I have an 06 Astravan 1.7 CDTi. Whenever the cold weather arrives I have bother starting it. Replaced the battery in Feb this year. Went out on Wednesday and the thing was dead , clock reset, no warning lights on. Jump started it from wifes car, took it for a 30mins(ish) run, went out yesterday and it was dead again.

Any ideas? Alternator problem?

dead as in flat battery?

my local motor factors have a battery/alternator test kit they use to see what the problem is, either way.

The drop in temperature can kill batteries which are on the cusp, but work fine when its warmer. Get it tested.

Battery can’t be on the cusp if it was new in February surely? Always a bit feard to take the van in places like that in case they hoodwink me into parting with £££’s! I think the time has come to face up to this fear…

could be the alternator then – get that checked out.

Edit: You can check that youself by jump starting the van and measuring the current at the terminals easy to do with a £5 multimeter (plus the battery light should go out on the dash).

I had this problem on an old Mk3 Escort. Come to it one day and it’s fine, the next it’s dead as a doornail.

Had loads replaced, battery, alternator, went through several different mechanics and auto-electricians, never got anywhere. In desperation I took it directly to Lucas, who hooked it up to their test rig and diagnosed the problem inside of 30 seconds. Turned out to be a faulty rectifier (the resistor pack that plugs into the side of the alternator) sporadically discharging the battery.

Is the engine management light staying on? possibly to help diagnose with that model (it works with my DTI so may work with CDTI)

get in car – press down accelerator and brake – turn ignition to 2nd possition – after a few seconds the engine management light will start flashing.

You’ll need a pen and paper and a sharp eye…. theres will be flashes in sets, each set of flashes is one digit (10 flashes is zero). Count the flashes and jot them down to get 4 digit codes (there may be more than one).

Google the codes and see what that indicates (although there can be red herrings)

If there are no faults the light just flashes a few times then goes out