#1: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: Monkeymunro, Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 4:45 pm ---- Hi everyone,
I have a S reg 206 XS that i bought a year ago and have had no problems at all until this weekend, went camping over the weekend and woke up sunday morning to a flat battery so i bump started it and put it down to maybe leaving a door slightly open and the light being left on as my girlfriend had been inside it the night before. All was well for the rest of the day and started ok everytime then Monday morning it was flat again but jump started it and again no problems for the rest of the day. It was flat again this morning but after taking it for a run and leaving it running while running errands it wouldn't start after turning the ignition off. When i turn the ignition on all the lights come on nice and bright, there is no clicking and the windows come down with no problems like slow because of a low battery. When i had it started last night i revved it while the lights were on and they didnt get brighter or dimmer and today i bought a multimeter and was getting a reading of 12.6 from the battery after it wouldn't start.
Can anyone help or give me some pointers please?
Thanks in advance
#2: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: MrBSI, Location: What's it to you? ? ?Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:04 pm ---- Check the main earth cable, on the early 206 like yours the cable is prone to corroding / breaking at the lug where it bolts on to the gearbox & then loops over on to the body shell.
You could also have a parasitic drain via the alternator which would drain the battery.
#3: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: Monkeymunro, Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:11 pm ---- Thank you MrBSI. could you possibly point me in the direction of said cable lol. Unfortunately any posts with pictures on here say i need to update my profile to view photobucket pics. What would a parasitic drain likely be? There was one day last week i started my car for work and the airbag light stayed on so i turned the engine off and back on and it went off as normal, i didnt think anything of it but it has a connection?
#4: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: Monkeymunro, Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 6:28 pm ---- Ok so i now know what a parasitic drain is now but i dont think it is one. Can anyone tell me how to spot a bad cell on the battery? When i bought the car it hadnt had an MOT for four yrs but it looked like someone had been preparing it for one and it sailed through and the battery looks very new. If the car didn't have a reg plate on you wouldn't have guessed it was nearly 20 yrs old and when i bought it last yr it only had 68,000 on the clock. Even now its only got 71,550 miles. If i look under the car tomorrow is the earth strap easy to spot?
#5: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: mtempsch, Location: Gothenburg, SwedenPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:02 pm ----
Monkeymunro wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to spot a bad cell on the battery?
Assuming a std lead-acid battery, no gel, AGM or other more exotic stuff...
To check each cell you need to be able to open the top - these days it might not look to be openings, but often there are one or two bigger panels, often hidden under stickers, holding the plugs that close the holes into the cells.
Once opened, shine a torch into each cell and check the water level, should be above the top of the plates. Often there's a little tab of plastic indicating normal level.
With a hydrometer suck up some acid and take a reading of the density. You might want to a couple of times forcefully pump the bulb in order to agitate the acid - might reveal particulates that've precipitated and accumulated at the bottom of the cell (not a good thing).
The density should be the same (or very close) in all the cells. An 'odd man out' is an indication.
You may want to compare the state of charge indicated by the acid's density with the one indicated by the open voltage (see for instance batteryuniversity.com/...of_charge)
If a load tester is available (device that can draw a large current) a bad cell can (but doesn't always) show up by bubbling while the others are still.
#6: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: Monkeymunro, Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:01 am ---- Could anyone tell me how to test for a parasitic drain?
#7: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: mtempsch, Location: Gothenburg, SwedenPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 2:05 pm ----
Monkeymunro wrote:
Could anyone tell me how to test for a parasitic drain?
#8: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: MrBSI, Location: What's it to you? ? ?Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:10 pm ----
Monkeymunro wrote:
Thank you MrBSI. could you possibly point me in the direction of said cable lol.
Follow the thick cable from the earth terminal of the battery & it will end up connected on top of the gearbox & will then loop over to another connection on to the chassis rail.
You will end up unbolting the battery box after removing the battery to get at the main earth cable.
#9: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: Monkeymunro, Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:10 am ---- Well ive got the problem sorted and would like to thank everyone for the advice. I did indeed have a snapped earth but looked like it came off the chassis a while ago but off the gearbox recently so replaced that but it turns out the battery was dead. Even tho it was fully charged after every drive it was only at 31% health so had to stump up £64 for a new battery! !
Many thanks peeps
#10: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: MrBSI, Location: What's it to you? ? ?Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 3:09 pm ---- Earth cable is a known issue on these early 206's, a nice simple fix.
FWIW: If you leave the main earth cable broke to long it would have burnt out the wiring loom behind the dash board.
#11: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: VorTechS, Location: Gloucestershire, UKPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:08 pm ----
MrBSI wrote:
Earth cable is a known issue on these early 206's, a nice simple fix.
FWIW: If you leave the main earth cable broke to long it would have burnt out the wiring loom behind the dash board.
Not come across this before. Any 'typical' symptoms of this?
#12: Re: Battery/alternator/starter motor problems? ? Author: 206HdiGti, Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:49 pm ---- I've recently replaced mine. Symptoms...cutting out whilst driving...dead car...mine cut out when I was entering a junction-was really not good at all as I lost PAS and had no drive.
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