Volvo 340 gl - F reg.

Can anyone help!

Car starts some days perfectly, but not at all on others.
Has second new battery in 6 months. This time a heavy duty one as orginally suggested this was the problem. Apparently not it seems!
Battery losing charge if car left for, say, two days. Starter was taken off, cleaned and refitted a couple of weeks ago and seemed to do the trick. But now back to square 1. Made direct contact from battery to solenoid - engine only turned slowly.
Jump stated car and after a few mins, car will start on own battery with engine turning over at good speed. Alternator charging at 14.5 volts. Power drain checked on battery when everything turned off - only about 2mls.

Any ideas - electrial contacts with solenoid one suggestion - many thanks




Tricia

Hi,
Have you checked the simple things 1st, like are any lights left on .. inside the car as well as outside ? .. eg. light in boot or glove compartment , .. might sound daft but this happened to me before and it took me ages to find out why, and it was on .. in the boot.
does the headlights go dim when trying to start the car ? (possible bad earth or (dare I say it ' Battery' ).

not much help for now, but check them out anyway.

Bev & martin

Hi,
Have checked the simple things. I should be so lucky to have a light in the glove compartment!! But funny enough, in the past, the boot light staying on caused problems until we found it. This time it's the first thing I checked. Trying a different battery at the moment and leaving the car a couple of days to see if it is the battery once and for all.
Love the dog by the way!

Tricia

[Peter Milnes]

The tried and tested way is to disconnect the battery overnight (remembering your radio code) and see if it is alright the next morning. If you can then start the car the fault is in the alternator. If there is no change then the battery is dud.

All the best, Peter