OK

Situation is the S2K is sat in my car park refusing to make a squeak, I have been away for nearly a month and sitting idle in cold weather has left it deader than Englands Ashes defence.

Options...

- Get a new battery and fit myself
- Ring Chiswick Honda and ask them why my 3 year end of warranty check didn't reveal anything and will they replace as goodwill (Stop laughing)
- Get RAC man round to jump start on Saturday before I head out for 300 miles on motorway and hope that's going to give enough life.

It's Sep 03 with 19k miles so I suppose I should have expected the battery to start flagging this winter but slipped my mind.

Thoughts people???

 

I'd go for option 1 or 3 - but probably erring more towards 1.

I left my previous car at Heathrow in March and the alarm went off while I was away, leaving the battery flat when I came back - RAC jump-started and off I went. Two weeks later, had the radio on for 15mins and it drained the battery.

Once the battery is completely dead like that - it knackers it and only worthy of replacement.

 

Go to Honda or Halfords and get a new battery. There's no way that your warranty check would have picked up the fact that your battery might fail - these S2000 batteries seem to just die instantly and without warning. Mine was fine one minute, stopped for some food, then it was completely dead, 1 hour later

If you go to Halfords, check the FAQ for the right part number as Halford's database is wrong.

It's only about

 

Cheers for the help everyone.

It looks like replacing the battery is going to be the best option, I'll try and get to Halfords one night this week.

As for fitting it, is that a fairly straightforward job? I'm not cack handed but I'm very low on kit purely as living in a flat does not allow space for much! I guess not but always better to ask.

 

You just need the right spanner Or get the RAC man to jump the car and take it straight to a dealer or Halfords who will fit it for you.

 

Just becase it is flat doesn't mean that it needs to be replaced.

Get one of These from Argos (or Halfords) .... one of the most usefull things you can buy if your car sits for long periods without being used.

If your battery is screwed it won't hold a charge overnite and then you know it needs to be replaced.

In this cold weather by Spoon battery wont hold a charge for a week ...... but this doesn't mean that the battery is screwed.

 

And from recent experience with the 911, simply taking it for a run will not recharge a battery that is substantially discharged. You need to hook it up to a battery conditioner and do a proper recharge.

 

I know a little about lead acid batteries and recharging (see my sig). You must trickle the battery initally for a couple of days before pounding it with a fast charge/ alternator long run >30 mins. otherwise you'll get serious heat buildup and possible plate warping internally <--v dead battery.

When run very low/ aged + cold snap the plates can get calcified (ie covered in crap) that inhibits the reaction between the lead and acid and therefore stops the battery holding a charge, this is tough to remove to bring the battery back to life. Theres much debate on why batteries die at the first cold snap but IMHO its the slow build up of cack internally reaching a tipping point coupled with low temp/charge/ high current usage (heaters, denisters, headlights/full beam etc). that does for em.

Even if you manage to recharge the battery, chances are it will not last much longer if its a few years old now. You might get another winter out of it though.

As a guide >14 days unused, disconnect the battery (or use a trickle charge/ battery conditioner) as even the alarm will drain it much after this

HTH

 

If a battery is completely drained then chances are it wont hold charge.

i had a new battery in my beater and then left the internal light on a week later so that the battery was so flat not even the clock was working.

AA came along and the thing wouldnt hold a charge so they replaced it under warranty. best get a new one as batteries anyway only seem to have a 3-5 year life span

 

But if you do need a new battery, go to Honda.

They are cheaper than Halfords and a better battery.