Signs of a failing battery?

[losh1971]

If I am having a long crank and a miss at first start up, which is worse with the A/C on is this a sign my battery is on its way out? Just to add long crank was only noticed this morning and has never happened before and only happens when things are really cold.

 

[EYY]

Drive to your nearest supercheap and have the battery and charging system tested. Takes less than a minute and it's free. You also get a printout of battery capacity, voltage and charge voltages.

 

[losh1971]

Cool I will do that. I suspect the battery is possibly the culprit; although the alt according to the PCM is only putting out 13.9v maybe 14v. The battery is over three years old and is just a crappy Century. Today was 2deg C, so even more reason I am suspecting it's going to fail. Given that during the day and after a run it doesn't miss and starts within a second or two is what is leading me also to think battery.

I have it on the charger and will see if that improves it in the morn.

 

[1985VK]

Yeah give it a nice slow charge first ... it is not uncommon for car batteries to run slightly flat over time ... every once in a while i take the battery out of the car and give it a nice slow charge to keep it crisp ...

 

[losh1971]

Another question, if battery is on it's way out am I at the risk of damaging my new coils and DFI?

 

[1985VK]

It depends what "on it's way out" means ... common literature on battery technology says it just provides the energy to spin the starter and then the alternator should take over to provide the energy to the rest of the vehicle. Theoretically the battery is just a reserve of electrical energy to "start" the car. You could ring the battery company and ask to speak to technical support for more peace of mind ...

 

[losh1971]

Yeah, but guess I am thinking that the battery needs to supply a reasonable amount of power for the first five seconds because it would take that for the alt to bring the battery up to running volts and that is about how long it has a miss for first thing in the morning, over the last week or two.

Other explanation for the miss would be a leaking HG but it doesn't always miss and once the engine has been started it doesn't tend to miss again that day. Plus I have no other signs of a leaking HG.

 

[1985VK]

It is well worth giving the battery a nice slow charge until it is full and try again. It is getting colder so it is important to have a good battery to push out those cold cranking amps ...

 

[losh1971]

I will charge it today and tonight and then try to remember to see SCA tomorrow after work. I think they will probably confirm what I suspect. 4 year + old Century on it's way out. I hope to head to my other home this weekend, where I have a spare battery, which is a dual purpose. Hopefully it hasn't dropped below 11.8v. If it hasn't I will wack it on my smart charger, which should bring it back up and hopefully the configuration will work and it's not too tall.

 

[1985VK]

If you take it in for a load test try and have it fully charged before it is tested. It is a fair chance a 4+ year old battery might need replacement. Maybe take a look on Ebay if there is one around you can pick up locally at a bargain price?