I lent my car to my sister who had to call out a mechanic when the car battery died, he said they can suddenly fail and sold her another one. There were no warning signs, no sluggishness, always started first time and she had just driven it 50 miles down the motorway, stopped briefly, went to restart and nothing, dead. I've never heard of a battery doing this, has anyone else?
Thanks
Brendan.
I suppose he kept the battery?
Yep
However it can often be an alternator earth strap or auxiliary belt problem which means that the alternator does not charge the battery nor supply any current for the car at all so car draws all of its power from the battery
I presume the mechanic checked the alternator output voltage as well
Tony
You could always post on topic at uk.rec.cars.maintenance
Tony
The message from Rednadnerb contains these words:
Happened to me very recently so it can happen. Not to say that your sister didn't get conned though.
Got my car out of the garage for my weekly trip to the shops. Switched off to go and shut the doors and set the alarm. When I returned car wouldn't start.
Called out the AA who started the car via jump leads, ran some tests, and pronounced the battery u/s. Sold me another cheaper than I could have got a replacement from Halfords. I presume the battery was original so that would make it 6 years old when it expired.
They can. However the more likel cause is a corroded connector that 5 minutes of fiddling will fix.
Thanks all.
It was the AA so I'm sure it's all above board. Just thought I'd check though.
Had *exactly* this before myself, it /can/ be a classic symptom of oxidised battery clamp connections.
Often misdiagnosed by putting a meter on the *clamps* and not on the battery *posts*.
For a temporary fix loosening the clamps a little and twisting them breaks the oxide layer... for a while.
cheers, Pete.
Why does the fact it is the AA make you so sure?
The AA is a commercial company, looking to increase sales. Don't you think they will pay a commission to their staff to sell batteries and other items to stranded motorists?
I think the time has long gone when you can trust anyone. ;-)
Yes - the original one on my BMW did this just days outside the three year warranty. Started the car from cold normally and drove to the shops. After shopping - only about 1/2 hour or so - it was totally flat. I've never had a battery die like that before. They usually give some warning. In case someone says there was something up with the charging circuit, it's not happened with the new battery which is now over 5 years old.
The normal give away of a high impedance connection after trying to start a car with a sudden "dead" battery is a warm or hot (be careful) connection. Doesn't have to be one of the battery terminals either any one of the connections in the high current path can do it, including earth bonds.
Yes, once or twice over 40 odd years. They can go open circuit.
In my case the terminals weren't warm at all.
Bad clamp/post connections can also mean the battery does't get charged properly and ends up being misdiagnosed as a bad battery and/ or fails due to undercharging.
cheers, Pete.
A mechanic in our place happened to mention that newer batteries can and very frequently DO fail in this manner after replacing mine - although I don't know the reasons why.
He had no reason to lie to me, as my original battery really had gone west (after 8 years), failing to start one unexpectedly cold morning.
IIRC, something to do with the calcium technology used these days.
50 years ago the connections between each of the series connected cells in a car battery, from terminal to terminal, were made by lead bars about 1" x 1/4" . These could become cracked at the joints / welds and since the cells were series connected the whole battery could became O/C without much warning.
In those days you were advised in the event of a battery behaving in any unsatisfactory way to "Take it to a battery specialist".
Fat chance nowadays, just as productive and maybe easier to take it to a Chiropodist. TBH, probably about the same in those days if the truth be known. :-(
I don't know how the connections are made underneath the plastic skin of a "sealed for life" battery nowadays, probably you might as well replace it if the same thing happens, not much alternative.
If it happens at the side of the road all you can do is to ensure you don't pay over the odds for the replacement.
IGWS that alternator, dynamo, regulator, drive belt etc. problems still occur from time to time, hopefully less frequently than they used to.
DG
I had two batteries fail in the manner described - total sudden failure - within a week of each other.
I was told that on modern batteries the top section, including the connector posts, is a push-fit on the rest of the battery. Sometimes these connections just fail and, being internal, are uncurable other than by battery replacement.
Had this happen aabout 18 months ago - Car (Merc Auto) didn't start one morning - got a jump start, drove 45 minutes up the M5. Stopped at a service station for a P break, car wouldn't start again. Got another jump start- took it directly to Bristol Batterys (bottom of the M32) and bought a new one. They stuck a tester on the battery (great big springy resistor and an ammeter!) and one cell started fizzing after half a minute
- so they told me it had gone into reversal (or something). Anyway, that was good enough for me as I knew the battery was new from the car purchase (10 year), so I just bought a new one off them on the spot, put it and and it's been fine ever since...
Gordon
Happened to me as well. The car had done a 200 miles journey. I parked the car up for 15 minutes and when I went back to it the battery was dead. I just bump started the car, drove to the motor factors, bought a new battery (about £40) fitted it and everything was fine 2 years later when I sold the car. No warnings, no sluggish starts in the morning. The battery just died.
Adam
In article , Derek Geldard scribeth thus
There used to be one in Cambridge, "The Cambridge battery Service" where there were men in big rubber aprons and a stink of hot pitch and carboys of sulphuric acid and some real fumes;!.
They used to be able to repair joints like that and had little crucibles of Lead on the boil and could change individual battery cells etc!
Of course all long gone now the name lives on they now sell Mobile fones;!..
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