Battery Blues (Griff not starting)

[Superali]

Gentlemen, and Ladies.

Some help or advice please. My Griff (1994 500) had been in the garage for a couple of weeks and with the alarm left on the battery has been sucked dry. When turning the ignition on, there was no indication of the engine wanting to turn over. Although all the other functions of the car are working, ie lights, clock, alarm, central locking, boot release etc.
I bought a battery charger for which I had to remove the battery from the car to charge it. I don’t have the tools, know-how or skill to remove the battery as the bible says I have to get under the car to release bolts and so on. The task seemed to daunting.
After reading the bible I bought a cigarette lighter boost charger which I tried this morning. After boosting the Battery i turned the engine over and it coughed as though it wanted to start and then it cut out, now when I turn the key there is a rattling, machine gun type noise coming from behind the dash which I had not heard before. Any suggestions please on how to bring him back to life? Maybe if I take it onto the main road, which is long and straight, and try the old push start method? Please help.

[5.0ltr]

How long has it been on the boost charge? They take longer than an ordinary charger to put some juice in.

[Superali]

Thanks 5.0ltr,

I had it on charge for around 15 minutes until the charge unit starting to beep that it had finished boosting the battery. After the time I tried turning the engine on and failing, I put it on charge again for 15 minutes. I didn’t try turning the key a second time. I left to go to work giving the battery some time to recover.

[JonathanT]

I'd give it at least 24hrs before trying again. Hopefully, the rattling is simply the starter solenoid trying to engage, but there's not enough juice in the battery to crank the engine.

Edited by JonathanT on Wednesday 5th November 10:39

[scoule]

The reason the solenoid rattles is that (A) the battery voltage drops when the starter tries to spin the motor after the solenoid engages and sends poweer to the motor; the battery voltage drop causes the solenoid to disengage. When the electrical connection to the motor part of the starter is cut by the solenoid dropping out, the battery voltage raises, the solenoid re-engages .. and back to (A).

[Superali]

Thanks JonathanT and Scoule.

As you may guess, I am desperate for my Griff to live again. I’ll try starting the car tomorrow morning. In the mean time, do you think I should try charging the battery with the booster a couple more times tonight?

[Troogly]

hi

Would suggest trickle charging your battery (ie set at a low current) for 24 hours. This will help condition the battery better than a series of short, high current boosts.

Looking ahead you may want to invest in a battery charger that tops up your battery on a continual basis. The idea is the charger squirts in just enough current to replace any drain caused by an alarm / immobiliser. Whenever you are parking the car up you connect the charger. They automatically cut-off charging to protect the battery too.

Check on ctek battery charger on google and budget on circa £50

[Superali]

Thanks Troogly,

I'm just back from Halfrauds after taking your advice and bought a trickle charger. They were a tenner dearer than one from flee-bay but i couldn’t be bothered with the whole buying and delivery process with flee-bay. I'll crank that baby on tonight and hopefully it'll spring back to life for a nice winter evening drive tomorrow.

i'll be back to let you all know how i get on.

[lazyitus]

In the colder months, the battery drains quickly. This is not unusual.

To give you some idea, I hadn't used my Griff for 2 weeks which saw a load of dead cold nights doing their worse. I started it up on Sunday just but it laboured before firing up, which I expected.

Rigged up my trickle charger after a quick spin and it took two and a half days for the charger to give the green 'all ok' light.

I'll be keeping it on trickle for most of the winter now.

[sumoone]

My griff 500 (94) lives with a trickle charger plugged into the cig lighter and during the winter months the car is kept fully charged even when used infrequently

The cold winter months takes their toll on batteries and the frustration of non starting due to flat battery is something i dont want to experience
too often

if you have power to your garage my advise is to invest in a permanent solution....plug the car into the mains when not in use.

mark

[Superali]

Thanks Gents,

The Car already has a wire connection to the battery with the end clip at the passenger foot well. The trickle charger i got from Halfrauds didnt fit the clip so i'm taking it back today and bought the one from ebay. It'll take a couple of days to get here but i cant wait to get it, I feel helpless in the mean time when my Griff is clearly not well.

I do have mains power in the garage. i'll do exactly as you say Mark and put it on charge the full winter.

[Guillotine]

A flat battery will take around 3 days to rec-condition properly (an accumate will do this automatically for you - chaeck for the term "conditioner" in the descriptions) but it will "repair" the battery if possible, and you may find that you have now stuffed the battery by flattening it and then Hi-boosting it a couple of times.

good luck tho

andy

[Superali]

ITS ALIVE! ITSSS AAAALLLLIIIVVVEEEE!! Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I took back the boostcharger, the trickle charger from flee-bay done the trick. After a little work and patience (I left the trickle charge on for 4 nights) I started the car this morning with no labouring what so ever.

I was considering getting the special charge cables installed to jump start it more often, but decided to invest in the trickle charge for the long term benefits and preserving the battery.

It is a beautiful day in Glasgow. It was raining last night and on Friday so all the grit has been washed off the roads. It’s a lovely and sunny day today with dry roads and perfect driving conditions. I went for a nice easy long drive with my heart rate jacked and a BIG grin on my face! Excellent feeling to be back on the road.

I love my Griff!

[RFC1]

Good on ye matey, Have to say i am just outside Glasgow and am now kicking myself that i didnt find time to dig out my Griff today, roads out my way are just as you mentioned!!

Cheers S_M.