Battery Life?

[Blobcat]

On the evening of MB World meet my E320CDI ran out of electrickery at 11pm :-(
I have read many threads on the forum regarding failing battery problems however thankfully mine didn't display any of the usual issues. The remote unlocking worked, the interior lights all came on, the dash lights illuminated as normal and the glow plug light went out it just wouldn't turn over. With a jump start I drove back to the hotel hoping that it would start again in the morning, it didn't but again it opened no problem and all interior and dash lights working normally. I managed to get a jump start off another hotel guest then after filling it with fuel found a tyre & exhaust outlet open in Bracknell. The recommended battery they had for my car was way too small, I asked them for the largest they had and tried it against the OE fitment and it was exactly the same. £69.50 later for supply only I was back on my way to Brissol. I got stuck in the Chelsea and Arsenal football traffic so rather than ~2 hrs it took me 4.5 :-(. My wife had brought my tools and meter so I connected her car to mine to keep the car powered whilst I changed the battery. The old one was at 9.8V after a 4.5 hr drive so quite dead. 122K miles and 6.5 yrs is not a bad life, probably down to the journeys I do that it has lasted so long .
I was wary of stalling but apart from that the car behaved exactly as normal. Driving with a dead battery made no difference with no warning lights or limp home mode. Maybe because it's a diesel I don't know?

 

[Parrot of Doom]

You don't need electrowitchcraft for a diesel engine to run

 

[television]

You don't need electrowitchcraft for a diesel engine to run

POD. Oh yes you does for the Main Engine ECU, you cant inject without or sense the contaminated Tesco Deisel safe garding your engine How are you going to get the fuel out of the tank.

........................................................................................................
Batteries can go one of two ways.

It a cell was/is going short circuit, that pulls the working voltage down,sometimes to a level where things stop working like ESP ect,this is a safe way for the battery to fail.

The not so safe is what Happened to you Blobcat, not so safe ? when a cell goes parcial open circuit this increases the internal resistance and that allows the cars voltage system to go over the 13.8 volt running voltage.
Its almost like running with no battery in the car,this can result in blown bulbs etc.

Though the car runs on the alternator,it is held at the 13.8 volt mainly by the battery. fortunately it was cold and winter and most of the available energy went to the consumers on the car,so nothing much left to mess things up.

Malcolm

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

I ran the battery in my van flat last week. I was parked outside a job with just the hazards on for about 1½-2 hours. Just like Blobcat, all the dash lights worked normally, there simply wasn't enough juice to turn the engine over. A quick tow start off one of the other tradesmen on site got me going (this is possible with the semi-auto sprintshift gearbox provided there is enough electrical power to operate the gearbox, I just haven't needed to try it before). All has been fine since but I am now a bit worried that the battery may be getting to the end of it's life and will leave me stranded somewhere less convenient. The battery is original so is 3½ years old and has done 130k.

Was this simply a case of running the battery flat or is it getting tired?

 

[television]

Batteries can appear to be OK as long as they are on the upper end of the charge curve

A drive on a winters night in the rain with lights on,music,and heating there is little left from the alternator for the battery. in blobcats case it was high resistance on one cell and when in a low state it cant recover,as the voltage from the alternator is not high enough to start it to charge.
It is a misserable way to find out. most of us only buy a new battery after standing by the raod side in a dead car.
The number one call out fault for breakdown services.

Some of the newer testers can pick this fault up now. The lucas agents have one that can, but not the likes of Halfords where your battery show to be duff and there faulty new ones read good, ....... been there done it had the arguments. Halfords telling me that my battery was good and it was the alternator, after blocking their door way with my car they changed it,and its now comming up for 15 months with no problems from my alternator.

Things will get better ? Wont they. Malcolm

 

[230K]

Hi

I changed the battery in my old C230K last week (i still service it for the guy who bought it off me) and it was changed as a precaution because we suspected it was original not because it had let him down. Sure enough the date stamp on the top of the terminal was 46/96 which i assume stands for week 46 1996, car was registered mid Dec 96.

Now i think that was good going, 10 years 2 months and 120000 miles, it was a Varta battery.

230K

 

[television]

Hi

I changed the battery in my old C230K last week (i still service it for the guy who bought it off me) and it was changed as a precaution because we suspected it was original not because it had let him down. Sure enough the date stamp on the top of the terminal was 46/96 which i assume stands for week 46 1996, car was registered mid Dec 96.

Now i think that was good going, 10 years 2 months and 120000 miles, it was a Varta battery.

230K

I think that has given good value and service,very good.

malcolm

 

[230K]

I think that has given good value and service,very good.

malcolm

Hi

I have it on the bench and keep it charged the thing is it was doing its job, would have been nice to try and keep it in the car until it finally packed up just to see how long it would have lasted.

230K

 

[television]

Hi

I have it on the bench and keep it charged the thing is it was doing its job, would have been nice to try and keep it in the car until it finally packed up just to see how long it would have lasted.

230K

Not always convieniant, mine did it in Tesco car park you could always put it back on and keep the spare in the boot, though they are not ideal things to carry around

malcolm

 

[The Rock]

I've just had to replace the battery in my 8 year old W210. I bought one from the main dealer for £82 + vat, which I thought was a good price.
The old one was OK but didn't like being left all weekend with no use.
Isn't it nice to change a battery that lives inside the car and not under the bonnet. No mess. Easy access. Absolute joy.
Rock

 

[television]

I've just had to replace the battery in my 8 year old W210. I bought one from the main dealer for £82 + vat, which I thought was a good price.
The old one was OK but didn't like being left all weekend with no use.
Isn't it nice to change a battery that lives inside the car and not under the bonnet. No mess. Easy access. Absolute joy.
Rock

I had not thought of that,you are right though,its always like new, maybe when they always look like new,one feels that it cant be faulty as it looks so good.

Malcolm

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Am still on original battery.....2000 still going strong. My brother in law traded an 11 year old Toyota Carina diesel with its original battery still going. Although a diesel needs more battery power to start it uses less when running so gets to maintain charge better.