Wonder if the battery in my 03 WRSX is likely to be goosed :
Had the car for 6 motnhs, been fine since then, drove it Saturday also drove it to work and back etc on Monday, parked up with, it now seems, one of the 2 mall interior lights beside the rear-view mirrow switched on.
Didn't drive yesterday, came to start it today and nowt apart from a smal squeek or 2 when I tried to start it. It's a Silverline battery I think, has an indicator on it that shows green for good, black for beware ! Mine showed black. Eventually got it jump-started and drove to work. Have restarted it a couple of times and it was ok sounding healthy enough.
Splashing £70 or so on a battery is not what I need right now but if it's dodgy then it will have to be done. Until a short while ago I hadn't realised the 'smart' alternator issues so I drove to work with nothing causing a drain other than the radio trying, I thought, to give it a good charge - I'll ensure that I give it a blast with the heater and lights on today but I wonder if the battery is going to need replaced ? Can it be tested with a multimeter to see what it's putting out to determine replacement or not ?

 

Halfords will test batteries for free. Their HCB005 is a good battery if you need to buy.

 

I had exactly the same issue fella. I tried all sorts - Battery water top ups, leaving the heating on setting one all the time (apperently that activates the alternator or something) - to varying degrees of success.

I threw in the towel when I returned from paying for fuel one day after being on the road for 2 hours, the car 'chirped' but didn't start. I had to bump it.

I bought a new one from Car Batteries, Cheap Car Batteries, Replacement Car Batteries, Next Day Delivery from Perfomancebatteries.co.uk for £56 quid or so and it hasn't missed a beat since.

 

cheers for the replies - I've already checked out batteries on-line, Halfords want £88, Euro Car Parts quote for 2 different ones, one at £63 and one £57, not sure the significant difference (dearer is 005/56 60ah, cheaper is 005 60ah, both quoted as Battery Capacity 60Ah-65Ah;12V Cold Current 580A; 540A )

The battery had seemed fine right until this morning, always turned engine over quick enough so unless I can get confirmation that it is on it's way out or it does start sounding poorly then I'd probably just carry jump leads for a while. Will then see if it continues to charge up and behave itself and, if so, put it down to the light being left on plus me often driving with no electrical drain other than the radio as I tend not to have the heater or air-con on and mostly I drive in the daytime so no lights on either .

 

Quick one - ok to run a charger on the battery whilst connected to the car ?
I've got one I've used to charge up my motorbike battery and, assuming the car continues to behave ok, I'd like to charge it up for a few hours this evening just to top it up anyway.

 

Being a massive technophobe I do not know the answer. I removed mine to charge.