Car Battery?

Ludo

I went away for five days recently and when I got back the battery in my 5 year old car was dead as a dodo. There were no lights or anything on besides the alarm. After jump-starting it I drove around on the motorway for 40 mins to recharge it.
Left it for ten hours parked with nothing on again so I could bring it back to the garage the following morning and it was dead again!
Would anyone have any idea what is up here? Is it just the battery? Could there be some dodgey electrics? Could it be the alternator (someone mentioned that to me)?
Garage are trying to say it isnt their problem even though it is under guarantee but when the sold it to me the radio required a code to turn it on so I suspect the battery had also died before they gave it to me.

Thanks.

maidhc

Probably the battery. They die like that sometimes, how many miles does the car have up?

Ludo

Five years old but only 41K up.

Hope it's just the battery but just checking to get some info before going to the garage as I am new to this whole car lark

Wishbone Ash

The garage appears to be very defensive about something as simple as a battery. All they would have to do is whip one out of another car. I'd be a bit suspicious?

crosstownk

The battery will need to be charged for a lot longer than 40mins. If it was completely flat then it may need an overnight charge. I wouldn't be concerned about the alternator - it did charge the battery to some extent after 40mins. As maidhc says, batterys do that sometime - especially after being left lying for a few days. The garage are correct - it is not a warranty item, unfortunately - but surely they will charge the battery for you for a small fee? I used to charge a fiver for an overnight charge when I worked in a main dealer.

EDIT : If the battery is knackered then it should be covered by the warranty.

youthacademy

could be the altenator alright, if its the bat they should do a quick, five minute test, to see does it charge properly. like wishbone says, sounds a bit suspicious, easy job to fix. its not a renault is it, i recently had a six year old renault with the same problem....

Gurgle

Ludo wrote:

Garage are trying to say it isnt their problem even though it is under guarantee but when the sold it to me the radio required a code to turn it on so I suspect the battery had also died before they gave it to me.

OK, points to note:
A guarantee only covers the engine and gearbox. Yes, they are bastards but I know of nobody who has had any luck getting their guarantee to apply to anything else. I even know of a couple of cases where the garage refused to fix a blown head-gasket under guarantee, or tried to negotiate a 'reduced price' to make such a repair.

The battery may not be the problem, it may be that the car has an electrical fault that is running down the battery when it shouldn't be. A new battery may appear to fix the problem for as much as a few months and then it may re-appear.

One test is to remove the battery and measure the resistance between the + and - leads. It should be in the order of MOhms, or at least a few dozen kOhms.

40 minutes driving is not going to fully charge a battery. You need to take the battery out and fully charge it, then see how long before the problem re-occurs.

tbh I doubt if the alternator is the problem.
A garage will most likely put in a new alternator and battery, charging you in the region of €200 and as above it will probably run OK for a couple of months, then you're back to square one.

Its very rare to find a mechanic who knows his ar-se from his elbow when it comes to electrics. (and don't get me started on mechanics and electronics)

Ludo

crosstownk wrote:

The battery will need to be charged for a lot longer than 40mins. If it was completely flat then it may need an overnight charge. I wouldn't be concerned about the alternator - it did charge the battery to some extent after 40mins. As maidhc says, batterys do that sometime - especially after being left lying for a few days. The garage are correct - it is not a warranty item, unfortunately - but surely they will charge the battery for you for a small fee? I used to charge a fiver for an overnight charge when I worked in a main dealer.

EDIT : If the battery is knackered then it should be covered by the warranty.

I thought 40 mins would be enough to make it keep enough charge overnight to allow it to start the following morning. Guess not though if the battery is fecked.

Fiver for an overnight charge..thats very reasonable so it is probably about 50 euro nowadays

It's a Peugeot.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll try getting it to them tomorrow. I don't mind paying a small fee if required but was just a bit pissed that they appear to have sold the car with a dodgey battery.

youthacademy

gurgle, is that resistance test for the + and - terminals on the car or the battery??

crosstownk

Ludo wrote:

I thought 40 mins would be enough to make it keep enough charge overnight to allow it to start the following morning. Guess not though if the battery is fecked.

