Problems Starting

[zzz-ba ute]

Hey guys, my ute is being a real pig at the moment something is draining the battery

If I charge the battery (with a charger) it starts straight away no probs,

So I am assuming starter motor is fine

I switched the battery out of my valiant which was starting and put it in the ute and put the ute battery in the val once charged the the val starts fine but ute is stilling being a so I assume the battery is not the problem

I recently drove to Bundaberg non stop (since the prob has been happening) and the car didn't die

as of the battery wouldn't run the car all the way to Bundaberg without a alternator I assume the alternator is ok

I have disconnected the sound system and problem continues! :banghead:

what the is wrong with my car?

[zzz-ba ute]

Also my car is a 2003 ba ute non turbo

Mods:

"Frankenstein" 4 speed auto

kaaz 2 way limited slip

2.5" exhaust with extractors and hi flow cat

f6 lower intake

no edit (waiting for s/c)

few other things check my profile if you want to know

[Ozzy]

Got a multimeter?

If not, get one. Best thing you can buy for this sort of thing.

Check you battery voltage first, should be above 12.3V with 12.6V being perfect.

Start and double check there is output from the alternator, about the 13.8V to 14.4V is good.

Check the current draw on the battery with everything shut and locked/alarmed as fitted to your car. To do this turn the engine off, wait a few minutes and then disconnect the negative terminal, switch your multimeter to DC amps and connect it in series (battery-multimeter-earth lead), lock or arm your car and view the current being drawn from the battery. This will tell you if you have something sucking down the juice when it shouldnt. I would allow about 0.03A current draw but no more than 0.1A.

You could also check the specific gravity of the cells in your battery, a hydrometer will show you the correct specific.

[zzz-ba ute]

Awesome, I think my brother in law has a multimeter I will get him to check it this arvo

[zzz-ba ute]

I bough a new battery which seems to have solved the problem, the old one is now starting another car so I don't know why it wont start the ute. however problem is solved

also apparently Bosch has put out a new alternator that feeds 70 amps back into the battery instead of approx 45

If something doesn't ad up with this hey I'm not an auto spark but it might be worth looking into for any guys with big sound systems

Edited 26/10/09 04:23 AM by zzz-ba ute

[tab]

How old was the battery? They tend to go a bit sluggish and then give-up completely (usually warranty + 1 day for me)

These a fickle bloody things at times.

[zzz-ba ute]

The battery that was in it was in the car when I bought it about 9 months ago

so prob about a year old