Join for free
Page 4 of 6 « First < 2 3 4 5 6 >
Omah's Avatar
Omah
Chatterbox
Omah is offline
Ludlow
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 10,147
Omah is male  Omah has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
18-04-2020, 12:38 PM
31

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->
False economy in my opinion Omah......Might be good for the planet, but shocking on the pocket.....
Unless I'm traversing a town my stop-start is turned off - there are few hold-ups on my usual routes .....
zuludog
Senior Member
zuludog is offline
N E Lancashire
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,513
zuludog is male  zuludog has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
18-04-2020, 01:29 PM
32

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->
Yep good choice Zulu, my daughters battery failed to start her car as it had been stood a couple of weeks. It was ten years old so I decided to fit her a new one. I purchased one from the local garage who does all our testing and servicing. He asked me if he would like him to fit it; I said no thanks as I have fitted more batteries than he had hot dinners...... He said just ring if you need help...

I couldn't get the old battery off! It was surrounded by electronic stuff.....
So I cut a large slice of humble pie and the garage bloke came out and fitted it for us.... So yes! A good choice to get the AA out to fit a new one Zulu.....

How things have changed under the bonnet since my days of wielding a spanner...
Yes, I know we're rambling a bit here, but....

I didn't learn to drive till I was 34, and my first car was a Mk 2 Escort.
That was simple, all manual, rear wheel drive, no electronics, you get the idea; I learned a lot on that, and became quite keen on car mechanics
Then I got a Mk 3 Escort, and that was still simple too

After that cars became progressively more complicated and electronic, with packed engine bays, and less easy to work on
Now that I've retired and downsized to a flat I no longer have a garage or even a drive
Plus I'm getting too fat & old to lie on my back changing gearboxes, so all that means I just take my car to a garage for any work

But sometimes I miss a bit of knuckle grazing, and i wouldn't mind finding someone doing up an old tractor or something
Besoeker's Avatar
Besoeker
Chatterbox
Besoeker is offline
Doncaster, UK
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 7,276
Besoeker is male  Besoeker has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
18-04-2020, 01:57 PM
33

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->

A good guide to identifying a deceased battery; If you can remove the plastic covers on the top that gives access to the cells full of acid and distilled water, shine a torch down each, and the cell that has failed will be cloudy, discoloured and brown looking. The rest of the cells will contain crystal clear fluid..
I thought most car batteries these days were sealed lead acid so you don't have access to the cells to inspect them.
OldGreyFox's Avatar
OldGreyFox
Chatterbox
OldGreyFox is offline
South Yorkshire
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 21,202
OldGreyFox is male  OldGreyFox has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
18-04-2020, 08:26 PM
34

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by Besoeker ->
I thought most car batteries these days were sealed lead acid so you don't have access to the cells to inspect them.
All the batteries on my vehicles up to now have had lift of panels to check the electrolyte levels Besoeker, even my latest motor; A ten year old Nissan Qashkai.
OldGreyFox's Avatar
OldGreyFox
Chatterbox
OldGreyFox is offline
South Yorkshire
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 21,202
OldGreyFox is male  OldGreyFox has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
18-04-2020, 08:37 PM
35

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by zuludog ->
Yes, I know we're rambling a bit here, but....

I didn't learn to drive till I was 34, and my first car was a Mk 2 Escort.
That was simple, all manual, rear wheel drive, no electronics, you get the idea; I learned a lot on that, and became quite keen on car mechanics
Then I got a Mk 3 Escort, and that was still simple too

After that cars became progressively more complicated and electronic, with packed engine bays, and less easy to work on
Now that I've retired and downsized to a flat I no longer have a garage or even a drive
Plus I'm getting too fat & old to lie on my back changing gearboxes, so all that means I just take my car to a garage for any work

But sometimes I miss a bit of knuckle grazing, and i wouldn't mind finding someone doing up an old tractor or something
I've spent some hours removing engines out of Mini's Zulu, loved it!
I learnt to drive at seventeen in 1967 and had around four Mini's, I couldn't afford to run them if I would have had to take them to a garage for any work to be done. Fortunately I was apprenticed as a Mechanical Engineer, and although I was training to be a machinist and toolmaker the love of engines came second nature to me.