Fiver for an overnight charge..thats very reasonable so it is probably about 50 euro nowadays

It's a Peugeot.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll try getting it to them tomorrow. I don't mind paying a small fee if required but was just a bit pissed that they appear to have sold the car with a dodgey battery.

40 mins won't do much - a starter motor can draw in excess of 150amps to start depending on engine size and temperature - if the car is diesel then you've got an extra 50 amps with glow plugs on.

Best thing to do is get it charged overnight and everything should be OK. You can buy a battery charger fairly cheap in a motor factors - always handy to have...............

crosstownk

youthacademy wrote:

gurgle, is that resistance test for the + and - terminals on the car or the battery??

Car - if resistance is high then all circuits are 'off' - thats the basic idea anyway.

Gurgle

youthacademy wrote:

gurgle, is that resistance test for the + and - terminals on the car or the battery??

The car.
Its to check what kind of current drain is on the battery when the car is sitting there with doors locked & ignition off.

If all thats running is electronics - alarm, radio security etc then the current should be in the order of mA.

RiderOnTheStorm

I would have thought 40 min drive would have given it a good charge (not full, but enough to get it started a 2nd time).... of course, how it was driven for 40 mins could have influence.... in 3rd gear @ 40mph for 40 mins would give good charge!

Maybe some cells in the batt are gone, and its not holding the charge. If garage changed the batt (sounds likely, as you say the radio code had to be re-entered) then you have no idea what batt they gave you. It is very unlikely that it is your alternator, as a petrol car will not go if it is gone. I had one car die on me as i was driving along... it was the alternator. A diesel I owned (years later) had the alternator go, and it wasnt until the radio and wipers started to act up on the journey that I thought something was wrong. The batt was fine, it just wasnt getting any juice from the engine, so it quickly went flat. Diesels are great! once they start, they stay going! (correct me if I am wrong here, folks)

Simple solution, buy a batt (what do they go for now? €20 - €30??) and change it yourself, its very easy. If it runs down again in a few months, you know you have a problem and you can tell the mech so as to narrow down the search when he looks at it.

Wishbone Ash

RiderOnTheStorm wrote:

I would have thought 40 min drive would have given it a good charge (not full, but enough to get it started a 2nd time).... of course, how it was driven for 40 mins could have influence.... in 3rd gear @ 40mph for 40 mins would give good charge!

Maybe some cells in the batt are gone, and its not holding the charge. If garage changed the batt (sounds likely, as you say the radio code had to be re-entered) then you have no idea what batt they gave you. It is very unlikely that it is your alternator, as a petrol car will not go if it is gone. I had one car die on me as i was driving along... it was the alternator. A diesel I owned (years later) had the alternator go, and it wasnt until the radio and wipers started to act up on the journey that I thought something was wrong. The batt was fine, it just wasnt getting any juice from the engine, so it quickly went flat. Diesels are great! once they start, they stay going! (correct me if I am wrong here, folks)

Simple solution, buy a batt (what do they go for now? €20 - €30??) and change it yourself, its very easy. If it runs down again in a few months, you know you have a problem and you can tell the mech so as to narrow down the search when he looks at it.

A new battery is a lot more expensive than that but he could get a good one from a new crashed car in a breakers yard.

Ludo

RiderOnTheStorm wrote:

I would have thought 40 min drive would have given it a good charge (not full, but enough to get it started a 2nd time).... of course, how it was driven for 40 mins could have influence.... in 3rd gear @ 40mph for 40 mins would give good charge!

Twas driven for 30 mins at a constant 70MPH on motorway and for about 10 mins at around 40MPH getting to and from mway.

Garage are being much more co-operative now though after talking to them again so they will sort it for me for nothing.

Kimbot

It could also be a dead cell in the battery, that would result in the battery not holding a charge!!
Battery of a decent quality €50 odd!! Better off getting a new battery every 2-3 years!!

RiderOnTheStorm

..price has gone up since I last bought one! But whats new, eh? lol