im sorry ive put this in the wrong forum havent i

last night i picked my wife up from a friends five minutes away in the car (an 8yr old yaris). the car started fine when i got in at mine, i drove it to the friends house and waited outside for maybe two minutes with the heaters on but the engine not running. when i tried to start it again i got all the symptoms of a flat battery – engine wouldnt turn over and lights dimmed when i tried to start the car. it did start very easily with a push start on the road tho.

my question is, is this the cold or is the battery really dead flat. if it is the cold then what can i do to start it again, and if i just wait for it to get warmer will the battery just magically spring back into life? the last two or three times i have used the car in the cold weather (all for fairly short journeys) it has started no problem.

cheers.

1 – lots of short everything on journeys are a drain
2 – they go suddenly (e,g me – cold morning, started fine, work, warmer afternoon – dead as a donkey – AA start and then Halfords)

8 yrs sounds ok to me for a battery

Batteries don't like cold, or short journeys. Given how old it is it won't be up to its full capacity anymore. I'd slap a new battery in it personally. £50 well spent.

Anything over three or four years on a car battery is borrowed time.