406oc.co.uk

My 2001 406 HDI 110 has decided not to start.

This happened about a week ago so bought her a brand new Bosch Silver 610 Amp battery costing £124.99

All was fine.....But.....

It has decided not to start twice since having the new battery as in the car is completely dead......no interior lights, no central locking etc. It only seems to be happening when left overnight........ Any ideas??

When running she is fine, no warning lights, no battery light showing, no dull illumination.....Cant understand??

Any help would be great as I dont want to get stuck whilst out!

Be worth checking the earthing points and connections underneath the battery tray - there's all kinds of stuff under there.

This has just happened to another member on here - he was getting a loss of electrics........viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13444

Are the funny connectors on top of the battery ok? I had this one day where I drove to Tesco with no prob, then had absolutely nothing when I went to start up to get home. Looked under the bonnet & found the terminal had split.

after solving my problem in the treah welly posted my money is on the earth connector under the battery.

saying that, i would say looking under the drivers carlet at those dreaded plugs is deffo good practice. its a pain to do, but worth it.

you paid £125 for a battery

you can get a top spec varta for 40 less than that

Thanks guys!!

She starts ok with a jump start though...... Could this still mean under the battery tray that something could be wrong or the alternator? Surely if it was the alternator the lights would dim etc?

Also she is holding a current voltage of 13.5 when running, this is without any electrics on.

have you tried a normal battery ? sounds like it could be your 125 quid battery

i dont think it will be the alternator, yes i would check the main earth point of the battery

Mastiff wrote:13.5 when running

I think that's just good enough to say the alternator's ok. YOu need to rev it up a bit to get the alternator spinning enough for a decent output though.

So, you put the key in and everything's dead or does it all die when you turn the key?

About 10 days ok I went out to my car to find it totally flat. It had the original battery from new in there so thought it was that thus me buying the Bosch Silver battery................ But the same thing is happening with the new battery. I can drive around fine, stop, start etc with no worries then twice since I have had my new battery is has done the same......Totally flat. After a good set of jump leads and the other car left running for a few minutes she gets enough power into her battery to start then she is ok again. It seems to be when she is left overnight? Original battery was 640amps, Bosh one is 610amps. Also under full throttle the best I got was 13.7? My Saph Cossie gets 14.2..........I'm a bit stuck here. Its almost like I have left the lights on all night, totally flat battery.

alternator

you think its overnight but probably it isnt, you can drive round all day but your battery is going flat because your alternator is not doing its job ,,

sounds like this to me

Gary406 wrote:alternator

you think its overnight but probably it isnt, you can drive round all day but your battery is going flat because your alternator is not doing its job ,,

sounds like this to me

Noooooo

The best quote I got for an alternator today was £186.75

Most 406's have a 150A alternator - that should be enough to give your battery a decent charge with just about everything turned on.

You should get 14 to 14.5V - if you're getting less than this, measure the voltage at the alternator.

If it's still low you have an alternator problem.

If you get the right voltage here, you have a bad connection somewhere between alternator & battery.

If this is the case, eliminate the earth connections by putting a jump lead between alternator casing and battery negative.

If that sorts it, check all the big earth connections / cables.

If not check all the connections in the positive leg betwixt battery and alternator.

dogslife wrote:Most 406's have a 150A alternator - that should be enough to give your battery a decent charge with just about everything turned on.

You should get 14 to 14.5V - if you're getting less than this, measure the voltage at the alternator.

If it's still low you have an alternator problem.

If you get the right voltage here, you have a bad connection somewhere between alternator & battery.

If this is the case, eliminate the earth connections by putting a jump lead between alternator casing and battery negative.

If that sorts it, check all the big earth connections / cables.

If not check all the connections in the positive leg betwixt battery and alternator.

Excellent mate.....Thank you

Will try this tomorrow. The Alternator on my 110 HDI looks a bit of a sod to get to, and if it does need a new one then that looks like it is going to be a real pig of a job........Or is there a quick and easy way

never looked at an alternator on one of these but presumably there all simmilar in that bolted on the end of the alternator is a regulator rectifier , the regulator rectifier has 2 charging stages , tic over about 13 volts and then higher rate of charge when engine is at higher revs .

put multimeter on the battery terminals then get someone to start the engine and watch for voltage change , if it dips whilst starter is being cranked over keep watching the voltage and once engine is running put as many electrics on like heated screen lights fan and watch voltage if it drops you have an alternator fault , rev the car and look for voltage to go up to around 14.5 volts if it doesent the rectifier is faulty .

ive changed rectifiers in the past with the alternator in place its usualy 1 torque screw holding it to alternator and 2 or 3 connectors ( cant remember type ) , if you find a decent auto electrician in your area or possibly ebay you can get the regulator rectifiers for aroung £8 , ide be going for that before anything else from symptoms you describe.

Hmmm, this is interesting!!

I charged my car last night just before I put my thread up on here. I had a multi-meter attached to the battery that was reading 13.5 on tick over and 13 when the heater was on.......did not see what it was with the lights on, heated rear screen etc. I then turned it straight off so it should have held the 13.5v. I am now wondering if there is a permanent live somewhere that is draining it or if it is still something to do with the alternator or as maglite1 says....... regulator rectifier?

So today I cant get to work, not good as im a self employed builder and loose money if I don't go into work as get paid day rate. Cossie is in the garage under her blanket with the head being done and my fiancée's car, well I cant use that as it was stolen last week!

Really am a bit stuck now