone have any suggestions for a spec / manufacturer of a replacement battery.? Looks like a day under the car, up on jacks and bricks and bits of wood! I have read that this can be a bit of a pig of a job from other threads, so not looking forward to it too much! Any tips and tricks to make this as easy as it can be?

Thanks again

Make sure you know where to jack it up. It tells you in the owner's manual; you wont see any obvious jacking points like you see on a lot of cars.

I have to use a thin bit of wood ( bit left over from my laminate floor ) first and roll the rear wheels on to that so I can get my trolley jack under the car.

It's easier with two people; I did it on my own and the biggest problem is trying to shuve the battery up from underneath. If someone else can grab hold of it from above that will help.

[worty]

You need a non maintenance 075. Best tip is take it to a garage get it on a ramp and get them to do it. Half hour max and money well spent as its an arse of a job without ramps

worty

Also get a conditioner and wire the battery up to a connector before you fit the battery then its easy peeasy just plugging it in when ont in use

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

worty said:

You need a non maintenance 075. Best tip is take it to a garage get it on a ramp and get them to do it. Half hour max and money well spent as its an arse of a job without ramps

Even if you do this, remember to take some ducktape with you. You'll need this to put around the bottom of the battery holders as a temporary measure to hold them in position before you put the top bar back on.

Edited by ThatPhilBrettGuy on Thursday 26th February 16:25