Im stuck :( Car wont start

[BlackBeast]

What happens when you let your girlfriend/partner drive your volvo for the first time, they leave the car with the sidelights on for over 6hrs and then blame us for the car not starting :slap:

All other electricals work, all interior lights, radio, leccy seat, door lights and dash lights/guages.

I have to admit though, i also thought that if you left the sidelights on on the dash the lights dont actually work without the key in the ignition or the car running.

Bugger!

[Andrew]

There not actually side lights but "parking lights" if you read the manual - your always supposed to keep it on full unless parking overnight... on full your lights always work with your ignition. Hence the screw for "day running lights"...

Turn everything off and wait for 30 minutes. If it's a decent battery and not totally killed it should recover to a state where you can start the car.

If not and it's a manual push it, stick it in first and jump start it. If auto - your going to have to get your jump cables out.

Ac.

[Al115]

Andrew means "stick it in first and bump start it" not "jump start it", which is unfortunate because I don't think you're supposed to bump-start cars with catalytic convertors due to the unburnt fuel that gets pushed out the exhaust.

Jump-starting is the way to go. But be careful, if the battery's completely dead it won't work. I set fire to a Renault Twingo that way (no great loss, eh :slap: )

[BlackBeast]

Just tried to start it now and i got a turn out of it, so thats good news, i will be jump starting it, jump cables are on their way to me now so hopefully with any luck if it gets started and i take it for a good run the battery will be ok and i wont need to replace it.

[Al115]

Good Luck :)

[LeeT5]

What happens when you let your girlfriend/partner drive your volvo for the first time, they leave the car with the sidelights on for over 6hrs and then blame us for the car not starting :slap:

All other electricals work, all interior lights, radio, leccy seat, door lights and dash lights/guages.

I have to admit though, i also thought that if you left the sidelights on on the dash the lights dont actually work without the key in the ignition or the car running.

Bugger!

:slap: Hate to say it m8 but you should be able to leave your parking lights on for alot longer than 6 hours without dischargeing the battery so much so that you cant start it!! i have done b4 for about 12 hrs and the car cranked like normal. You will never be able to tell if your battery will fully recover unless you use an amp clamp once it has been JUMP started!!
DO NOT bump start as like Alastair said you will 'shag yer cat'.
With an amp clamp you should see about 30-50amps Draw on the negative lead to the battery. Anything less means it has a lot of resistance inside and will never fully recover. The best thing is to bench charge the battery for 48hrs at a low ampere, say 4 amps!!

If you are member of AA you can phone and have a patrol properly test it, we carry proper diagnostics to test batterys now and can advise you.

I have just put my 075 battery on bench charge and put on my spare battery for the winter....its got a massive 620cca (cold cranking amps) good for winter use. My 075 has 510cca adequate but i use in the summer when less is required from battery.

Hope this helps, ps dont forget to check your charge rate. Should be at least 13.5v to 14.5v at the battery!! just incase your alternator is ££££ed.

[Andrew]

Chap - which make of battery would you recommend for winter?

gimme some linkys.

Ac.

[BlackBeast]

All done, it needed about 2seconds on the leads, starts like normal now.

Will check the amperage soon, ive just had a battery charger given to me so i will put it on tomorrow morning on its lowest setting.

[LeeT5]

Chap - which make of battery would you recommend for winter?

gimme some linkys.

Ac.

Cant give you a link but do u have either a Unipart or Partco branch near you?
If so pop in and ask for a GBA3100 battery. It just fits perfectly in the 850 tray with no mods and has a whopping 620 (EN) or CCA. :remybussi That will do just nicely thankyou. :B_steerin

If no luck then Halfrauds use roughly the same coding and will be able to sell you a 100 size battery - Calcium type. Cost approx £80.

If still not sure PM me and i will gladly point u in right direction.

[LeeT5]

BTW you need to be checking the amp draw when you have boosted the car and just got it started. A fully charged battery will show approx 6 amps all the time due to ECU's and electrics running on vehicle all the time it is running. However if a car has to be boosted and it only shows 6 amps then this means the battery is ££££ed and is not taking a charge. Hope this helps :)

[Andrew]

Thanks for the info.
Ac.

[TangoDeltaSierra3]

Chap - which make of battery would you recommend for winter?

gimme some linkys.

Ac.If you have a Costco near you they sell Bosch Silver batterys at £45, Halfords stock them at £70. Four year warranty too.

[BlackBeast]

Cant give you a link but do u have either a Unipart or Partco branch near you?
If so pop in and ask for a GBA3100 battery. It just fits perfectly in the 850 tray with no mods and has a whopping 620 (EN) or CCA. :remybussi That will do just nicely thankyou. :B_steerin


Sorry to bring up an old thread, my battery has finally died and i cant be bothered to keep charging it, so off i went to my local Partco and got myself a GBA 3100 battery, it has a 540 (EN), 65 (A/HR) and 105 R/C whatever they mean, it also has a 3 year warranty and cost £49, so not bad.