battery

[dave406]

Hi all

Im having issues starting in the morning even when its 8 degress its getting worse as it gets colder. I have a Bosch battery that is maybe 2 years old from a astra diesel will it fit the 406 (amps, size etc)

[dave406]

Looking at the sizes i dont think it will fit however can i connect the charged battary with jump leads to the other battery to see if that makes it better if it does i know that the battaery is buggered?

is it pos to pos neg to neg?

will the gact the battery is more amps then the standard pug ones be an issue?

[steve_earwig]

As your car has a BSI you shouldn't really use jump leads on it. Have a look at this viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13431&p=122217&hil ... le#p122217

(gotta go out, don't fry your car in the meantime!)

[steve_earwig]

I'm back! Basically, it's the same deal as disconnecting/reconnecting the battery, stray current can fry your sensitive rubb.. sorry, electronics. What we ll should be using is something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Booster-cable ... 4897.l4275 or a welding surge protector connected across the battery terminals before anything else.

Having said all that however, I think you'll be ok if you treat connecting/disconnecting the second battery in the same way as the 3 minute rule - i.e. let the car go to sleep with the bonnet open, connect the Astra battery, start the car and let it run for a while, then turn it off and wait for 3 minutes again before you disconnect it and whatever you do don't disconnect it while it's running.

Yes, positive to positive, negative to negative (November the 5th has already gone...)

Amperage shouldn't matter.

[dave406]

cool euro car parts have 15% off at the min so will lget a silver bosch like the astra battery if this proves its this causing the issue

The batary will be disconnected form the astra so might just swap them over to see if it improves the starting it wont fit as its a bit longer

[dave406]

... i usually leave it 10 mins before disconnecting the battery you can never be to careful

[Welly]

I was always taught positive to positive and then negative from the booster battery to a free earth point on the car (not one with other wires going to it) mind you finding a reliable earthing point is the next challenge - if in doubt just connect the batteries in parallel as above.

And remember disconnect earth lead first and reconnect last.

[markw]

Yes, the deal about connecting the earth last and away from the -ve terminal on the battery is so that any spark that might occur doesn't happen in the vicinity of potentially explosive gases given off by the battery. If it's connected well away from the battery, this won't happen.
However, as most batteries these days are sealed, I doubt whether this is much of a concern now......

[dave406]

So connect pos pos then.neg neg to remove in.reverse

[dave406]

had a free batt test done at quick fit batt hea;th is 95% and when car was running with everthing on the alt was producing 14.4V so its not the battery could it be glow plugs?

[Doggy]

HDi's should start easily glow plugs or not.
Is it spinning over fast enough?

[dave406]

I have no.idea one it's started its.fine for the day. Also sometimes when it catches and you let go of the key it cuts out


I will start a new thread as this is now not battery related

[k_f]

I bought a Bosch battery for mine which was meant to fit according to the shop but when I tried to fit it, it wouldn't fit properly. Sorry I can't remember exactly why but it might have been related to the plastic cover. Fortunately I got my money back no problem and bought a brand I'd never heard of before which fitted perfectly. Having said that, I'd never heard of the battery brand fitted by the factory but it was excellent quality, lasting almost 10 years.

[D9406]

My battery packed up yesterday but I had been jumping it for a couple of days, battery to battery, battery to earth on gearbox. Went to a battery wholesaler who put a new battery on, never bothered with waiting for bsi to go to sleep or worried about jumping it over the past few days and never had any problems. Perhaps I've been lucky or perhaps too much is made of bsi fears.

[dave406]

Mine was a broken injector