Not a MH prob but a van prob - dead battery

whitevanwoman

Guest
:mad2:
Guess which dickhead left the interior light on inside her Partner van on Monday night and hasn't used it since... so discovered today that the battery is completely flat, not even turning over.

:help: Question - will I be able to jump start it with leads? My neighbour says not because there needs to be some juice in the battery to power the glow plugs.

I really can't face going out in the dark messing around taking the battery out to put on charge in the house but have got a power pack (emergency charger) which I've plugged in and am leaving for an hour.

:help: Question - if the power pack works and I manage to start it later, can I just leave it parked up with the engine running for a while to put enough power back in the battery (and if so for how long?) so it'll start tomorrow morning? Or will I need to take it out for a drive tonight?

I got a 20 mile motorway drive to a training course tomorrow which should charge up the battery ok - I think...

If all else fails I'll just have to take the Tranny tomorrow and sort the Partner out at the weekend. Luckily they have a big car park!
 
jump starting should be ok in my experiance then go for drive or leave running for a bit hope get sorted cheers john:)
 
Yes you will be able to jump start it if you leave the leads attached for 30 secs before you try and start. The other battery/power pack should do the same job on the glow plugs for you (check your glow plug light goes off before you start it.

But if you can, put some juice in the battery before you start the jump.

Yes you can charge parked up. I would give it at least half an hour.

Or you can jump it from the Tranny tomorrow if it doesn't start first go (assuming you have jump leads!)
 
Firefox said:
Yes you will be able to jump start it if you leave the leads attached for 30 secs before you try and start. The other battery/power pack should do the same job on the glow plugs for you (check your glow plug light goes off before you start it.

But if you can, put some juice in the battery before you start the jump.

Yes you can charge parked up. I would give it at least half an hour.

Or you can jump it from the Tranny tomorrow if it doesn't start first go (assuming you have jump leads!)
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Cheers. I've never had such a totally dead battery before - there was just a click when I turned the key.

Another half hour and I'll see how the power pack is doing - fingers crossed. Have had the day from hell today so I really need this like a hole in the head. Was planning an early night cos of hardly sleeping last night, and got early start tomorrow morning and last thing I want to be doing tonight is messing around with broken down vehicles.

Jump leads will be tricky cos of the parking situation here - and will only work if the battery in the Tranny is on the RH side... and even then it'll be a bugger to manoeuvre the Tranny into the right place.

Sometimes I do think that having a husband would be a good idea. Only sometimes though ;)
 
Don't assume all men would know how to sort it out, I bet many are bloody useless, hehehe :lol-053:
 
Don't leave it running with no one at the controls, It will get nicked:lol-053: and I think its illegal.
The battery really needs an over night mains charge
If it starts tomorrow, and you do the 20miles, try an make sure you park facing down hill, if any problem then being diesel it should bump start,


Lorry :drive:
 
Lorry Ball said:
Don't leave it running with no one at the controls, It will get nicked:lol-053: and I think its illegal.
The battery really needs an over night mains charge
If it starts tomorrow, and you do the 20miles, try an make sure you park facing down hill, if any problem then being diesel it should bump start,


Lorry :drive:
Click to expand...

TY for this.

Not a prob to leave it running where I live, it's in the middle of nowhere, with no through traffic and neighbours who all look out for each other. Nothing happens round here without the whole village knowing within about 5 mins.

I got home today after being out for a couple of hours to discover that in the flap about discovering the flat battery, I'd left the front door open, not just unlocked, not even ajar, but wide open. I crept through the house with 2 pints of milk as a weapon in case there was someone in the house, lol not sure what exactly I'd have done with the milk if there had been someone there. Sent the dog to check upstairs :D

I've got another power pack in the Tranny so can use that too and charge them both up again overnight to use again in the morning if necessary.

Don't like bump starting on hills cos brakes don't work very well without power. But I just remembered I got Recovery included in car insurance and am pretty sure it includes Homestart so I might just play the helpless female and call them out in the morning.
 
jump start off lesuire battery save you juggleing transit around just remove the bulb then you cant leave it on and get a wind up torch that way it enough to see what you doing
 
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:sad:

Power pack #1 nearly discharged and still not a flicker.

