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[Terbs]

Basically, my battery (on the 2.5) is not holding charge. I did over 100 miles yesterday, but this morning the battery is dead. Once started (battery pack) its possible to do a few miles, and if you start it within a short time it will start. Leave it for any amount of time, and it won't start.

So this morning, I swapped batteries with the 2.6, and the 2.5 started perfectly, although this battery has been stood for a month.

The 2.6 then only started with the battery pack. I took it out for a run, then left it for an hour....flat as a witch's tit.

I am assuming, although only a few months old, this battery is fubared !!!!! So...what has caused it. I have noticed that the 2.5 seems to be running hot...87 to 92 every trip, whatever speed. The fan is cutting in and out for the whole journey, like yesterday, 100+ miles. Would this knacker a battery. The hot running will need to be investigated, as I do not want it fubaring the battery I have put on it from the 2.6.

And lastly, fella's...what is the difference between the battery AH. I have looked at several places for the battery, and there seems to be a variation from 60ah to 100ah for the car. Obviously lower ah, cheaper the battery in some cases. Advice appreciated, please

[Bigron]

Firstly and most importantly from your financial point of view, as the suspect battery is quite new, you must have a warranty, so get it replaced FOC!
When you had the good battery from the 2'6 in the 2.5, did you experience the same heat/fan issues, or was that only with the suspect battery?
If all was well with the good battery in place and the alternator is outputting the correct voltage (get it checked FOC at several tyre and battery places) then you need not worry about sending a new battery to an early grave.
|Battery capacity? Simple; get the highest A-h capacity that will fit in the battery try, consistent with your finances - BUT, seek reparation via your suspect battery's warranty as a first move!

Ron.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Basically, my battery (on the 2.5) is not holding charge. I did over 100 miles yesterday, but this morning the battery is dead. Once started (battery pack) its possible to do a few miles, and if you start it within a short time it will start. Leave it for any amount of time, and it won't start.

So this morning, I swapped batteries with the 2.6, and the 2.5 started perfectly, although this battery has been stood for a month.

The 2.6 then only started with the battery pack. I took it out for a run, then left it for an hour....flat as a witch's tit.

I am assuming, although only a few months old, this battery is fubared !!!!! So...what has caused it. I have noticed that the 2.5 seems to be running hot...87 to 92 every trip, whatever speed. The fan is cutting in and out for the whole journey, like yesterday, 100+ miles. Would this knacker a battery. The hot running will need to be investigated, as I do not want it fubaring the battery I have put on it from the 2.6.

And lastly, fella's...what is the difference between the battery AH. I have looked at several places for the battery, and there seems to be a variation from 60ah to 100ah for the car. Obviously lower ah, cheaper the battery in some cases. Advice appreciated, please

Mine is 72 A/H.

GM suggest something like 65 A/H.

[Terbs]

Firstly and most importantly from your financial point of view, as the suspect battery is quite new, you must have a warranty, so get it replaced FOC!
If all was well with the good battery in place and the alternator is outputting the correct voltage (get it checked FOC at several tyre and battery places) then you need not worry about sending a new battery to an early grave.When you had the good battery from the 2'6 in the 2.5, did you experience the same heat/fan issues, or was that only with the suspect battery?

|Battery capacity? Simple; get the highest A-h capacity that will fit in the battery try, consistent with your finances - BUT, seek reparation via your suspect battery's warranty as a first move!

Ron.

Highlighted....as is normal in this family, I can't find the bill (as yet) despite having a folder for all three cars which are supposed to contain everything.

Secondly, Ron...that is something I had not thought about, the running hot being connected. I'll go out and have a run after tea and check, and will report back. 

[Terbs]

Well, I'll go to sea in a bucket !!!! Ron...if you follow this, what is the significance between a duff battery and running hot.
I have just done 20 miles, and the temperature ran at 87 degrees, even dropping to 85 but when I caught up to a tractor it went to 90 but soon dropped to 87 once moving.
Interested to know the answer.
Battery size I am looking at is 70AH

[Phil L]

Sounds to me like it's the battery if things ran fine with the 2.6 battery in place.

[Bigron]

It's definitely the battery! Without voltage checks you can't be sure, but I suspect a dead cell. To confirm this, fully charge it off the car and measure the terminal voltage about 10 minute intervals for an hour. If it starts at approx. 12.4 volts and drops fairly rapidly over that time towards 10 volts, it IS a dead cell and will be replaced under warranty withoput quibble.
Assuming this to be the case, during driving the alternator would have been working its electrical socks off trying to bring the battery back up to full voltage and thereby taking a lot of power from the engine in doing so, causing it to get hotter.
I hope that makes sense?

Ron.

[Bigron]

Clarification: the voltage checks need to be made after a full charge, yes, but then with the charger disconnected - I should have made that clearer!

Ron.

[Terbs]

Cheers for that, Ron. Makes perfect sense
I shall take the battery out tomorrow and give it a full charge, then do as you say.
You learn something every day.
Also gonna pull the house apart and find that missing bill

[Bigron]

Happy to help; please let me know how you get on, also if you get the battery replaced. Out of interest, where did you buy it from? They usually have at least 3 years' warranty.

Ron.

[Terbs]

I bought it through the garage my son in law was manager of. The first battery was the wrong size so was exchanged....I don't know what happened to the paperwork. If I had it, it should be here somewhere. However, due to the company about to shut the depot, they did not pay bills, so some stuff had to be paid for by the workers. I think that happened in my case and I gave the bloke cash. I thought he gave me the paperwork but I may be wrong.
I'll keep you posted on the charging events.
I have to ask the question...if the alternator was working its socks off to charge the battery, how does that cause the engine to run hot. Forgive the ignorance on this subject

[Bigron]

The alternator gives up to 120 Amps output at 14.4 volts. The product of those two quantities gives the power to the battery, i.e. 1728 Watts.
Hovever, it will be a heavier load than that due to inefficiencies and friction, so say 2,000W or more. This could mean a real-life load of approaching 3 horse power.
I confess that having made these calculations it isn't great compared to the total output of a 2.5 litre engine, so there could be another factor coming into play here, but you have already proved that this sick battery is the culprit, so I'll await input from others to give another view!

Ron.

[Kevin Wood]

Worth following this on both cars in case one is overcharging and knackered the battery as a result, IMO.

If both cars check out OK, the battery is clearly FUBAR.

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90619.0

[Terbs]

Thanks for the link Kevin. I did a search and missed that

[Terbs]

After following the advice here, and Kevins excellent link information, I think we can safely say the battery is totally knackered.
Summary is this...I put the battery on the bench and checked the voltage....12.47 volts. I then connected to a charger, and it started at 4 amps, this changed to 2 amps within 15 minutes. After an hour, with charger connected and charging, I had a readout of 14.61 volts. I disconnected after a further 30 minutes, Waited an hour, and had a readout of 12.86 volts.
I then attached the battery to the car, connected and had a readout of 12.81 volts.
Getting wifey to crank the car, (which would not turn over), I got a reading under 8 volts. Switching off, the battery returned up to 12.2 volts.
The recipient car was the 2.6 which has no electrical problems.

In the meantime, the battery from the 2.6, which was used to test the  charging system on the 2.5, is holding a 12.89 charge after resting overnight, after my 20 mile test run. The car started first time with a high speed turnover. All the idle and 2000rpm and charge readings are within the expected scales. I think this negates the 2.5 systems as causing any battery problems.

Sorry this is a bit long winded but shows how our maintenance guides can be of extreme help
Thanks to all for contributions on this thread