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Yesterday the car (2nd Gen 3 litre KZN130) would not re-start after a 15 mile drive. Slow then o cranking of starter motor.
A bloke offered a jump start and that worked fine - starter spun rapidly and car fired up. I drove home 110 miles in the dark with lights on, so alternator must be ok. Once home I switched off engine and tried to re-start and again got slow cranking at starter motor.
I charged batteries overnight. Reading 13.4V on full charge. Cleaned battery terminals and both earths (chassis and block). I then put a volt meter across the battery terminals and got my other half to try and start the car. Voltage across the battery terminals dropped to 4.5V and slow then no cranking at starter motor. Voltage returned to 12.5 after attempt at starting.
I'm thinking my batteries must be shot as 4.5V on 'load test' seems not good. But am a bit surprised by how suddenly this came on. I'm also pretty stupid when it comes to electrics. I have had a current leak on the interior light/radio circuit but I always pull that fuse when parked so I don't think that is an issue. I'm getting no appreciable current drain measured between battery negative and earth with the interior light/radio fuse pulled.
The batteries came with the truck and I've had it at least 4 years so they could be ancient. Anything else to check before I order new batteries?
Thanks..
.
Yesterday the car (2nd Gen 3 litre KZN130) would not re-start after a 15 mile drive. Slow then o cranking of starter motor.
A bloke offered a jump start and that worked fine - starter spun rapidly and car fired up. I drove home 110 miles in the dark with lights on, so alternator must be ok. Once home I switched off engine and tried to re-start and again got slow cranking at starter motor.
I charged batteries overnight. Reading 13.4V on full charge. Cleaned battery terminals and both earths (chassis and block). I then put a volt meter across the battery terminals and got my other half to try and start the car. Voltage across the battery terminals dropped to 4.5V and slow then no cranking at starter motor. Voltage returned to 12.5 after attempt at starting.
I'm thinking my batteries must be shot as 4.5V on 'load test' seems not good. But am a bit surprised by how suddenly this came on. I'm also pretty stupid when it comes to electrics. I have had a current leak on the interior light/radio circuit but I always pull that fuse when parked so I don't think that is an issue. I'm getting no appreciable current drain measured between battery negative and earth with the interior light/radio fuse pulled.
The batteries came with the truck and I've had it at least 4 years so they could be ancient. Anything else to check before I order new batteries?
Thanks..
.
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