Battery for a 1ltr starlet?

MidnightQueen

Hey i would appreciate the honesty here. I have problems with my starlet at the moment and possibly the main problem is my battery. I have it brand new apparently since August 2009 and it seems weak. Its a standard 1ltr battery not sure of the brand.

My questions are:
Can i put a 1.3ltr battery into it?
What brands do you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

TouchingVirus

You can put whatever battery you want into it as long as it's 12V and fits the battery holder, though obviously the bigger ones might be overkill.

What makes you think it's the battery - where is your difficulty? The battery is only responsible for turning your engine to start the car and for using stuff (e.g. lights, radio, A/C) when the engine isn't running.

If the battery is newish (August 2009) then there may be a problem with the alternator which is supposed to recharge the battery as you drive.

Just because your battery was purchased in 2009 doesn't mean it was "new" by the way - batteries have manufacturing dates on them so when purchasing it's advisable to get one with a date closest to the date you're purchasing it on. Batteries do expire after time when their chemical reaction doesn't produce as much electricity as it used to

MidnightQueen

Thanks for your reply and the information.

I know the cold weather effects my car since shes old (year 92). It started fine today but left it running to heat it up for 20 minutes with the choke out.
I drove it down the road and it died after 200 yards. It was coughing a bit and i had plenty petrol in it. It could be my altenator but ive had a few mixed opinions on it. It does seem like the battery does not charge properly while its running as my lights dim when i leave off the throttle.
It needs a new set of plugs and leads aswell but wondered if they were not the problem then my battery or altenator is.

_Conrad_

KittyKat wrote: »

Hey i would appreciate the honesty here. I have problems with my starlet at the moment and possibly the main problem is my battery. I have it brand new apparently since August 2009 and it seems weak. Its a standard 1ltr battery not sure of the brand.

My questions are:
Can i put a 1.3ltr battery into it?
What brands do you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

are you sure it's the battery and not the starter or something? but if you do feel they battery's weak there should be a more powerful one available that will fit in it's place. The battery for a 1.3 starrlet may not be all that much different, but i'd imagine the one witht he right spec for the rare 1.5 diesel starlets would probably have a considerably higher rating for example. (those cars are rare but that doesnt mean the battery is, they come ins standard shapes and ratings, you could just check which one diesel starlets got as it should be the right size to still fit in your one)

TouchingVirus

If the lights are dimming when you ease off the accelerator then there's a problem with your alternator - the power draw on it is too much for what it's giving out. This would mean that the battery isn't getting a proper charge too unless you're taking it for lengthy drives where the lowered voltage has plenty of time to recharge the battery. The alternator could need new brushes (a rebuild) or to be replaced.

It's been a while since I heard about a car with a manual choke, but when the car warms up are you sure you turned it off? Too much choke after a car's warmed up will soot your plugs, cause the engine to splutter/cough and result in some nice black smoke Dirty plugs result in misfires and the engine will lose power - see about getting those sorted.

If you know somebody with a multimeter they could check the voltage levels of the battery. A big sign of a weak battery is the dashboard illuminations dimming and the engines "turnover" sound (the sound it makes when you turn the key before it starts) being noticeably slow. If you have a friend with a car and some jump leads you could also try jumpstart your car from theirs. If your engine turns over faster with the jump leads hooked up than with your own battery on it's own it is another sign of a dying/weak battery.

I'm sure there'll be more people on here to either rubbish my limited knowledge and learn the two of us or offer you some other advice

KittyKat

KittyKat wrote: »

Thanks for your reply and the information.

I know the cold weather effects my car since shes old (year 92). It started fine today but left it running to heat it up for 20 minutes with the choke out.
I drove it down the road and it died after 200 yards. It was coughing a bit and i had plenty petrol in it.

If it started then and you can start it now it's not the battery or starter
If the red battery light that goes on for a second or so when you start the car is not on continuously it is highly unlikely to be the alternator although lights getting brighter as you rev the engine is indicative of the alternator.

I would reckon it cut out as it was flooded due to leaving it idling for 20 mins with the choke out, once it starts, at idle there is little need for the choke, fair enough if you are driving it but not at idle.

Does the car start now ?

_Conrad_

ah, was writing a reply as you sent your second post in... no need for my question then. I would say 20 minutes is a logn time to leave the choke on for about 5 shoudl do it even when really cold, then leave it idle normally, unless of course after 5 min it wont idle when you go try to go back to normal.

As was already said, cutting out was liekly due to it flooding from excess choke time. But yeah, your post answere what i needed to know, if the lights dim when you're not accelerating i would imagine there's a charging ussue.

Plugs and leads wont affect the lights, but would lead to poor running if in poor condition.

MidnightQueen

TouchingVirus wrote: »

It's been a while since I heard about a car with a manual choke, but when the car warms up are you sure you turned it off?

I dont really know much about chokes but i usually leave it running with the choke out for more than five minutes. Thank you very much for the information! It sounds like it could be my altenator alright. I'll get my battery tested tomorrow aswell and post up the results. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks to everyone else too!

Esel

I would advise changing your choke procedure as advised above first. See if that makes a difference before you go down the road of replacing possibly perfectly servicable components!

itarumaa

KittyKat wrote: »

Thanks for your reply and the information.

I know the cold weather effects my car since shes old (year 92). It started fine today but left it running to heat it up for 20 minutes with the choke out.
I drove it down the road and it died after 200 yards. It was coughing a bit and i had plenty petrol in it. It could be my altenator but ive had a few mixed opinions on it. It does seem like the battery does not charge properly while its running as my lights dim when i leave off the throttle.
It needs a new set of plugs and leads aswell but wondered if they were not the problem then my battery or altenator is.

I think you just overflooded the engine with petrol. Did you had a smell of petrol as well, when the car died? If you did, you overflooded the engine then. Just start the car without choke and full throttle. Then it will start, clean up the engine with excess fuel and car goes again. I think also if your light dims and then activate again when you press the trottle then car is just fine, it is just old carburetor car, my old Peugeot 205 did the same.

MidnightQueen

itarumaa wrote: »

I think you just overflooded the engine with petrol. Did you had a smell of petrol as well, when the car died?

No, no smell of petrol.

I got my car sorted. Got the battery tested and it turned out that a few cells in my battery were leaking, so i got a new one. Also the spark plugs needed changing. Its running fine again. Thanks for the help everyone!