2011 galaxy starting problem any ideas?
2011 galaxy starting problem any ideas?
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robwilk

Original Poster:

818 posts

197 months

Tuesday 12th December 2017
quotequote all
My inlaws have a 2011 ford galaxy which they have had for 6 years without fault until they had a headlamp bulb replaced.
The day after the bulb replacement the car would not turn over and the hazard lights started and the boot lid popped open.
I put their halfords basic charger on the car and in 40 mins it was fully charged and the car started normally.
Fast forward a week and the car refused to start again hazards and boot opening. I put my basic OBD scanner on it and it was clear of any fault codes. Again it charged in 30mins plus with a 4 amp charger.
Does this sound like a battery fault? I would have thought if the voltage went so low as to send the ECU into panic it would have logged a low voltage code up on the scanner.
Ive not checked the voltage when it refused to turn over, perhaps put my Ctek charger on it and see if that will sort the battery out? any ideas?

Rob

zedx19

2,982 posts

157 months

Tuesday 12th December 2017
quotequote all
6 year old car, presumably with the original battery on? Not holding charge now the weathers dropped cold? Sounds like new battery time. I have a Ford Focus and that goes bonkers if the battery is low, it'll still start but throw up all sorts of weird faults, like ESP fault, won't boost past 1/4 etc. New battery and all was well.

GreenV8S

30,956 posts

301 months

Tuesday 12th December 2017
quotequote all
If charging the battery fixed it, that strongly suggests it was caused by a flat battery. The fact it did not take much charge also suggests that the battery has lost capacity. If you can reproduce the problem it should be trivially simple to prove that the battery caused it with a voltmeter. Alternatively drive to anywhere that sells batteries and ask them to load test it for you. If it is still on the original battery it is due for a replacement anyway.

robwilk

Original Poster:

818 posts

197 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
Update it was the battery and all is OK now , It seems my cheapo OBD reader does not show all the fault codes as the independent they took it too used his laptop and it showed many under voltage error codes. cheers for the assistance.
Rob

SebringMan

1,774 posts

203 months

Thursday 14th December 2017
quotequote all
robwilk said:
Update it was the battery and all is OK now , It seems my cheapo OBD reader does not show all the fault codes as the independent they took it too used his laptop and it showed many under voltage error codes. cheers for the assistance.
Rob
This is why I very rarely trust cheap code readers. I've seen this happen a few times.

In your case I'd buy Forscan. It's a brilliant bit of kit and cheap.