Possible battery going bad ?

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 06:51 AM

Easiest way to explain is when the car got warm - half way through 'normal' - car started to lose volts. I've never had this happen before and it's got me stumped. I will ad that if I pull over, put it in park and give it a small boot full the volts kinda/sometimes come back up, and has only done so when actually driving,

Cars a NL Fairlane 4L

roKWiz · 24-09-2023, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

Easiest way to explain is when the car got warm - half way through 'normal' - car started to lose volts. I've never had this happen before and it's got me stumped. I will ad that if I pull over, put it in park and give it a small boot full the volts kinda/sometimes come back up, and has only done so when actually driving,

Cars a NL Fairlane 4L

Not a lot of information. Could well be battery (age/use), loose alt belts, loose wire, alternator itself, earthing.

I've had all of the above happen.

Citroënbender · 24-09-2023, 08:19 AM

No point guessing. Charge the battery and load test it.

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Not a lot of information. Could well be battery (age/use), loose alt belts, loose wire, alternator itself, earthing.

I've had all of the above happen.

Battery less then a year old, maybe started/used twice a fortnight. Belts seems fine, will have to check the rest

Not sure how else to explain it, if I start the car and let it idle to maintain the battery not a problem. But the last two times I've taken the car out when it gets to the M of 'normal' it starts to lose volts

Should add that when the car just idles it barely gets to the L of normal

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

No point guessing. Charge the battery and load test it.

Only other battery's I have at hand have well and truly seen there use by date

Citroënbender · 24-09-2023, 09:17 AM

So you have no access to anyone with a proper load tester, nor intelligent battery charger?

“Earth” is a somewhat unhelpful address for someone requesting assistance that may include location-based suggestions in its best form.

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

So you have no access to anyone with a proper load tester, nor intelligent battery charger?

“Earth” is a somewhat unhelpful address for someone requesting assistance that may include location-based suggestions in its best form.

Battery was on charge over night. The charger didn't detect any faults. Load testing I got no idea how to do. . . Yeah earth points could be any one of the 5 billion possible locations.
( just trying to say there's a lot of them)
I put the battery back in the car before and started it, not a problem but it barely got warm

arm79 · 24-09-2023, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

Battery less then a year old, maybe started/used twice a fortnight.

Brand of battery?

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arm79

Brand of battery?

One that for the first time has let me down . . . CENTURY

arm79 · 24-09-2023, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

One that for the first time has let me down . . . CENTURY

https://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11494729

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arm79

https://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11494729

I think I was reading bits of that awhile ago lol
I couldn't remember where I seen /found it

Itsme · 24-09-2023, 10:25 AM

Could be alternator or its regulator, pay to get an auto elec to test it.

None-ya · 24-09-2023, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Itsme

Could be alternator or its regulator, pay to get an auto elec to test it.

Yeah but there not cheap and I can think of other reasons to take it to them lol

roKWiz · 24-09-2023, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

Battery less then a year old, maybe started/used twice a fortnight. Belts seems fine, will have to check the rest

Not sure how else to explain it, if I start the car and let it idle to maintain the battery not a problem. But the last two times I've taken the car out when it gets to the M of 'normal' it starts to lose volts

Should add that when the car just idles it barely gets to the L of normal

Read this all the time here, cars like mine don't have normal written on the temp gauge so people like myself wouldn't really know where that is marked on a gauge.

Did you say you only use the car twice every 2 weeks or so, I reckon unless you take it out on a reasonable long drive to charge at around 14.4V, the poor battery will be going through some stress constantly kept on a float charge.

Itsme · 24-09-2023, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

Yeah but there not cheap and I can think of other reasons to take it to them lol

Oh well, then put up with flat batteries if you want to be a tight a**.

Franco Cozzo · 24-09-2023, 03:55 PM

Does the high pressure power steering line leak - if so the alternator is chock full of power steering oil and its eaten away the brushes and copper slip rings on the alternator and now its ****ed.

Get a cheap multimeter, put it on 20V DC,

Start the car,

Put the probes on the positive and negative terminals on the battery, you're looking for 13.8-14.4V,

Then turn on all your electrical accessories - the headlights, HVAC fan on full, AC, wipers, stereo, and see what the voltage does.

If it starts dropping, and it goes down to sub 13V, then the alternator is cactus and its not holding up under load and needs to be replaced.

If it comes off looking like it come from the titanic, the power steering line is leaking into the alternator, you MUST replace it with a new one before doing the alternator, or 6 months later you'll be buying a new alternator again.

None-ya · 26-09-2023, 09:34 AM

After finding my brother's multi metre, with the car not running 12.56, after starting the car it was 14.6 but quickly dropped to 13.8 when the motor ' spuddered' ( kinda miss fired) then slowly dropped to 13.5 over 10 mins or so. I had no electrics on, besides when the thermos kicked in ( made .01 volts difference)

Dr Smith · 26-09-2023, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

Battery was on charge over night. The charger didn't detect any faults. Load testing I got no idea how to do. . . Yeah earth points could be any one of the 5 billion possible locations.
( just trying to say there's a lot of them)
I put the battery back in the car before and started it, not a problem but it barely got warm

I may be way off here...but...I think Citroenbender was referring to what part of Earth you're located in and not the different earth points on the car...

Franco Cozzo · 26-09-2023, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by None-ya

After finding my brother's multi metre, with the car not running 12.56, after starting the car it was 14.6 but quickly dropped to 13.8 when the motor ' spuddered' ( kinda miss fired) then slowly dropped to 13.5 over 10 mins or so. I had no electrics on, besides when the thermos kicked in ( made .01 volts difference)

So, you need to do it with electrical loads, just like I mentioned

MrEL · 26-09-2023, 01:07 PM

Sounds like a fingered alternator to me........

None-ya · 26-09-2023, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

I may be way off here...but...I think Citroenbender was referring to what part of Earth you're located in and not the different earth points on the car...

I forgot I did that lol .wondai 4606 QLD

None-ya · 26-09-2023, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

So, you need to do it with electrical loads, just like I mentioned

After it kept losing volts I kind of figured the same as MrEL alternators on its way out

None-ya · 26-09-2023, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrEL

Sounds like a fingered alternator to me........

Who's fingering who ?? Lol

Citroënbender · 26-09-2023, 09:27 PM

So your closest option for an auto sparkie is Kingaroy; I can see that probably limits your choices to just a couple.

https://www.sptools.com/product-cata...tometer-clone/

We have one of these at work, in honesty it’s pretty good for a quick guess. Quite possible that the mechanical shops in town will have similar or the same. A sparkie should have a carbon pile load tester, this really puts a battery through its paces but being a more specialised item priced into the high hundreds, it’s kind of reasonable to charge people for the results it gives.

https://www.projecta.com.au/products...on-pile-tester