Went to start the car (2.2TiD MY04 Vector) after being sat in the garage for 2 days.
Waited for the warning lights to go out, turned the key and big click only - lights dimmed, clock reset, no engine turning.
Called the AA but....... what is it likely to be?
Still got some power in battery.
Was just on my way to London so a right %$£*%. :(
Sounds to me like battery - how old is the battery?
Definitely battery. Click is the fact there's not enough power to turn starter. In my experience, modern batteries seem fine and then just die - no warning.
Well, yep could be the battery - the fact that you have lights albeit dim etc, but when this happened to me it was the ignition switch itself :(
Click reset usually means negligible battery power.
Haven't had access to reply befire but........
AA man confirmed low battery level but charged it up and confirmed a healthy charging rate and he said a good battery.
Had to drive down to London then about 3 hours later than planned, and got back late last night - no further starting problems.
There were some additional irritations though. After the frst couple of goes at starting the car, the clock display lost its figures and soon the radio and the dashtop display went blank.
The AA man seemed genuinely surprised when I said we'll pull fuse 14 and replace as the radio and display retiurned.
The other problem was with the electric windows. I lost auto close/open onthe front windows and although I haven't done anything specific by last night the driver's window had resumed normal serice, but not the passenger one. I couldn't 'force' close the windows and fold the mirrors by locking with the key either.
So, can anybody point me to a fuse to pull, or other suggestion to ebsure full service is resumed in the window/mirror department?
Thanks to all for the responses!!!!!
If any of the doors have had the power disconnected the pinch protection will need resetting on that door.
Get in car.
Close doors.
Start car.
Raise window to full height.
Lower 6 inches.
Raise to full height and leave for at least a second.
Drive window to bottom and wait for a couple of seconds.
Raise window to full height and hold until a beep. Beep should be almost instant.
If no beep, try again a couple of times. If nothing, you have some other fault.
if the clock keeps resetting itself along with other settings when starting it means you need a new battery, i've been there done that..
Quote from: sgould on 04 September 2013, 11:15:53 AM
If any of the doors have had the power disconnected the pinch protection will need resetting on that door.
Great sgould, all windows now operating - thanks.
Seemed strange that I lost pinch protection on all 4 windows and it partially returned on the driver's window only.
Quote from: aerojon on 04 September 2013, 01:09:57 PM
if the clock keeps resetting itself along with other settings when starting it means you need a new battery, i've been there done that..
Fortunately aerojohn the clock reset and radio blanked just the once - battery seems to be at full strength after 380 miles and the AA man's efforts. But I will keep a close check from now on.
Thought the problem may have stemmed from something having partially discharged battery in the week and a half I had not run it much. It was taken down to a local tyre shop (not by me) to have a replacement wheel (the other had a very slight buckle) and may have been left with something on. Don't know for sure.
But I will be keeping that close eye on it.
Thanks again for all the help!!!
Disconnecting the battery or removing a critical fuse can disconnect all four windows and cancel the pinch protection. And then you can "inadvertently" reset it by trying it up and down to see what's wrong. :)
Thanks sgould. I could well have done that. :)
If you have a sunroof you will need to reset that too, to get it to auto close.
The windows up and down 5 times trick also puts them into 'learn' mode. But do it to all windows or only some will auto shut.
The 9-5 is really tolerant of dropping voltage levels but the 9-3 is not. If you have a volt/amps meter you could put it across the battery terminals when the car is and is not running. It may well be worth taking the battery completely out of the car's circuit and charging it fully with a proper charger. If anything, it will prolong the battery's life.
Does the battery have Calcium coated plates at all? It would say on the top of the battery casing. These give much more current on demand apparently, and are the latest thing in car battery technology.
A quick health test is to put all the lights on including high beams, and then try to start the car. If the headlights dim much, then the battery is near its last lap. Maybe not now, but in the near enough future. And if it is over 3 years old, you will need a new one soon enough.
Hi nine-fiver,
just checked and the battery is a calcium one (says 'calcium-calcium on the top plate), about 18 months old, sealed and heavy duty. The condition 'window' shows green and I've not had a reoccurrence of the flat battery problem (fingers crossed). :)
No sunroof to worry about.
I'd be giving it a proper off-car charge. Then you should be right.
After the AA man put enough charge in I drove 160 miles to Hemel Hempstead, and then back a day or two later.
Is that enough?
Nope. It needs a full charge if you want to restore long term health to the battery. Overnight, and not connected to the car in any way. Don't remove it but just disconnect it.
Thanks nine-fiver. :)