Leaving lights on

[Anonymous]

Ok, so like the fool I am i left my light on yesterday, draining my battery.  How on earth I managed to do it with that high pitched lights-on alarm you get I'll never know.

Anyway the car behaved slightly weird on returning:

The alarm started going off, no amount of pressing the unlock/lock button would stop it, but the doors did open.  Only when I put the key in the ignition did I switch it off.

There was a strange clicking coming from the tunnel, just behind the gear box, like a relay, switching over and over again.

Not of the dials, clock, radio lit up (ok, not completely unexpected).

Now I gave the car a push start and my pal managed to start the engine.  However, there was no power steering, and still non of the clusters came on (unless under acceleration, I guess when the dyno was being charged).

My question is, with the power steering, if I'd have gone for a long drive, would it eventually have kicked back in?  Also, my brakes felt fine, but I had a feeling that stopping at high speed might be dangerous, since non of the other systems were working.

[proeliator2001]

Brakes are hydraulic and driven off the engine so you'd be fine there, only the EPS is electric.  Your car does sound odd though, did you check for little green monsters whom you shouldn't get wet running around underneath?    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Tem]

If the voltage was way down, most electrical gadgets start doing funny things, I wouldn't worry about them too much. You should charge the battery or if you can't do that, go for a long drive, which will charge it as well and avoid short trips for a while.

And even if you lost the power brakes, they still work, you just have to use your muscles  s;) s;)

[kanujunkie]

i'd be taking out that battery and giving it a good charge up first before getting too worried, low charge can make some modern electrics do wierd things, dont fret yet

[Anonymous]

Well eventually I got a jump from a friend, the battery warning light went out and the power steering came on.  After that it was fine, I drove to Hammersmith and back and everythings perfect.

But it was a hard bugger to drive without the p/s, i did'n t know if that would have come on in situ as it were.

[Darth Paul]

Well eventually I got a jump from a friend... But it was a hard bugger

[Anonymous]

 s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

[kanujunkie]

Well eventually I got a jump from a friend... But it was a hard bugger

  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Anonymous]

Last time I cleaned my '2 I had the radio on. Just before I started the polish I switched the car off and went inside. When I switched it back on the aerial went mental. It started going up then back down then up again. Really odd. I thought something had got stuck in it but it was all clear. I eventually started the car up and it worked fine. I put it down to dodgy battery, seems to me it is quite a common problem.

Trouble is I couldn't hear the radio with the engine on.   s:( s:(

[kanujunkie]

Trouble is I couldn't hear the radio with the engine on.   s:( s:(

time to get an amp, or two, or three then, only problem now is i can't hear the engine  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Right, have I broke my battery,

Initially the car was fine, drove to hammersmith and returned to the car a good 5 hours later, it started no problem, then drove it a further 40 mins home, in the morning, car started fine, drove 20 mintutes to work.

Now on returning to the car, it wouldn't start, I needed and other jump, this morning, car wouldn't start, luckily i have one of those power pack things, so "jumped myself, ahem", When i got to work (about 20 minute slow commute) i switched the engine off and started, it worked, but sounded a little strained, so i switched off again and started again, and engine wouldn't turn over.  

I have no warning lights or anything,

[darrenjuggins]

Hi,

Sounds like you need to put your battery on a long trickle charge.  Community really dosent recharge the battery all that well, as you will be using different electrical systems which will mean the alternator runs them and charges the battery with whats left.

Your best best is to get yourself a battery charger and trickle charge the battery until completely full, say over night or at best over a weekend.

This way when you start the car the inital charge taken out is replenished quickly, as apposed to the situation at present which sounds like you have a battery at 50 %, with 20% for charging, leaving little else in case you stop or something.

A Long, slow, charge is all thats required.

Cheers

Darren

[Anonymous]

Ah great, i'll give it a try!

[kanujunkie]

Your best best is to get yourself a battery charger and trickle charge the battery until completely full, say over night or at best over a weekend.

this still may not work now, but worth a go for sure, if not i'd have a search for battery conditioning on the internet but you'll need a proper battery charger for that, not a trickle charger, plus a high power 1 ohm resistor and a couple of croc clips.

other option, does Mark still have that lightweight battery tray, you could get one of them??  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

If the voltage was way down, most electrical gadgets start doing funny things, I wouldn't worry about them too much. You should charge the battery or if you can't do that, go for a long drive, which will charge it as well and avoid short trips for a while.

And even if you lost the power brakes, they still work, you just have to use your muscles  s;) s;)

I agree with Tem, all modern cars run on various voltages from 0.5 to the full 12v e.g. EMS sensors run at 0.5 volts where as stereo, electric power steering pumps need the full 12 volts, so most of the vehicles lower voltage parts will work efficiently and high draws would do strange things or not even work at all.

Word of warning: never use jump leads on a Toyota (or most modern cars) unless you do it through a surge protector.

When you charge your skinny Panasonic battery do it off the car and very gradually, these batteries do not like fast charging!
Charging off the car allows your car to reset whilst there is no battery in the system.

If you have problems when you have refitted the charged battery, post your problems and im sure everyone here will have a view or handy advice.

Good look - Lloyd

[Anonymous]

About that power steering, we had a member report that if you switch the ignition off and then turn it back on quickly within two seconds or so, the PS is disabled. To turn it back on you stop the car, switch off, wait a decent interval and then switch it back on.

All of which implies that that the PS wouldn't have come on by itself once you had sufficient charge under the conditions described.

[Anonymous]

Ah you guys are great!

Am a little bothered about the not charging the car quickly, seeing as i've jump started it loads now, but hey.

[filcee]

You could try an Airflow Battery Conditioner

It may not work if the battery is completely kaputt though.  I suspect that it would need to be in fairly good condition before using this item.  I have one, but I haven't used it for a couple of years as I drive my car more regularly now.  The initial recommendation came from a friend who is a weekend Elise driver.  When I used it, the car was new, hence the battery was new (or at least as new as a battery on a new car can be, if you follow).

See also the discussion here

[Anonymous]

Bah, i'm pretty sure the battery is boned,  I've been starting it off my powerpack, but even starting it, then driving for quite a decent drive then immeditly trying to start the car back up doesn't work.  According to the power pack it gets 75% charged, then after a single failed start is back down to empty.

I think i trip down to Halfords for a new battery is in order.

[aaronjb]

I think i trip down to Halfords for a new battery is in order.

You may well find, unless they've updated things recently, that Halfords don't list a battery for our cars in their books..

Though if you search about a bit, Adam listed one recently that fits  s:) s:)

(Last time I looked in their books they only listed batteries for the Mk1 and Mk2)

[Jap GT300]

I think it was hb 035 for imports (small terminals) and hb 045 for UK (big terminals)

The halfords batterys have a much bigger ampage than the Panasonics.

[Anonymous]

Right battery completly flat so i took it to Toyoyta Slough  at lunch time, they said 30 mintues tops and £47.

2 hours later they give me the car back and try to charge me almost £100!

I said there was no chance i was paying that, they're taking the micky, i would never have agreed if i thought it was that much.  The guy knocked off most of the fitting, leaving me with £57 to pay, but i'm still very angry as now i have to stay at work an extra two hours.

[Slacey]

Eh? It takes five minutes to remove the battery AND replace it! Where does all that time and labour come in  s:? :? s:?

[Anonymous]

They claimed they were charging it and checking the values,  I pointed out that they'd clamped a voltmeter to it and every now and again checked to see if it was on 12v yet.