Could this just be a bad battery or something else?

fattymuatty

We have an 01 2ltr diesel primera, the other day my husband went to go to work and the car wouldn't start, we figured lights had been left on or something and the battery went dead. He got a jump and it started fine. He drove to work no problems, no battery light was on in the car, but when he went to drive home it wouldn't start again. The next morning it started fine, he drove to work, then again it wouldn't start after work. It hasn't started with out a jump since.
The day before this started the car was a little bit sluggish starting but prior to that it had been starting perfect every time.

We are absolutely strapped for cash so really don't want to have bring it to a mechanic. Could this be as simple as needing a new battery(we bought the car about 6mnths ago and have no idea how old it is). Is there anyway we can check ourselves if it's just a battery needed? Or has anyone any other suggestions what it could be? Sorry if I sound a bit dim cars aren't my forte.

cabb8ge

Many motor factors will test battery for free
Sounds like maybe battery not ok so could be that simple.

fattymuatty

cabb8ge wrote: »

Many motor factors will test battery for free
Sounds like maybe battery not ok so could be that simple.

Hah, can't believe we didn't know that. That would be a very simple way to determine if it is the battery! Thanks for that.

listermint

Battery should be stamped with a date on it. Realistically speaking they have a life of between 6-8 years top end. Then they will degrade and start giving issues depending on where the vehicle is stored, how often its driven and how its maintained.


A good motor factors will test it for you. The guys in southside motor factors in bluebell i find to be very good.

biko

You can try swapping the battery if you have another lying around.
But cold temps and old batteries can cause all kinds of strange issues.

cabb8ge

biko wrote: »

You can try swapping the battery if you have another lying around.
...

You, me and OP know they don't have another lying around

fattymuatty

Will have a look for date stamp thanks.

Unfortunately we don't have another battery to try. Looks like we will have to get it to a motor factors and see if they will test it for us and cross our fingers that it's only that!

JohnBoy26

listermint wrote: »

Battery should be stamped with a date on it. Realistically speaking they have a life of between 6-8 years top end. Then they will degrade and start giving issues depending on where the vehicle is stored, how often its driven and how its maintained.


A good motor factors will test it for you. The guys in southside motor factors in bluebell i find to be very good.

What has vehicle maintenance got to do with a battery going bad?

The most common things that kill a battery are age, cold weather, lack of use.

monseiur

Hi,

You say you're strapped for cash so.....and assuming the battery is not yet ready for the recycle bin
As the car starts with a jump, the battery may just need to be charged. Step 1 : check the electrolyete levels and top up if required with de-iniosed water, do not use tap water. Costs €3 approx and is available from any motor factors or garage.
Borrrow a charger and slow charge the battery overnight, it's very important to get the polarity right, the red lead from the charger goes on to the + pole on the battery and the black on the - pole

Of course the altenator could be faulty, there could be a phanthom ''leak'' somewhere that's draining the battery etc. etc. It's a process of elemination really, just eleminate the battery first.

M.

sentient_6

May i ask what exactly goes into testing a battery? Is it just checking the voltage? I've a multimeter and i'm just wondering if there's more to than what i think. Last i checked a few months ago i was getting ~12.4V before starting, but is there anything else i could be looking for, car is getting hard to start due to whats probably an unrelated issue but still.

jimgoose

sentient_6 wrote: »

May i ask what exactly goes into testing a battery? Is it just checking the voltage? I've a multimeter and i'm just wondering if there's more to than what i think. Last i checked a few months ago i was getting ~12.4V before starting, but is there anything else i could be looking for, car is getting hard to start.

Check the charging voltage, i.e. the voltage across the battery terminals with the engine running. It should be around 14.3V. An automotive battery is six 2.1v Voltaic cells connected in series. There is a standard voltage for these chemical cells, and when that voltage is down even what might appear to be slightly, the cell is partially charged. When it's very down the cell is highly likely to be Donald Ducked.

These batteries are desgined to be slightly discharged and topped up again constantly throughout their useful lives, delivering occasional large but brief bursts of power for starting - that latter is known as the cold-cranking amps.

A deep-cycle battery, such as those used in powered wheelchairs et al, is designed to cope with being more deeply discharged and recharged. You can use these in vehicles, but they will need to be oversized to provide sufficient CCA for coldstarting.

listermint

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

What has vehicle maintenance got to do with a battery going bad?

The most common things that kill a battery are age, cold weather, lack of use.

John boy , im sure you are just responding for something to say. Theres always one.


How you maintain your vehicle has everything to do with how individual items in the car run. Installing car kits / aftermarket light kits / Engine bay degredation/ Letting the points dry out / generally treating the car like crap.

Anyway i digress. Your point is mute. I offered good advice yours was a swipe for the sake of a swipe. Back to bed

JohnBoy26

listermint wrote: »

John boy , im sure you are just responding for something to say. Theres always one.


