Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)
  • STWHive Help – Car battery woes :-(
  • letmetalktomark
    Full Member

    We have as our daily driver a 2007 Honda Civic 2.2.

    We’ve owned the car since August 2010.

    In early 2011 the battery was replaced by Honda after a number of instances of the battery loosing its charge and until recently hasn’t given us a single issue.

    The car was then and is now used for fairly lengthy journeys rather than start stop popping to the shops.

    A week or so ago I went to start the car and it was dead.

    Car was jump started an the battery tested by the breakdown man. His machine reported the battery was okay and the battery was getting a charge from the alternator.

    Car was okay for about a weeks use of 80miles a day over 4 days. Last Monday the car again wouldn’t start.

    We jump started it and after speaking to our local Honda garage it went it to them.

    They reported the battery was only showing 70% charge. They charged it over night and we agreed to leave it with them until Thursday to see if it went flat in that time. It didn’t and I collected in Thursday evening.

    My wife used the car yesterday – 80miles again – but the car was dead again this morning 🙁

    Honda tested the battery and their unit confirmed what the breakdown mans machine did “battery okay”.

    I reckon its the battery and don’t have an issue replacing it (£85) but do think that something is up with the battery failing in such a relatively short period of time.

    Honda offered to run a diagnostic test (?) on the car at £99 to determine if there is anything odd going on with the electrics but I’m not sold on that just yet.

    So STW ….. What am I missing?

    sniff
    Free Member

    Spark plugs?

    nickjb
    Free Member

    Why are you so convinced it’s the battery? I’d be looking for something drawing power with the ignition off.

    letmetalktomark
    Full Member

    Glow plugs.

    @ Nick, such as? We’ve run through the obvious stuff; lights (interior/exteria), automatic lights/wipers etc all set to off.

    nemesis
    Free Member

    Can you measure consumption with everything ‘off’ eg have you got an ammeter? I agree with nick that if everything is pointing to the battery being ok, it would suggest that there’s something else wrong causing the discharge.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    Is the car trying to turn over at all and just not fiting ? Im curious how you get to a 70% charged battery if it gives symptoms if being totally dead

    Is the 2.2 a diesel ?

    Fairly coinciental that its died in conjunction with the first frost – generally when they fail.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    4 years for a battery isn’t too bad.

    slackalice
    Free Member

    Sounds like you have a leak to earth somewhere. An auto-electrician would be able to diagnose.

    hora
    Free Member

    Recheck the alternator

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    disconnect the battery and see if it goes flat

    if it does not then you have leak somewhere ]]

    spence
    Free Member

    First off, any battery over 3 years is on borrowed time.

    Secondly, with the electrics in modern cars, battery drain is more common that it used to be and difficult to track down DIY.

    Check simple things, inertia lights. Including in the boot, fold a back seat down or take out the parcel shelf to see if they go out.
    Then leave the car an hour or two to go cold then check all the fuses and relays, simply touch the the top of each, they should be cold if one is warm it’s drawing a current and could be your leak.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    If the battery had a dud cell there would be a marked drop in the resting voltage. Fully charged it should be at 12.7v ish, 50% discharged would be around 12.4v and you’d never see a healthy battery below this unless you’d left something on.

    When the engine is running it should be 14.3 or 14.4v. Try it after a run too as when my alternator started going, it would push out 14.4v when cold and tail off to 13v when hot. There is a small chance the belt was slipping on the alternator but I replaced that with the alternator anyway.

    Most likely culprit is something is drawing current whilst the car is sitting, phone or sat nav charger.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    You’ve got three causes:

    1) it’s not charging,

    2) it’s not holding a charge,

    3) something’s draining it.

    Find out which. (-:

    I had exactly the same problem with an 85 vintage Ford Escort years ago. Would be fine for days, then you’d come to it one morning and ‘click’ dead as a doornail. Went through a string of mechanics and auto-electricians, replaced battery, alternator without success.

    In the end I took it direct to Lucas who correctly diagnosed it inside of 30 seconds. The cable connecting to the alternator has a pack of diodes in the plug acting as a rectifier, and it was corroded inside.

    Not saying yours is the same, modern engines are a whole different barrel of whelks, but I’d be looking for some sort of leak-to-earth in the wiring in the absence of any other information.

    pennine
    Free Member

    Switch off the interior light entirely – its delay remaining live (even though the light goes out) is now one of the most common reasons for the battery to run flat.

    gobuchul
    Free Member

    I reckon its the battery and don’t have an issue replacing it (£85)

    Seem expensive. £49 delivered here.

    https://advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/product/heavy-duty-096-car-battery/

    As others have said, it sounds like you have an earth leak. Take it to an auto electric specialist. Don’t bother with the main stealer for stuff like this they are hopeless. In fact don’t bother with main stealers for anything!

    IME once a car battery has been completely drained, yo can never get it back to decent performance.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    re cougar 1 and 2 have been checked twice by different people so it most likely to be 3

    bikemike1968
    Free Member

    When your model of Civic came out I went out to loads of unexplained flat battery breakdowns (only the diesel, petrol ones were fine).
    Just like yours the battery would charge ok, Alternator working and no drain from the battery when locked up.
    Honda weren’t keen to admit there was a problem, but were replacing engine wiring looms “as a precaution”. It would be worth your while asking if this has been done on yours.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    4 years for a battery isn’t too bad.

    First off, any battery over 3 years is on borrowed time.

    I had to call the AA out a week ago last Friday after my Octavia failed to start, and the camp site owner (I was on holiday in South Devon) couldn’t start it with a spare electric fence battery. The nice AA man started it straight away with a suitcase-sized battery pack, then did a diagnostic; showed the battery only had around 50% of its proper capacity.
    It was the original battery, the car’s thirteen years old…

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    As above, if I was only getting 3/4 years out of a battery I’d be a little hacked off.
    The Spazda’s battery died this year, but I think I killed it as the fluid was VERY low. It was only 7 years old too.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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