i am not saying you are wrong but working with cars all day long and going out to many focus diesels with starting problems , i would be suprised to find them faulty . would you get a new battery and new glow plugs fitted to your car if they did not need it ? . cash is not growing on trees atm , thats all i am saying . i am a mechanic and just trying to give the dude a bit of advice ...
Get your battery tested at your first available opportunity. Check it right after you've been driving. If you get a multimeter, it should register at around 14.4 volts. Check it again in 30 min. If it significantly falls off from 14 volts, then you need to either replace your battery, or check further. If your battery is sealed, then replace it. If it's not sealed, you can check the fluid levels. If one of the cells are low, then refill with distilled water, NOT tap water. If there's doubt, replace it. It's not worth getting stranded in winter anywhere.
eh ! of course its going to fall significantly 14.4 when running but with the engine off it should stay above 12.45 v and not more than .2 a draw , the car can take up to 30 to power down ( pending how old the car is ) .
Depends, 6 cell lead batteries are only nominally 12v fully charged they'll be around 14.5v and under load this can change depending on the load and charge rate. If there is a significant drop over the course of an hour its probably goosed, it should take hours to lose 1v.
It pains me to point this out, but if the car is running then the ~14v is the output of the alternator and not the battery reading.
what if there is an amp draw from the cars system ? . and every battery i carry on my van and new ones i get from parts places must be over 12.45v or we reject them as they are flat/faulty
Voltage sag depends on the quality/capacity of the battery and the load, draw a few hundred amps and the voltage will drop below 12v even fully charged once the load is removed the voltage will rebound. A load as low as an amp with decent quality battery the voltage should not sag at all just drop as the charge decreases. You're right to reject them though 12.5v is probably a bit harsh, if they're allowed to sit for a long period with a low charge they oxidise and lose capacity. They should kept on a maintenance charge if they're not used often to keep the voltage up. I think the voltage at which the chemical reaction can breakdown is about 11v if the battery goes much below even for a shot time its probably goosed.
Haggisathome, having been out to "many" diesel Focus', what's likely to be up with it? Surely your standard sensor problems will persist and make hot/warm starting tricky as well? Recommending glow plugs being replaced is recommending replacing service items anyway, so even if it's not the cause of the fault (which I'm pretty sure it is), it's an advantage for later. Having seen the video there's nothing wrong with the battery, clearly.
In my late Pontiac I had a lot of these glowing plugs, almost like a Christmas tree. I don't like Christmas that much so I removed all the glowing little bitches.
Quick update - last night after work I tried Burnout's suggestion of leaving it longer after the light went out (10-15 seconds) and it seemed to help as it only turned over 2 or 3 times before starting. This morning, did the same again but was much colder (like -2-4 degrees C) and it needed to turn over about 8 times before starting... Did start eventually - I'm sure (well guessing) a knackered battery wouldn't have lasted that long. I'll call my local garage later and see what they quote to have a look at it and, more than likely, replace the glow plugs... Thanks all for the help - will rep later on! GK
Doubt it, when mine died it was lucky to get one crank from it. Looking at the video you posted the glow plugs light goes out very quickly, I'd expect to see it stay on for a few secs at least.
It always has gone out that quickly - it's only recently though that it's not been starting that well...
That's the way they are built now, the times that a diesel needed to glow for 20-30 seconds are over. The company cars I sometimes drive are all VW diesels, <3secs glowtime (actually, in sommer it's close to 0) My own Alfa <5secs (i wish it would glow longer actually, we had -16°C last week and it barely started.)
go and take it to your mechanic - would take the guess work out of a forum full of computer nerds.... that and take it on a long LONG run , say an hour at 60mph or so , give it a nice fat charge
indeed , and what has 60 mph got to do with charging the car ? its got the smart charge system fitted to it ! ecu controlled
When you increase engine speed, the alternator takes more of the load off the battery. When the engine is at idle the battery is compensating what the alternator isn't putting out. The voltage is the same but the ampage increases with engine speed. Having been said, this is a diesel which doesn't require the firing of the coil, so the demand on the electrical system after turn over is pretty much neg, unless you've got your lights and rear heated screen turned on.
