cold weather and battery

ingen

does cold weather affect the reliability of a car/jeep battery?

came out this morning and the jeep would not start, the lights and radio worked but seemed a little dim, when i tried to start up it just made a clicking sound, so i turned it off, and connected a battery charger and left it for 3 hours, then came back and it started fine.

is this the sign of a dying battery?

MarkoC

Yes, the battery on its way out.

jimmyw

It would appear so.Batteries can work ok if the temp is not low, but come harsh weather like we have now will sort any weakness.We just had two of them go belly up.One in a car and another in a tractor and they were working ok before.

A good battery will be fine, if you have battery issues in cold weather you need a new one.

Bumpstop

It's not an easy one to ansewer, The cold weather can bring the battery fluids close to freezing, which can effect battery performance. In northern countries batteries are wrapped in insulation blankets.

Another cause is the fact during cold weather the engine is harder to turn over.

The engine oil becomes very thick which affects cranking loads, so a battery (usually neglected and taken for granted) near the end of its life may be fine normally, but on a cold start will fail.

The damp climate here does not help, causing terminal corrosion, and aiding idle discharge.

When was the last time you ( or me or anyone) cleaned and greased your battery connections.

Another reason could be a parasitic discharge, If you use yor car everyday and it's fine, but if left lying for a few days the battery is dead, well one reason may be a current draw that stays on whilst the car is switched off.

I has this problem myself on secondhand car, if I had brought it to a garage they would have sold me a new battery.

In actual fact it was an aftermarket phone kit, fitted to the car wired into the permanent supply.

Billy7878

plug it into the mains or use a aerofoil on the roof, garner enough wind and off ye go!

ingen

Bumpstop wrote: »

It's not an easy one to ansewer, The cold weather can bring the battery fluids close to freezing, which can effect battery performance. In northern countries batteries are wrapped in insulation blankets.

Another cause is the fact during cold weather the engine is harder to turn over.

The engine oil becomes very thick which affects cranking loads, so a battery (usually neglected and taken for granted) near the end of its life may be fine normally, but on a cold start will fail.

The damp climate here does not help, causing terminal corrosion, and aiding idle discharge.

When was the last time you ( or me or anyone) cleaned and greased your battery connections.

Another reason could be a parasitic discharge, If you use yor car everyday and it's fine, but if left lying for a few days the battery is dead, well one reason may be a current draw that stays on whilst the car is switched off.

I has this problem myself on secondhand car, if I had brought it to a garage they would have sold me a new battery.

In actual fact it was an aftermarket phone kit, fitted to the car wired into the permanent supply.

my yoke is only 3 mths old at this stage. its under warranty , lately have being doing lots of short spins, i wonder if that has anything to do with it.

jimmyw

Short spins are not good for them or indeed for other aspects of cars for that matter.

Bumpstop

3 months is pretty early for a battery to fail (though it can happen) no matter how much abused. It might be worth checking the terminals for corrosion. Was the car layed up for a few days.

Also the alternator is part of this plot, as it charges the battery, even a loose belt can cause problems here.

Battery terminal corrosion can work in an odd way. The lights and radio may work fine as these draw small current, however when you go to crank the car the massive load causes the corrosion to break down, and the connection fails.

Battery terminals can look fine from the outside but be bad when seperated.

Bumpstop

Bumpstop wrote: »

I has this problem myself on secondhand car, if I had brought it to a garage they would have sold me a new battery.

In actual fact it was an aftermarket phone kit, fitted to the car wired into the permanent supply.

Let's not tar all garages with the numpty brush, a decent garage would load test the battery or do some playing with a multi meter

Bumpstop

RoverJames wrote: »

Let's not tar all garages with the numpty brush, a decent garage would load test the battery or do some playing with a multi meter

Well I guess a good garage would have sold me an alternator first, much more expensive sounding, and then a battery, but okay point taken.

vintac34

excellent reply from Bumpspot ..spot on!!

Del2005

ingen wrote: »

the lights and radio worked but seemed a little dim,

ingen wrote: »

ately have being doing lots of short spins,

These aren't helping the battery. I'm assuming because it's a jeep it diesel and on all the short runs you've had lights, heating blower, rear demist on. When you start a diesel you should keep it running for over 10 min to recharge what's being used to start it, if you're doing short runs with all the above on, the alternator won't be able to recharge the battery and multiple short runs will play hell with any battery in this weather.

Can you leave it on a trickle charge overnight if you are doing short runs? If not start the car with everything switched off, the lights and radio may not draw much power put in the cold they don't help, then take a slightly longer journey home.