Will use Power pack #2, charge them both up overnight, try again in the morning and drive the Tranny tomorrow if necessary. At least I'll be able to go for a little snooze during lunchtime break on training course tomorrow.

Hopefully will be home before its too dark so I can take the battery out of the Partner and charge properly overnight. Street lights not working so its pitch black outside.
 
Hello,

I would have probably suggested a battery charge rather than a jump start.

Reason for this would also determine if the battery has been damaged as a result of total discharge. If it doesn't start after a good overnight charge, you know straight away to change the battery. Even if you get her/him going again, the battery may have been damaged and you would have to go through the whole process again. Plus being a diesel, they need alot more effort in jumping.

Good Luck
 
It doesn't sound like a total discharge to me because there was a click on starting which means the solenoid is operating, but not enough power to work against high compression. Wvw has caught it quickly too. Deep discharges are much worse if left for days and weeks. My guess is battery will be OK for further use, though one has to question what state it was in, if interior light can flatten it so quick.
 
Firefox said:
It doesn't sound like a total discharge to me because there was a click on starting which means the solenoid is operating, but not enough power to work against high compression. Wvw has caught it quickly too. Deep discharges are much worse if left for days and weeks. My guess is battery will be OK for further use, though one has to question what state it was in, if interior light can flatten it so quick.
Click to expand...

My worry to be fair is that it was mentioned that just a click was heard and not the traditional rapid clicking from the starter solenoid/relays that would normally suggest a low state of battery charge.
To have just a click and the loss of all power, normally would be a good sign that the battery is at an extremely low level and not just slightly low. In this state, most batteries wouldn't recover well if being a basic and traditional engine battery. By fully charging and testing rather than jumping (providing you are using a reasonably good mains charger), you can in some cases recover the battery back to heath.
 
When the battery gets low with diesels it is possible to start them if there is enough power to get a low 'wooh wooooh' sound from the starter....squirt a 3 second burst of WD40 into the air intake and leave for 15 seconds, then try to start again....the glow plugs should ignite the rich air WD40 mixture and there just might be enough power to get the engine to start to turn over and then keep going on ignition.

I always carried WD40 in my diesel 4x4 for just this scenario.....and it has pulled me out of a hole a couple of times.....EasyStart is the recognised brand name but WD40 works just as well.
 
NicknClair said:
My worry to be fair is that it was mentioned that just a click was heard and not the traditional rapid clicking from the starter solenoid/relays that would normally suggest a low state of battery charge.
To have just a click and the loss of all power, normally would be a good sign that the battery is at an extremely low level and not just slightly low. In this state, most batteries wouldn't recover well if being a basic and traditional engine battery. By fully charging and testing rather than jumping (providing you are using a reasonably good mains charger), you can in some cases recover the battery back to heath.
Click to expand...

The interior light was still on which is how I knew what I'd done. Not sure but there might have been a couple of clicks from ignition when I turned the key, and dash lights came on at first but then all went off and stayed off when I turned the key.

Interior light had been left on from Mon night = almost 72 hours. Have left it on overnight before now without problems.

Van is now nearly 11 years old, have had it for 10 years, to be best of my knowledge it is the original battery - how long do diesel batteries normally last for? Would it have needed replacing after 10 years anyway?
 
winter dec 2010 didnt help that killed a lot of batterys had to take mine off and keep it in house as it use to freeze for past time if this winter had been as cold would have taken out lesuire battery and kept it in the house take it you got it started this morning or you taken tranny
 
Took the tranny today, but ununsually it took 3 attempts to start it this morning which made me flap a bit, it usually starts first time but it was about minus 5C here last night. But at least that's had a run which should keep the battery in that charged - not being used much at the moment cos of weather and need to get it insulated and some other jobs before I can really use it comfortably for camping.

Too late now to take battery out of Partner (too dark and too cold) but I think I will get a new battery for it over the weekend. I'll try charging the old one and if it works, at least I'll have a spare for emergencies.

I presume Halfords will not be the cheapest (although it is the closest and easiest for me to get to) - can anyone recommend somewhere online for batteries?
 
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