Time for a better battery I think
Discussion
I had an interesting experience on Sunday morning.
The wife and I were going home after a late night on the tiles and as it was raining I went of to get the Chim and drive it up to the venue door so she could stay dry.
As I was carefully reversing out of my parking spot I stalled the Chim. I have past experience of this and did what I normally do which is to open the throttle and turn the engine over on the starter motor until it fires up. However this time it did not.
Luckly a friend was parked alongside me and using the Leven JSC-1jump leads I always carry I was able to get a jump start.
What was interesting was that with the extra amps the engine turned over much faster and started in about 5 seconds.
I did notice that my previous battery started the Chim a little quicker than my current one. Both came from Halfords.
I think that for Christmas I'll be treating myself and the Chim to an Optima Red Top.
The wife and I were going home after a late night on the tiles and as it was raining I went of to get the Chim and drive it up to the venue door so she could stay dry.
As I was carefully reversing out of my parking spot I stalled the Chim. I have past experience of this and did what I normally do which is to open the throttle and turn the engine over on the starter motor until it fires up. However this time it did not.
Luckly a friend was parked alongside me and using the Leven JSC-1jump leads I always carry I was able to get a jump start.
What was interesting was that with the extra amps the engine turned over much faster and started in about 5 seconds.
I did notice that my previous battery started the Chim a little quicker than my current one. Both came from Halfords.
I think that for Christmas I'll be treating myself and the Chim to an Optima Red Top.
Hi, You could be right about the battery although I suspect if you had left the car for the time it took for your mate to sort out the jump leads the car would have started on it's own.
The TVR map is a little over generous with the juice when cold so if the you stall it before the engine starts getting a little warm it has a tendency to flood. If you wait a couple of minutes when you do suffer a flood it usually starts OK, well that's my experience anyway.
May save the cost of a new battery, just a thought.
Paul.
The TVR map is a little over generous with the juice when cold so if the you stall it before the engine starts getting a little warm it has a tendency to flood. If you wait a couple of minutes when you do suffer a flood it usually starts OK, well that's my experience anyway.
May save the cost of a new battery, just a thought.
Paul.
paulathome said:
Hi, You could be right about the battery although I suspect if you had left the car for the time it took for your mate to sort out the jump leads the car would have started on it's own.
The TVR map is a little over generous with the juice when cold so if the you stall it before the engine starts getting a little warm it has a tendency to flood. If you wait a couple of minutes when you do suffer a flood it usually starts OK, well that's my experience anyway.
May save the cost of a new battery, just a thought.
Paul.
I've got prior form with this car. The first time I flooded it even leaving it over night did not help. I ended up calling the AA and the patrol man showed me how to start it on full throttle. This has worked fine on the many occasions (dozen or so) times I've since flooded the engine.The TVR map is a little over generous with the juice when cold so if the you stall it before the engine starts getting a little warm it has a tendency to flood. If you wait a couple of minutes when you do suffer a flood it usually starts OK, well that's my experience anyway.
May save the cost of a new battery, just a thought.
Paul.
In a cold engine the fuel is not going to evaporate and unless it seeps past the piston rings I don't see how it's going to get out and drain from the engine. The full throttle thing seems to get enough air through the engine to blow the fuel out.
I now have a better battery.
I popped down to CPC Batteries in Twickenham (boy do they have a wide range of batteries) and bought an Optima Red Top RC S 4.2 (p/n 802 250 000 888 2) which has 815 CCAs replacing my old battery which has 500 CCAs.
The Red Top fits nicely into the Chim's battery box and it look less than half an hour to swap over the batteries. Tightening up the battery clamps is a little fiddly as the Red Top is not a high as the old battery. As ever the most time consuming bit is putting the battery box retaining bolts back in. Make sure you mark the position of the battery box before you remove it (tape works well) and have a short screwdriver to poke up and make minor adjustments/check the bolt hole is lined up.
I've done a couple of test starts and I'm very please with the difference. Even allowing for the placebo effect the Red Top turns the engine over much faster than the old battery ever did and the engine fires sooner.
I popped down to CPC Batteries in Twickenham (boy do they have a wide range of batteries) and bought an Optima Red Top RC S 4.2 (p/n 802 250 000 888 2) which has 815 CCAs replacing my old battery which has 500 CCAs.
The Red Top fits nicely into the Chim's battery box and it look less than half an hour to swap over the batteries. Tightening up the battery clamps is a little fiddly as the Red Top is not a high as the old battery. As ever the most time consuming bit is putting the battery box retaining bolts back in. Make sure you mark the position of the battery box before you remove it (tape works well) and have a short screwdriver to poke up and make minor adjustments/check the bolt hole is lined up.
I've done a couple of test starts and I'm very please with the difference. Even allowing for the placebo effect the Red Top turns the engine over much faster than the old battery ever did and the engine fires sooner.
hiltonig said:
Hmm ok bought a red top although that part number they didnt think the part number was correct
I used to sell Optimas, the 4.2 is the closest to the 072 original in size, even the smaller 3.7 Optima has around 30% more cranking performance that a standard 072.Which one did you buy ?
Hybrids said:
hiltonig said:
Hmm ok bought a red top although that part number they didnt think the part number was correct
I used to sell Optimas, the 4.2 is the closest to the 072 original in size, even the smaller 3.7 Optima has around 30% more cranking performance that a standard 072.Which one did you buy ?
After 4 years and 11 months of nearly daily use the Optima has died. Over the past few weeks it's been taking longer and longer for the Chim to start. The engine would turn over but it took a while for the ECU to power up (I think) and for the car to start.
This morning the engine turned over but the electronics were not live, no fuel pump and no spark. I put the Optima on charge for a few hours and could then start the car once.
I also double checked the 12V wiring, the alternator and it's output. All OK there.
I got the Optima from CPC Batteries and went back to get a replacement.
I have just installed an Exide EM1000 battery after a chat with a chap a CPC.
The Chim starts instantly again. So far so good!
This morning the engine turned over but the electronics were not live, no fuel pump and no spark. I put the Optima on charge for a few hours and could then start the car once.
I also double checked the 12V wiring, the alternator and it's output. All OK there.
I got the Optima from CPC Batteries and went back to get a replacement.
I have just installed an Exide EM1000 battery after a chat with a chap a CPC.
The Chim starts instantly again. So far so good!
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