Battery for Surf-can anyone help please?

[lizzi]

I was just sold a leisure battery for my surf which won't start it, the garage that fitted it said it just does not have the power to start a 4x4 which i believe-as someone put a leisure one in by mistake a few years ago with the same problem.
However, the online battery shop that delivered the battery to the garage (if i had opened it i would have seen it was a leisure one and had my doubts about putting it in) are saying this is "nonsensical" and all of their leisure batteries are fine for starting "cars" .........
I would be really grateful if anyone could give me their views on this please as i dont think it's going to be easy to sort this out?
Many thanks in advance :-)

( my surf only has one battery? and i told the battery retailer exactly what it was for?)

[Koi]

Hi and welcome

from a quick search the battery should have the following spec as a minimum

CCA................580
Amp hr............75
Reserve cap.....140

from other posts anything below this and the battery will struggle.

[andy_enuff]

Have a look at Country Batteries (http://www.countybatteryservices.co.uk/) - they have done some good batteries for me in the past and been very helpful too.

[james-r]

sounds a daft question but is the battery charged up? they are usually left on shelves for months, whenever ive bought a battery its always needed charging up first.

[TonyN]

Ideally, you don't want a leasure battery as a starting battery on a car, they arn't designed long term for the same load/recharge cycles that engine starter batteries are made for.

Any battery place will know this.

[lizzi]

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your help-much appreciated! I forgot to say my surf is a 91 2.4 td that i've had probably over 8 years now and i love dearly! ......it works so hard and does get a bit neglected as i'm so busy with all the animals!
Anyway i think they are going to replace it-so i'll check the spec when the new one arrives-and charge it up first!
When it wouldn't start i did charge it over night but even fully charged it really didn't want to start and i just worry it must be doing damage to something the awful noise it makes trying!
So thanks-hopefully this new one will work!
lizzi

[stormforce]

Lizzi as the colder nights are now here i would think about getting the glowplugs changed if they haven't been done for along time.Faulty glowplugs won't make it easy to start as a load of us found out last winter

[Apache]

As Tony says, leisure batteries are designed for lowish current over long periods and deep discharge use. Therefore, their CCA rating is probably much lower, and might not even be stated on the battery as they're not designed to be used as a starting battery.

A starting battery is designed to produce lots of current for short periods of time and will have a CCA rating on it. Higher the better.

[lizzi]

glow plugs?

Is a glow plug like a spark plug? Would i get them from my normal off road dealer?

The new replacement battery-came today.........terminals the wrong way again-so i've given up and ordered one particularly for a surf and up to all the specs posted very kindly on here :-)
(would anyone like a battery no.335 with the pos on the right???)

thanks again for all the tips!

[andy_enuff]

sorry to hear you are having difficulties Where did you order from in the end?

[lizzi]

I ordered one from Performance Batteries in the end-so keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow!
Just have to get on ebay to get rid of this other wrong one now! (hopefully...)

[Tallyman]

If you ordered the "wrong" battery over the internet then the Distance Selling Regulations will apply and you can send it back to the retailer for a refund, especially as they sent the wrong one. That said, some Surf's have two batteries, with opposite connections, so someone might be prepared to take it off your hands if the specs are otherwise correct.

[lizzi]

Update......... eventually i got a battery that actually started my surf for about a week.....then it became really reluctant to start again so i think it may be the glow plugs as if i press the button that lights up the coil light loads of times it (usually) eventually starts?
I've found some glow plugs on ebay for £30 but i just wondered if it's a long job to replace them and if anyone might know the approximate cost?

thanks!
lizzi

[Apache]

Does the starter spin nice and fast, or is it sluggish? If it's sluggish I'd suspect your new battery isn't being charged properly and investigate the charging system.

If it spins nice and fast, I'd take a look at fuel primer. When it does start, is there lots of smoke? That would suggest glow plugs as you say.

[lizzi]

Yes, it seems to be spinning fast enough just won't catch? I'm charging the battery up even though its new just in case somethings draining it but it doesn't make a lot of difference.
Theres a huge amount of smoke when it does start-so i suppose i need to go ahead and get the glowplugs.

Thanks for your help!
lizzi