Battery - Ford Galaxy

[Rockape]

I've got a 2.0tdci Galaxy which has a cold start issue. Struggles with the first cold start ie in a morning. Garage looked at it and the battery failed whatever test they did, they recharged it over night however the problem still remains! It's been back since and they advised me the battery is fine and has been retested. The car is new to me last month but second hand and has a three month warranty. The garag e are going to order a fuel cleaner from ford and run this through the system. I'm sceptical that their magic additive will work and suspect they don't want to spend too much cash fault finding or on parts, so I ran a multimeter over the car this morning and got 12.25v. A freebie from Kwik fit this afternoon gave these readings. Can I ask thoughts about the battery condition??

[eybic]

Just under 12v at cranking would indicate to me that it's not in great nick. Years ago a car of mine wouldn't start, I checked the battery and it was something like 11.1V so I thought it was close enough to 12 so wouldn't be the battery. After lots of other investigating (because I'd already checked the battery ) it turned out that a new battery fixed the non start.

[Penelope Stopit]

7.28 volts when cranking = not fully charged or faulty

9.6 volts and above = good

[GreenV8S]

eybic said:

I checked the battery and it was something like 11.1V so I thought it was close enough to 12 so wouldn't be the battery.

11.1 V is suspiciously high to be a cranking voltage and I suspect you mean the 'at rest' voltage was 11.1 V. A healthy fully charged lead acid battery should read about 12.6V at rest. A battery reading 11.1 V at rest is either faulty or very, very flat. Discharging a lead acid battery that far is bad for it, so they probably amount to much the same thing.

[eybic]

GreenV8S said:

eybic said:

I checked the battery and it was something like 11.1V so I thought it was close enough to 12 so wouldn't be the battery.

11.1 V is suspiciously high to be a cranking voltage and I suspect you mean the 'at rest' voltage was 11.1 V. A healthy fully charged lead acid battery should read about 12.6V at rest. A battery reading 11.1 V at rest is either faulty or very, very flat. Discharging a lead acid battery that far is bad for it, so they probably amount to much the same thing.

Correct, I stuck a multimeter on the battery without any load and as I said, thought it was close enough to 12 so was fine, it wasn't

[Rockape]

My cold start woes continue. I've been patient with the dealer I bought the car from, however my patience has expired.

They took the car back for the fourth day and ran magical fluid through it which would sort the cold start problem (yes, I know, bit like changing the key fob battery would cure it). I suspect that the dealer is wanting to spend as little as possible. I did point out I had a battery test carried out and despite them failing and recharging the battery it required charging again.

This morning it's -1. I checked the battery. 12.1v. It started like a bag of ****.

I lodged a complaint with the company yesterday and reminded them of their obligations under the Consumer Rights Act and have phoned the sales manager this morning and await a call back. He'd best be ready.

The pregnant missus is away to Caithness tomorrow with so I'll bite the bullet and stick a new battery in, at least I'll have some assurance that it'll start and will have a decent battery and I'll chase the dealer for the cost of the replacement.

[sparkythecat]

Have you tried running the glow plugs through more than one cycle before cranking, to see if that makes any difference?

[E-bmw]

12.1 volts is flatter than a flat thing!

What you have in your battery is 6 X 2.1 volt cells so a fully charged good battery is 12.6 volts, for every 0.1 volt down you lose around 20% charge.

[ninjag]

Sounds like the battery but no harm also checking that the alternator is doing its job properly also. Check to see what the voltage is whist the engine is running. If the battery is pretty flat then I'd expect to see above 14V if the alternator is good.

[Rockape]

14.4v running.

[dave_s13]

Just hope it is the battery and not some other pain in the arse and much more expensive issue with the glow plugs or injectors.

Easy fix if it is. The dealer will hopefully sort you out with some cash back your way.

[dave_s13]

Rockape said:

14.4v running.

That sound about right.

[Rockape]

An update. Still chasing the issue. The dealer tested the batter again which failed so that was replaced. However I still have starting issues. I lodged a complaint and have dealt with the service manager since who agreed that they've not been dealing with this correctly. They are to arrange to get the car to Ford. This'll be the sixth time it's back.

[pcn1]

Im no expert, but if its just a cold start problem then maybe the glow plugs are suspect.
My Diesel had a similar problem, had to use a spray of "easy start" every morning to get it going, soon as the weather turned mild it started fine. Would always start no problem if hot.
3 of the 5 glow plugs were dead. Cheap to buy, but a right pig to fit !!
Starts on the button now

Edited by pcn1 on Thursday 3rd January 12:28

Edited by pcn1 on Thursday 3rd January 12:29