Silwrx Posted May 14, 2008 Report Posted May 14, 2008 (edited) Hi All, Having problems starting my rolla - looks like a battery issue. The dash lights turn on and when I go to start it, nothing happens and the dash lights turn off. The car hasnt been driven for a while and was told that I needed a new battery by my mate who had the car. I used my multi-meter and it showed 12.3 volts - this reading may be right however can the battery still be stuffed?? Any help would be appreciated. Regards, Leon Edited May 15, 2008 by Silwrx Quote
WinKE55 Posted May 14, 2008 Report Posted May 14, 2008 (edited) Hi All, Having problems starting my rolla - looks like a battery issue. The dash lights turn on and when I go to start it, nothing happens and the dash lights turn off. The car hasnt been driven for a while and was told that I needed a new battery by my mate who had the car. I used my multimetre and it showed 12.3 volts - this reading may be right however can the battery still be stuffed?? Any help would be appreciated. Regards, Leon To test batteries you can alos use a hydrometer and check each cell in the battery to make sure if any battery cell has died on you. Why not get a good battery from your mate and test it in your car. Maybe also a starter motor problem? Not sure about this one though. Check all of your battery leads, make sure nothing is broken,stripped or the positive cable is touching anything on the car. Only need to worry about that last bit of the cable has the leads coming out of it touching the car. May also be the alternator not charging right, but 12.3v is okay battery. *EDIT* Battery voltage should be in between 12.0 and 13.0 Volts with engine not running. Crank the engine and watch the Voltage, it shouldn't drop below approximately 9 Volts Then check the voltage with the engine running to see if the alternator is charging. It should be around 13.5 and 14.5 Volts Edited May 14, 2008 by WinKE55 Quote
Silwrx Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Posted May 14, 2008 (edited) The funny thing about it is - I got the car last week. Got the car on Sat 3rd and started it for 5 mins on the following days: 4th Sunday 6th Tuesday 8th Thursday and 11th Sunday Morning Went to the start the car on the 12th Monday Evening - didnt start!! soo weird! When starting the car previously it wasn't a clean start - there was like a second before the car would actually kick over, seemed to me like there wasnt enough power to start it. Edited May 14, 2008 by Silwrx Quote
Medicine_Man Posted May 14, 2008 Report Posted May 14, 2008 Could have a battery drain, Battery could just be old, Could be many things. You will get a voltage drop when you go to crank the car, Hence the dash lights going out. (Battery only has a surface charge that gets wiped out when you draw excess current to try crank the motor over). Charge the battery, Get the car running and then see if the car is charging to battery by using a multimeter. If you can get a hydrometer check the acidity of the battery is consistant across all cells.. Quote
Silwrx Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Posted May 14, 2008 Thanks guys - much appreciated. Battery is charging at the moment. Cheers, Leon Quote
WinKE55 Posted May 14, 2008 Report Posted May 14, 2008 Don't spark anything above the battery either. Or be around the battery while it charges. And probably better to charge the battery on a table, though I heard that from a wise tail. While the battery charges it lets off a fair bit of hydrogen gases, so becareful when putting the battery back into your car not to ignite it and becareful around charging the battery. You don't want the battery to explode and have battery acid in your eyes. Quote
Silwrx Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Posted May 14, 2008 Thanks for the tip Winky - according to the Battery Charger it says its full charged. Only took 3 hrs - my friend who had a similar issue said it took him 14 hours for his battery to be fully charged. Forgot to mention - we tried to jump start it and that didnt work either. Quote
WinKE55 Posted May 14, 2008 Report Posted May 14, 2008 Battery charging can be set on quick charge, medium or slow I think. Only some battery charges have these kind of options. You should still try and do a hydrometer test for each cell to see if you have any dead cells or not in the battery. If worse comes to worse, borrow a mates battery and see if it works in your car. If it doesn't then your problem is elsewhere. Quote
Silwrx Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Posted May 14, 2008 No settings on this charger - going to have try another battery if this doesnt work. Such a waste of time! Once again thanks for the info. Quote
Medicine_Man Posted May 14, 2008 Report Posted May 14, 2008 You can charge it in the car, Just take the caps off the cells to let it vent. Just don't go connecting the charger after you turn it on at the power point. Connect the terminals first then power the charger up. Reverse the process for removing the charger, Turn it off at the power point then remove the terminals. I can also suggest that you blow across the top of the battery before you remove the charger terminals to blow any gases away. Quote
Silwrx Posted May 15, 2008 Author Report Posted May 15, 2008 (edited) Checked the battery with a mutli-meter again - volts now read 14.9V. Edited May 15, 2008 by Silwrx Quote
Medicine_Man Posted May 15, 2008 Report Posted May 15, 2008 Well it is charging the battery then, So if you keep having dramas either there is a battery drain or the battery is bad.. Quote
Silwrx Posted May 17, 2008 Author Report Posted May 17, 2008 Car started first shot!! Thanks guys for all your help. Quote
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