Like you though, engines became unrecognisable and priorities change, and so do earnings, and it was so much easier to drop it round at the local garage for jobs to be done. I can't imagine now, sitting in the howling wind and cold servicing the brakes, or laid underneath replacing an exhaust....
But they were good times Zulu, and all part of the university of life...
Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
Chatterbox
Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
Bruce is male  Bruce has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
19-04-2020, 01:49 AM
36

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by Omah ->
When the AA restarted my car recently their mechanic checked the battery and declared it good to go, adding that it would have cost £270 for a replacement since the advent of stop-start systems has meant a massive increase in power requirement from batteries, which have been substantially upgraded to cope with thousands of starts a year .....

Blimey - no more the £49.99 battery .....
I have never owned a car with a stop/start system but I think if I did it would be the first thing I disabled.

Let's face it a car can idle all day for the cost of a burger especially the tiny engines they use in Europe.
Primus1's Avatar
Primus1
Senior Member
Primus1 is offline
York
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 4,648
Primus1 is male  Primus1 has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
19-04-2020, 08:46 AM
37

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

You can’t disable it Bruce, it can be switched off, but it comes on again every time you restart the car
Baz46's Avatar
Baz46
Senior Member
Baz46 is offline
Somewhere rural 'out in the sticks', UK
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 4,916
Baz46 is male  Baz46 has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
19-04-2020, 09:02 AM
38

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by Primus1 ->
You can’t disable it Bruce, it can be switched off, but it comes on again every time you restart the car
I have a VW Golf 1.6 TDi Blue Motion and over six years of ownership from new, have found what seems to be a 'halfway point' of using the stop/start. Driving this way still returns 61 miles per gallon average.

Stop/start only operates when the car is put in neutral so by reading the traffic and road conditions it's possible, for instance, to slow down if approaching traffic lights that are about to turn to green so the stop/start doesn't have to operate, the same with any stop that you can see is only going to be short-lived. With really long-lasting traffic jams, say at road works, the stop/start can be allowed to come into operation as that is when a worthwhile amount of fuel can be saved.

The clutch can also be 'dipped' to prevent the stop/start from operating on a really short stop. Just ensure you don't 'ride' the clutch though, replacement clutches are even more costly than the very expensive batteries on these cars.
Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
Chatterbox
Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
Bruce is male  Bruce has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
19-04-2020, 09:44 AM
39

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Clutch? who uses a clutch these days? Too much traffic on the road to have a manual.



As I say I have never owned a stop/Start car and probably won't as I think my Dmax will see me out but I have read there are ways of disabling it - one was by fooling it into thinking you're towing (don't know much about this though.)
Baz46's Avatar
Baz46
Senior Member
Baz46 is offline
Somewhere rural 'out in the sticks', UK
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 4,916
Baz46 is male  Baz46 has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
19-04-2020, 09:50 AM
40

Re: Not used for a couple of weeks = Flat Battery

Originally Posted by Bruce ->
Clutch? who uses a clutch these days? Too much traffic on the road to have a manual.



As I say I have never owned a stop/Start car and probably won't as I think my Dmax will see me out.
I've always had manual cars so am one who uses a clutch. A dislike of automatics, from many years' ago, was dispelled when recently I drove a courtesy car that was an automatic. So very different to the old automatics, the changes in gear could hardly be noticed.

I've not been to Australia, one of my big regrets in life, but somehow I think you might have a shock at the higher traffic levels in London, it's often quicker to walk!
 
Page 4 of 6 « First < 2 3 4 5 6 >

Thread Tools


© Copyright 2009, Over50sForum   Contact Us | Over 50s Forum! | Archive | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Top

Powered by vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.