Dead car

Morthoseth · 23 Apr 2007 at 18:47

Quite shocking to me here, since i own a car.. but there is water in the battery? Oo

Corasik · 23 Apr 2007 at 18:58

Yes, the battery is stuffed with lead plates and lead oxide plates, and then filled with sulphuric acid. As the battery drains the sulphates bond to the lead, and the acid becomes water (more or less).

No it doesnt need 'time' to bend into acid. That will happen as the battery is recharged. The water levels drop as hydrogen is released during the charge cycle (you can see often hear a charging battery spitting and bubbling).

Just wondering, when you say nothing... do any of the electrical systems work when the car is 'dead' like the headlights etc.

And when its dead, does it make any sounds when you try to start, or just nothing at all?

anksta · 23 Apr 2007 at 22:24

Corasik said:
Just wondering, when you say nothing... do any of the electrical systems work when the car is 'dead' like the headlights etc.

And when its dead, does it make any sounds when you try to start, or just nothing at all?

All the electrics work, the radio hasnt for about a year but the lights, wipers, fans etc. all work fine.

When I turn the ignition theres a click and a weird noise that sounds like a laser from a cd player realigning and thats it, dead.

Lopéz · 23 Apr 2007 at 22:27

Sounds like the battery has juice but not quite enough crank the starter. Do you have a multimeter?

anksta · 24 Apr 2007 at 10:52

Lopéz said:
Sounds like the battery has juice but not quite enough crank the starter. Do you have a multimeter?

no but the guy from greenflag did and he confirmed that it was chargin when he jumped it, it had like an hour to charge but it still sounded dead.

Gonna give it another go this morning I think.

task · 24 Apr 2007 at 11:07

Could also be that the solonoid isn't throwing the starter in correctly, hence the click and the whir as the solonoid attempts to operate and the starter spins.

Dogbreath · 24 Apr 2007 at 11:23

anksta said:
So I sat in it for aboiut half an hour, turned it off, tried turnin it back on, nothin.

Define "nothing". Do you get any lights on the dash when you switch igntion on? Do you get a click when you turn key to start position? Do the lights on the dash dim when you do this (if they are on in the first place)?

The fact that it didn't start at first, yet started a few tries later suggests it's not the battery but a connection problem.

Tesla · 24 Apr 2007 at 11:38

The click sound always reminds me of a tazer thingy the american cops use.

Anyway, it's because the starter solenoid isn't getting enough electricity.

With the engine running was the battery light on?

anksta · 24 Apr 2007 at 12:37

As I said before, the lights work as do the rest of the electrics, cant tell if they dim because I've only tried it in daylight.

If its a connection problem, is it gonna be a case of a wire I can just plug in or somethin? Or somethin that noones gonna find unless they stumbled on it?

Dogbreath · 24 Apr 2007 at 13:15

anksta said:
As I said before, the lights work as do the rest of the electrics, cant tell if they dim because I've only tried it in daylight.

If its a connection problem, is it gonna be a case of a wire I can just plug in or somethin? Or somethin that noones gonna find unless they stumbled on it?

Sounds to me more like a connection problem or a duff starter motor. It's unlikely that any wires need plugging in, the starter motor cables carry a LOT of current (several hundred amps), and use ring terminations that are bolted onto the solenoid. If any of these connections are loose or corroded it could cause the problem you are seeing.

anksta · 24 Apr 2007 at 17:37

Dogbreath said:
Sounds to me more like a connection problem or a duff starter motor. It's unlikely that any wires need plugging in, the starter motor cables carry a LOT of current (several hundred amps), and use ring terminations that are bolted onto the solenoid. If any of these connections are loose or corroded it could cause the problem you are seeing.

are any of these problems your suggesting stuff that would take someone who knew what they were doin 5 minutes to fix or is it a take it to bits and test it bit by bit kind of thing?

Also I was thinkin, the guy that came from green flag jumped it with somethin, dont think it was a battery although I didnt see it properly, I might just get one of them so I can use it to jump it a couple of times while I can get it to a garage.