MR T wrote:
LAtaxi wrote:
Bugger.
That thread seems to suggest it's a 2.5 hour to replace the plugs and they snap really easily. Does not sound worth doing it yourself?
No, it won't take you that long; it usually takes me 20 mins. They are fitted into the head above each cylinder on the side nearest the battery. They have a wire or a buzz bar going across the top connecting them. The first thing you need to do is to check you are getting power to this wire when you turn the ignition on. The power only lasts a few seconds from when you start. You will need a test light, just an earth and a live with a bulb in the middle. If that lights up then check the heater plugs. If it doesn't then backtrack along the wire to find out why it's not working. A quick way to check the heater plugs is to take the buzz bar off so that they are separate, connect a wire to the live side of the battery and gently stroke the threaded top part of the heater plug. If it gently sparks it shows the plug is drawing power (working). Check each one and just replace any that are not working, or replace them all if needed. You only need a small spanner for the top nut on the buzzbar and a 10 or 12mm long socket or spanner to fit the heater plug.
Dead easy, never had one break.
Thanks so much Mr T! Really doesn;t sound that hard and I'll give them a test before I try to pull 'em. The car only has 20k miles on it, just seems like it wasn't treated well. Do you know the bosch part numbers? Please don't tell me they're lucas or other brand, becuase I'm sh!t out of luck with them due to them being rare bits here in the USA. Bosch; I can get anything, but Lucas means ordering from the UK.
Here's my battery:
http://www.interstatebatteries.com/p/in ... 2147384903The weird thing is on my battery it states 770CCA, 930CA and 70AH, but when I go on to their website now it seems the downgraded it to 730 CCA. Should still be enough though right?
I went and got the battery tested - it came back as fine, just in need of a charge (660amps) as I hadn't run it for a few days and only did a short drive to the local garage to test it, but the long term problem remains: If I don't drive it for 3 or 4 days, there's not enough juice to start it.
Something is causing a drain. The only thing that's aftermarket on it is a Panasonic Radio/MP3 player head. When I got the car, it wasn't wired correctly (the constant live wasn't connected so it would lose the memory every time you powered down the car.
It can't be the radio can it? I wonder if the previous owner wired it that way on purpose?!?!?!? The only other thing I can think of is that if I try to run the Air Con while starting it, there's simply not enough power to go around. It will even stall when first started if I try to turn the wheels all the way to the extreme. I basically have to keep the AC off when starting it.
@Skippy - Yes, I have the proper Scan tool (the big lucas one with the 2000 module). The only fault code I get is one for a PATS mismatch, which I believe has to do with keys not being matched properly. I tried once to pair a new spare key with it, took forever and didn't work - when i tried to use that key, it immobilised the car for about 30 mins and only then the real key would work.
@Matty86 - Not yet. When I charge it, it runs fine but leave it for a few days and I might as well not bother trying to start it until I break out the charger.