jthspace
Well-known member
Had a completely flat aux battery today.
I had been on holiday and arrived home with the main battery almost completely empty. I then had to leave on a two week business trip and left the car on the drive. Today, I got in the car O.K. but when I pressed the start button, it only turned orange (despite foot on brake), flickered and then stayed on regardless of how many times I pressed it. If I left it alone, it started flashing and then went out.
I got the jump leads out and connected it per the manual. After leaving it "on charge" from my wifes car for 5 minutes, still nothing would work so I called Mitsu breakdown. They came within 45 minutes. He connected one of those portable jump starters to the car and it powered up in about 5 seconds. Started the car and the engine started and all was well.
Apparently, according to the mechanic, the advice in the manual to connect the "ground" to the bracket of the reservoir bottle probably was not the best as it is bolted to the chassis on a painted surface, so the "ground" connection was not the best. He suggested if it occurred in the future, to put the "ground" onto one of the visible bolts on the engine block.
Anyway, all is fine now. Nothing had been left switched on when the car was unattended (interior lights etc) so it MAY have been a combination of a very low main battery when the car was left for two weeks and a drain on the battery from the alarm system meaning the aux battery never got a "recharge" from the main battery during that time? Any other ideas?
Jeff
I had been on holiday and arrived home with the main battery almost completely empty. I then had to leave on a two week business trip and left the car on the drive. Today, I got in the car O.K. but when I pressed the start button, it only turned orange (despite foot on brake), flickered and then stayed on regardless of how many times I pressed it. If I left it alone, it started flashing and then went out.
I got the jump leads out and connected it per the manual. After leaving it "on charge" from my wifes car for 5 minutes, still nothing would work so I called Mitsu breakdown. They came within 45 minutes. He connected one of those portable jump starters to the car and it powered up in about 5 seconds. Started the car and the engine started and all was well.
Apparently, according to the mechanic, the advice in the manual to connect the "ground" to the bracket of the reservoir bottle probably was not the best as it is bolted to the chassis on a painted surface, so the "ground" connection was not the best. He suggested if it occurred in the future, to put the "ground" onto one of the visible bolts on the engine block.
Anyway, all is fine now. Nothing had been left switched on when the car was unattended (interior lights etc) so it MAY have been a combination of a very low main battery when the car was left for two weeks and a drain on the battery from the alarm system meaning the aux battery never got a "recharge" from the main battery during that time? Any other ideas?
Jeff
