[soumobakshi]

@ MODS, didnt find a thread on this topic, so created a new one. Please free to move where it suits the best.

I was happily out with my family yesterday evening for a shopping spree involving multiple stores. Once i finish all that i had to buy, i was planning to get back home. Well luck was not that good!!

I unlock my car, turn the key and no ignition lights or anything coming up on my 3 Year Old and 50K on Odometer old Logan 1.5 DLX. First i thought it to be a blown out fuse, so i open the Fuse Box 2 located on dash and check the fuse for Ignition and the Main Fuse, all seemed perfectly fine. The i switched my attention to Fuse Box 1 located in the Engine Bay and was surprised to see all is well. It was already 9:30 in the night and my mom, wife and kid were getting worried, called one of my friend for help and they were dropped off to home. Now the question is how to get the vehicle started. All local mechanics were not available as it was a sunday
Quite reluctantly called the Mahindra 24X7 number and provided all the details, in 30 mins i had the roadside assistance vehicle at my side to help me. Impressed!!
He looked into the vehicle and said that the Battery has completely drained and it doesnt have any uices left to fire the engine. I was shocked as this was a properly maintaned vehicle with regular servicing and Mahindra A$$ has never given me a heads up on weak battery. He tried to Jump start the vehicle with the Power of the Bolero Pickup Battery, no luck! Then he removed my battery and plugged in the Boler Battery and that fired the engine, Voila! He again swapped the batteries and warned me not to switch off the engine till i drive a minimum of 10 Kms and that too chances are very bleak that this will actually solve the issue. Well it didnt and i had to replace the Battery.
My question, how do you predict such an attack and is there any symptoms that you can think of?

[Gansan]

Were any lights/appliances left on by mistake for the entire duration when the car was parked?

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by soumobakshi

My question, how do you predict such an attack and is there any symptoms that you can think of?

What I do is a preventive action and that is to get the alternator & battery voltages checked every month.

I guess indicators could be:
if your headlights go dim suddenly,
your ICE head unit's lights have abnormal flickering or
when you feel the horn sounds less cacophonous!

[dadu]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

What I do is a preventive action and that is to get the alternator & battery voltages checked every month.

I guess indicators could be:
if your headlights go dim suddenly,
your ICE head unit's lights have abnormal flickering or
when you feel the horn sounds less cacophonous!

The best indicator is when you loose your preset radio station on the ICE and you digital ODO display trip meter will also reset by itself to 0, it means battery will go anytime, replace at noticing this at first instance.

[libranof1987]

I think if the car takes more than 1-2 sec (unless idle for some time) to crank the engine, the battery has started draining.

Originally Posted by dadu

you digital ODO display trip meter will also reset by itself to 0, it means battery will go anytime, replace at noticing this at first instance.

On the long-time parking thread, I asked if on disconnecting the battery would reset the digital odometer to 0, someone replied in the negative. So, does it?

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

if your headlights go dim suddenly, or when you feel the horn sounds less cacophonous!

When the car is running, would the headlights dim or the horn have a lesser tone? Shouldn't right?

[rg_chn]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

On the long-time parking thread, I asked if on disconnecting the battery would reset the digital odometer to 0, someone replied in the negative. So, does it?

The odo will not reset to 0, the tripmeter will.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

On the long-time parking thread, I asked if on disconnecting the battery would reset the digital odometer to 0, someone replied in the negative. So, does it?

Originally Posted by rg_chn

The odo will not reset to 0, the tripmeter will.

Nope the trip meter will not reset to Zero.

With the OEM batteries, anything over 2.5 years is borrowed life. The best way to check is to check the Sp. Gravity through a bubble gauge. Cheap and easy. Apart from this during service, you can get the battery strength checked with a device which gives the status of each cell in the battery.

[bluevolt]

Regular maintenance of the battery should be done so as to avoid such problems. But many times battery conks off unexpectedly and leaves one stranded. Refer to this thread for more information http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...placement.html

[dot]

Thats right@Bluevolt. Sometimes a bad battery may just die without perceptible warnings. Have a look at this thread. @mdsaab and me spoke about it the next day after the incident. According to him there were no real warning signs before the battery died.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ca-chicca.html

[CrackedHead]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

The best way to check is to check the Sp. Gravity through a bubble gauge. Cheap and easy. Apart from this during service, you can get the battery strength checked with a device which gives the status of each cell in the battery.

+1 - that's the only effective way. And - your regular car service never includes this check.

So get this done occasionally at your neighborhood battery shop (its free).

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Nope the trip meter will not reset to Zero

The odometer reading would be stored on the ECU right? What powers that - a small cell like on the CPU in a computer?

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

With the OEM batteries, anything over 2.5 years is borrowed life.

Surprisingly, we've got a long service from OEM on all our cars - at least 4!

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by dot

Thats right@Bluevolt. Sometimes a bad battery may just die without perceptible warnings.

No matter if you have given your car for regular service at the usual A.S.S, the battery is a different matter altogether. Hardly any of the A.S.S give importance to that until they think they can milk you for it, 2.5 years was not the time limit, so they did not even bother to check.

I have had my car batteries run out in 11 months, 13 months and also 5 years. When it was 5 years(almost, it was 4 years and 9 months), there was absolutely no indication till it happened. 2.5 years is ok unless you checked your battery every 2-3 months.

[MAS]

I had. Similar experience with my Fusion. I had stopped to take 'spy' snaps of the new i10 and after that the cat refused to start. The only difference was I was on the highway in the middle of nowhere and at 12,30 am in the morning.

As libranof87 pointed out, my car was cranking excessively before the engine came up to life. This could be a real sign. I had my hazards on for sometime before the incident.

But in your case, it looks as though the parking lights were switched on or your security alarm (if you have one) just triggered off draining your battery.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by MAS

I had. Similar experience with my Fusion. I had stopped to take 'spy' snaps of the new i10 and after that the cat refused to start.

MAS, sorry to disappoint you, we are talking about a car here, not starting your cat called Fusion (Hmmm strange name for a cat though). You can try reviving him with catnip though.

[MAS]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

MAS, sorry to disappoint you, we are talking about a car here, not starting your cat called Fusion (Hmmm strange name for a cat though). You can try reviving him with catnip though.

My bad. Typing from a Blackberry Storm is sometimes tricky. Car=Cat makes Fusion=Confusion