Your Opinion Please

jennyjoan | 09:41 Mon 28th Nov 2022 | Motoring

30 Answers

Last Sunday I picked the sister up and she needed to go into a shop for minutes. I had had the car lights half on and being on the road I flashed the warning lights but turned off the engine.

Sister was literally in 5 minutes but when I tried to start my car the battery was dead. I was lucky enough to get a couple of lads to give me a start push and finally I was off.

The car has been ok since.

But I am wondering do I need a new battery as myself and a few friends do think the battery should not run have down as quick as it did. What do you think. Thanks for any answers.

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bhg481

It depends on how you've been using your car recently. If you've been doing lots of short trips with lots of electrics on (lights, heater fan, heated windows) you battery might just have got run down. Your best plan is to go to a place that sells car batteries and ask them to test it for you; most do it free of charge.

gingejbee

Well, something's not quite right. I'd go to my local garage/Halfords etc and ask them to do a quick "health-check" on the battery before you decide to just buy one. The problem may be something else.

Zacs-Master

Could be the Alternator, JJ. It’s what keeps the charge in the battery and allows all the electrics to work.

Paul22118

1. Check your belt that goes around the alternator. If slack, tighten.
2. Make sure your battery terminals are clean and tightly secured.
3. Get an auto electrician to check your alternator's output. A quick and inexpensive task for them and if adequate it will almost certainly be a new battery required.

jennyjoan

Question Author

ok thanks guys - don't want battery to give me gyp over the holidays

Hopkirk

If in doubt, change the battery. It will give you more confidence.

davebro

Sounds like just a bad earth connection to the battery to me - get it checked out at a garage.

ToraToraTora

If you generally do short journeys then the battery does not get charged enough and will be susceptible to going flat especially if you turn off the engine and keep the lights on, especially if your bulbs are the old incandescent type. When you start a car it takes 20 mins of running for the average alternator to recover that energy. So short journeys will hammer the battery.

davebro

If it was a duff battery it would give problems continually but
"The car has been ok since."

bhg481

dave - So would a bad earth and faulty alternator. Favourite is too many short trips as I and TTT suggested.

Old_Geezer

Never hurts to get it checked anyway, though.

davebro

well that's 2 of you wrong then!

jennyjoan

Question Author

I would say everyone of my journeys are short so will go for a long run today and keep all electricals off

bhg481

Get it checked out anyway JJ.

bednobs

my battery runs down and doesnt start even if i just have the key in with nothing turned on. I carry round one of those jump start chargers in my car. It happened on saturday!

jennyjoan

Question Author

Bed. Don't you need another car to use your jumpstart charger

bednobs