How you maintain your vehicle has everything to do with how individual items in the car run. Installing car kits / aftermarket light kits / Engine bay degredation/ Letting the points dry out / generally treating the car like crap.

Anyway i digress. Your point is mute. I offered good advice yours was a swipe for the sake of a swipe. Back to bed

I wasn't having a swipe at you.

I responded because I genuinely don't see how a vehicle maintenance or lack of can cause a battery to go bad. Im not talking about how a vehicle runs.

I still can't see it. What you list above won't cause a battery to go bad. Obviously you can maintain some batteries to a degree but other aspects of maintenance will have little to no bearing on a batteries condition.

listermint

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I wasn't having a swipe at you.

I responded because I genuinely don't see how a vehicle maintenance or lack of can cause a battery to go bad. Im not talking about how a vehicle runs.

I still can't see it. What you list above won't cause a battery to go bad. Obviously you can maintain some batteries to a degree but other aspects of maintenance will have little to no bearing on a batteries condition.

read what i wrote, all those items can impact the batterys life.

No one said anything about actually servicing the battery itself.

sawdoubters

look in battery for water,buy distilled water and fill it up,take off battery cables,use sand paper clean off terminals,if you have a alarm a low battery will stop it starting

turn off door light which turns on when you open door,pull out cigarette lighter as well

jimgoose

sawdoubters wrote: »

look in battery for water,buy distilled water and fill it up...

...unless it's an AGM or gel battery.

fattymuatty

My husband just borrowed a voltage reader thing from a neighbour, the car has been sat outside for 2days without being touched. The reader is saying the voltage of the battery is 16.5v. That's not right at all is it? Google tells us car batteries are supposed to be about 12v?

JohnBoy26

fattymuatty wrote: »

My husband just borrowed a voltage reader thing from a neighbour, the car has been sat outside for 2days without being touched. The reader is saying the voltage of the battery is 16.5v. That's not right at all is it? Google tells us car batteries are supposed to be about 12v?

No it doesn't sound right.

did he test it with the car running or was the car ran at all before he tested it?

Stella Virgo

fattymuatty wrote: »

My husband just borrowed a voltage reader thing from a neighbour, the car has been sat outside for 2days without being touched. The reader is saying the voltage of the battery is 16.5v. That's not right at all is it? Google tells us car batteries are supposed to be about 12v?

overcharging big time....alternator needs replacing/repair.dont replace with new battery until problem sorted as it will **** up new battery as well!

fattymuatty

No the car wasn't running and hasn't been for a few days.

fattymuatty

Stella Virgo wrote: »

overcharging big time....alternator needs replacing/repair.dont replace with new battery until problem sorted as it will **** up new battery as well!

Crap, that's not good. Any idea what type of prices we are looking at to get it fixed?

JohnBoy26

fattymuatty wrote: »

Crap, that's not good. Any idea what type of prices we are looking at to get it fixed?

It's not overcharging, a battery won't store 16.5 volts. Are you sure you have the correct tester?

fattymuatty

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

It's not overcharging, a battery won't store 16.5 volts. Are you sure you have the correct tester?

He used the multimeter on the 20v dc setting and got a reading of 16.49v off the car battery. He used it on a 9v battery to see if it is working right and it showed a reading of 9.15v so the multimeter itself seems to be working fine

jimgoose

fattymuatty wrote: »

He used the multimeter on the 20v dc setting and got a reading of 16.49v off the car battery. He used it on a 9v battery to see if it is working right and it showed a reading of 9.15v so the multimeter itself seems to be working fine

Disconnect the battery and re-check the voltage.

monseiur

Perhaps you should check the output of the alternator while you're at it .....assuming of course that you can start the car ! You will need a second person to rev up the engine etc.

M.

cjt156

The battery may well be caput, but if it's a charging issue a new battery will go the same way pretty quickly.

fattymuatty wrote: »

He used the multimeter on the 20v dc setting and got a reading of 16.49v off the car battery.

As said above, a 12V battery won't hold a 16V charge. He must have tested it with the engine running. A charging voltage this high looks like the alternator's voltage regulator is shagged. It is possible to change this independently on some models. 30 euro or so for a regulator, vs hundreds for an alternator.
Check it again with engine running, and with engine off, and with negative terminal disconnected.

cabb8ge

testing car battery with multimeter with engine not running to see if 12V across poles is waste of time.

Motor factors will load test battery.

fattymuatty

Thanks for the replies, I will tell him this evening when he gets in from work. It definitely wasn't running yesterday though when he checked it and hadn't been for a few days. He has been bussing it to work rather than jumping the car every time.

corglass

listermint wrote: »

Your point is mute

Should be moot.
Ironically this is also a moot point