Vitara 1.6 16v starting issue... Help!

[ChiChoAndy]

Ok, so was out yesterday in the vit, without an issue. Get ready to set out today to get some stuff done, and bosh, the bloody thing won't start. Lights on the dash, but a couple of clicks, and then nothing. So, I get out my trusty battery charger to see if it has just ran out of electric juice, and it charges at about 6 amps, then quickly drops down to 0, so figure the battery is fine. Take the leads off the battery, and give it another pop. Click, click, click, then nothing. The fuel pump relay in the back was whirring away when the ignition went on as well, so that 'should' be fine.

So plug the charger up again to see if the battery is just being a bit crap, and to make sure I had decent purchase, and it seems fine. Sits there on 0 amps, so apparently full to the brim with electricityness. So I give it a cheeky turn, knowing that the fuse will probably pop on the charger, but maybe it will turn over, and lo, it did. So I disconnected everything, and ran it for 20 minutes. Turned it off, and tried to start it again as a check. Click, click, click, nothing.

I've checked the grounds that I can find, and it clearly doesn't mind running once it's going, so any ideas what the problem could be?

Many thanks in advance

Stuck in the country

Andy
:-)

[Fleckers]

sounds like the battery is dead

[ChiChoAndy]

In the process of giving my spare battery a charge as I type... Be nice if that was it.

[ChiChoAndy]

Found a small crack at the base of one of the terminals on the battery, and it's moist there. Hopefully that's the issue.