Car wont start and needles drop when brake depressed

[twoscoops]

Right, my car does not get used anywhere near as often as it should and consequently the battery has died. The battery is less than a year old and previously I was able to use jump leads to get it started. Just before Christmas the battery died and I used jump leads to get it started. When I did, it did not seem to be running the best and the lights where very dim etc. It also showed the ABS warning symbol for a while. When I stopped the car and tried to restart it immediately it made a fun flickering sound and the dash lights flickered at high speed and would not start.

I noticed that the immobiliser beeps kept going every few seconds for a while.

I also notice that whilst the ignition was on, if I pressed the brake pedal, the needles would all drop to dead if you know what I mean?

Any thoughts???? Any help would be massively appreciated!

Thanks

Tim

[Brianmoooore]

Battery is dead, or has a very poor connection to it.
Doesn't take much to destroy a modern battery, especially if the temperature drops below freezing when it's discharged.

[Topblag]

Right, my car does not get used anywhere near as often as it should and consequently the battery has died. The battery is less than a year old and previously I was able to use jump leads to get it started. Just before Christmas the battery died and I used jump leads to get it started. When I did, it did not seem to be running the best and the lights where very dim etc. It also showed the ABS warning symbol for a while. When I stopped the car and tried to restart it immediately it made a fun flickering sound and the dash lights flickered at high speed and would not start.

I noticed that the immobiliser beeps kept going every few seconds for a while.

I also notice that whilst the ignition was on, if I pressed the brake pedal, the needles would all drop to dead if you know what I mean?

Any thoughts???? Any help would be massively appreciated!

Thanks

Tim

When my cars are off the road from Oct to April, I leave the battery disconnected and give them a charge once a month and they last ok, as Brian said, it's having them fully discharged that's the killer for them.

[twoscoops]

thanks for the replies guys, would that still match up with the fact that I managed to get it started and it drove for about 300m and then died again? That was before it died completely?

Cheers

Tim

[Billwill]

thanks for the replies guys, would that still match up with the fact that I managed to get it started and it drove for about 300m and then died again? That was before it died completely?

Cheers

Tim

Yes a bad battery puts major strain on the alternator so all the electrics die!

First thing is to get a new good battery, clean battery terminals well and make sure the negative lead to chassis is clean and tight and the strap grounding the engine to chassis is clean and tight.

If this does not resolve your problem then next step is check the charging system!

[twoscoops]

Thanks guys really appreciate the replies and it just so happens that eurocarparts has a good sale on at the minute!

[gooseygander110]

thanks for the replies guys, would that still match up with the fact that I managed to get it started and it drove for about 300m and then died again? That was before it died completely?

Cheers

Tim

Yes a bad battery puts major strain on the alternator so all the electrics die!

First thing is to get a new good battery, clean battery terminals well and make sure the negative lead to chassis is clean and tight and the strap grounding the engine to chassis is clean and tight.

If this does not resolve your problem then next step is check the charging system!

Check the charge rate anyway !! Once you have done the above ,make sure you are getting around 13.5 v to the battery when running from alt........ could also be that if the alt is dead, you run on battery power,.......once battery gets low or is faulty. + no alt charge ........ would describe your symptoms

[twoscoops]

yip battery changed and everything fine! Just need to drive the car more. It only has 51,000 on the clock and I dont want to put miles on to it but needs must.

[Motorhole]

And disconnect the battery when it's going to be sat for a while! Batteries can survive several months of idle activity provided that no charge at all is being drawn from them.

[Brianmoooore]

And disconnect the battery when it's going to be sat for a while! Batteries can survive several months of idle activity provided that no charge at all is being drawn from them.

Only problem with this is that it isn't good for the batteries in the instrument cluster, and the engine ECU can lose its idle settings.
Better to leave the battery connected and connect an automatic battery charger. £13 in Lidl at the moment.

[twoscoops]

was actually thinking about getting one of the solar chargers for it as it is not garaged so cant use an automatic battery charger because I cant plug it in.