Flat Battery

[stuart bowes]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Instead of a slave battery, I use a jump starter pack. Mine cost circa £30 from Aldi and is up to starting the 3.0L V6 petrol engine in Linda's Saab, so should cope with most Volvos.

It also has a small compressor (handy for pumping up bike tyres, etc.), plus 2 X 12V socket outlets and a USB socket, as well as work lights and emergency flashers. A very handy piece of kit! Just surprised no one has mentioned one before.

Regards, John.

Good point my missus has one of those it's really small as well about the size of a vhs tape, I was very dubious when I saw it but it does like 10 or 12 starts before having to plug in. Also a torch / USB charger

[Dippydog]

If it has the jump start point under the bonnet I'd be wary of going direct to the battery,it can all go horribly wrong doing that.The original Ford C-Max would blow the radio[not just the radio fuse but the head unit] if you went battery to battery for example,as did my oldest brothers '04 plate BMW X5 when someone did that after his battery had gone flat.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Peter 62

Car has been parked in the street for a few weeks and the battery has gone flat.

Issue is that there is a car parked in front of it that has been there for months. There is only room for 1 car to drive up or down the road at a time, so if I parked alongside to jump start it I would block the road.

Would I be ok to park behind the car and jump start from that car direct onto the Volvo's battery (that is in the back under the floor)?

Am thinking it should be ok, but don't want to interfere/damage with any other electrics or electronics.

54 plate, phase 2 facelift.

Yes you can jump start the car by connecting the jump leads to the + and - of your cars battery and there there is no risk to damaging electronics etc. form doing do. I would personally connect it and leave in running for 10 mins or so to try and get some charge into the battery.

The reason this is not the prescribed method is the risk of hydrogen emissions from the battery being ignited by a spark when the jump leads are removed (hence the advice to connect the negative lead to metal work). Hence - disconnect the leads from the battery which is in the most open space first. If you have a tow ball you could clamp the -ve lead to that otherwise just go straight to the battery - it will be fine.....

[stuart bowes]

of course one of the inconveniences of a bloomin' automatic is you can't just roll it down the road and bump start it

I remember back in the day I used to have an old escort I had to bump start pretty much every other day, when you're a student a new battery is expensive

got to the point I could do it myself just shoulder into the A post and run along, hop in and go

[ASt85]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

of course one of the inconveniences of a bloomin' automatic is you can't just roll it down the road and bump start it

I remember back in the day I used to have an old escort I had to bump start pretty much every other day, when you're a student a new battery is expensive

got to the point I could do it myself just shoulder into the A post and run along, hop in and go

My mini was probably even easier as significantly lighter than the Escort and with the bigger doors the leap in didn't need gymnastic skills

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

of course one of the inconveniences of a bloomin' automatic is you can't just roll it down the road and bump start it

I remember back in the day I used to have an old escort I had to bump start pretty much every other day, when you're a student a new battery is expensive

got to the point I could do it myself just shoulder into the A post and run along, hop in and go

I had a Chevette were I did exactly the same thing until I saved £15 for a battery from a scrap yard....

Also did it one on a Volvo 440 when the starter motor packed in...

[Peter 62]

Many thanks for all of the replies and comments.

I noticed the indicators flashing a few times when I went out to the street to use a different car. The alarm siren has never worked since I had the car. If I happened to have the fob with me I would just unlock and then relock.

My suspicion is that the alarm keeps being triggered and over the time it has been out there has run the battery down.

As it happens I have just checked and the battery is still under warranty until October next year, if it is failing :-)

I will check this, but my solution will be to remove the fuse for the alarm. Until I check, does anyone know if the alarm system has a sue unique to itself?

[4x4]

2006 cars is fuse 8 under the steering column for the alarm. Check your owners manual for your car

[Peter 62]

Tks. Fuse 8 does ring a bell from when I checked when I first got the car.

I have still never managed to locate that fuse box!! A friend has lent me a endoscope so I'll have a look with that.

[Simmy]

no need for an endo scope there is a removeable panel in front of it. the fuse panel is part of the cem.