My Baby let me down today!

[Andy]

About 8 this morning I had a panic call from a builder mate who had got his Transit stuck up to its axles in a very soggy field, could I go & pull him out?

Of course, an excuse for a drive, no problem pulling him out with my truck, so off I go home as I was working in my office, to get the truck.

In I jump, turn the key and just got the 'click of doom'

What did I leave on I ask myself, nothing it turns out, so jump leads off my van to the d/s battery...no go...connect them to the p/s one and after the usual 1/8 of a revolution of the engine away she goes.

so off I go, tow out my mate and then back home, around 35 miles round trip, with the p/s volt meter showing 14.4v.
Turn off & again the 'click of doom', try a known good battery & bingo, away she goes.

Now the batteries were replaced in 2014 with a pair of varta g8's from battery megastore with a 4 year warranty, I have emailed them & await their response, I will also replace the good d/s one with new to keep a matched pair.

The ps volt meter goes blank when trying to start whilst the d/s one stays showing voltage, after leaving for about 4 hrs, both show around 12.3 volts, but still no start.

what would cause this sudden failure as it started no problem 2 days ago.

Wasnt Giles who used to be on here the boss at battery megastore?

Andy

 

[clivehorridge]

Could it be a bad earth?

It's my guess as that would explain the volt meter going dead on high drain.

I've had mine start when the volt meter is showing 11.4V much to my surprise.

 

[Andy]

dont think its the earth clive as when i connected a good one via jump leads to the wires with the suspect battery disconnected away it went,
tried just jumping it & leaving the battery connected & no go.
Almost as if the suspect battery was taking all the juice

 

[clivehorridge]

dont think its the earth clive as when i connected a good one via jump leads to the wires with the suspect battery disconnected away it went,
tried just jumping it & leaving the battery connected & no go.
Almost as if the suspect battery was taking all the juice

Maybe that's likely then, but 2 years life is disappointing for a quality battery.

Hope they make good, if it is the battery.

And BTW, she didn't let you down, the battery did (can't have our babies getting blamed for poor components)

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Those symptoms are almost always the contacts in the starter solenoid being worn out. Cheap and relatively simple fix if so once you have the starter off. If that's the problem beware of the opposite symptom which is you start it and the starter keeps running because what's left of the contacts have welded themselves together and if you're not quick with disconnecting the batteries you get a burnt out starter and wiring ...

 

[Andy]

Thanks Jon, although I did replace the starter contacts about 30k miles ago, its worth me checking them though.

Tried it again late last night, same click until I put on another battery on the p/s

Andy

 

[frank rabbets]

Voltage drop on one battery when turning starter motor to me means dead battery. I started mine once with no problem, drove 100ft through gates, got out with keys to lock the gates then the dreaded click so the car was stuck blocking access to my house. Got the wife to turn ignition whilst I checked voltage. d/s battery dropped to 0 whilst n/s battery stayed 12ish. So batteries can suddenly fail.

I also had a lifetime guarantee on a Bosh battery which died after 6 months. I then had further 4 free batteries over 12 year period until the firm running the scheme went bust.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

If you've already done the solenoid contacts then it's unlikely to be those again so soon but bypassing the solenoid would be a good way to check without taking anything apart. The 12/24v change over solenoid can also cause similar symptoms. You don't say how the volt meters are wired but if the truck is still 24v start then the ps may go blank because of the change over to 24v.

 

[Sag]

I had similar problem on a shogun,clicked when tried to start but jump started fine,got a auto electrician out and turned out to be the battery terminal losing a couple of amps between terminal connector and battery even though it was tight and clean,replaced with new one fine after,worth a try buddy

 

[Andy]

Well, battery megastore collected the suspect battery on Wednesday, phoned me today & confirmed one cell was knackered, a new replacement will be with me Monday foc, I have asked for another at the same time to keep a matched age pair.

Andy

 

[StarCruiser]

Sweet. Shame it's happened but at least you've got the right customer service.

 

[Sarmajornz]

The ps battery on RHD vehicles is the one that is added on top of the ds battery to create the 24 volts for the starter. The ps battery is earthed through the solenoid that creates the 24 volts.

As the ps battery was knackered it is not surprising that the truck would not start.
My truck did some strange things when the ps battery died including not starting. Attempting to charge it just made it hot and bothered.

 

[Andy]

Yes Rich, good customer service, the strange thing (in my mind anyway), was that one day it was fine, and the next kaput with absolutely NO warning.
Mind you these trucks don't crank over & over before starting, turn the key & away it goes straight away!

A simple fix though

Andy

 

[Andy]

Even better, the batteries turned up this morning,, as I only spoke with them about 4.15 yesterday afternoon I tthink that's excellent