Taxi Driver Online

Just washed the cab,went to start it and got nothing!
Not even a glimmer on the dashboard.
The battery is a KPM ,6 months old and started perfectly well yesterday.
Is there a relay problem?
I think someone posted about this before but I can't find it.

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Charlton's lost past http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsFKWGlrze0
London's future? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... rants.html

The same thing happen3ed to me yesterday.Left the taxi for a couple of days,went out to it and found the battery as flat as a pancake.
I couldn't find anything wrong even after spending half a day messing about with test lights and multi meters.Then a neighbour happened to mention they thought they'd seen a light inside it on the first night.
I think the interior light switch on the drivers side stuck and left the lights on,openng the door to try and start it in the morning reset it.

My old TX1 went through about three alternators in the time I owned it.

Was it that?

I phoned my garage on the Monday and told them about the buzzing sound coming from the third relay(?) on the drivers side.
They said it is probably the starter relay.The AA can bypass it then take to MAMs at Agar Grove to get it fixed..
The AA arrived.
The first thing they did was check the battery.
It gave a reading of 5 volts (!).
This is a KPM battery that is just 6 months old.Also my battery charger gave a fully charged reading when I tried to charge it.
'That's because those cells that are working are fully charged and the cell that's not working cannot be charged - hence the fully charged reading' said the AA man.
He then gave me a jump start from his van which could only just turn the engine over and then connected a second set of leads from a battery pack which started the engine.
The alternator gave a health reading of 14 volts.So it was back to the garage,new battery and a claim form completed.
I phoned Michael at MAM to tell him all and he said he thought it was the battery regardless of age.
"When a battery is low or flat you get false readings and strange noises coming from the electrics"...!

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Charlton's lost past http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsFKWGlrze0
London's future? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... rants.html

I've now had it happen to me another of couple of times.
My earlier diagnosis that it was the interior lights seems to have been about as been about as accurate as an Labour MPs expense form.
Have to do a bit more probing.

Every owner should have a battery testing tool for this very purpose.
Any one recommend one?

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Charlton's lost past http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsFKWGlrze0
London's future? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... rants.html

A cheap multimeter will locate short circuits or indicate battery drain fron circuits left on,or one of the low wattage,cheap test lights will do the same job.

i put a cheap battery in my TX2 a while ago, went to the local motor factors, looked it up,. lo and behold it's listed, a MOURA, 4 year guarantee and all that crap, went tits up in 6 months, went to the main dealers in the end, got some varta gel battery, never let me down since, trying to save on something like that doesn't always pay off i'm afraid

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best regards

Testing a battery with a voltmeter doesn't really help,even a dido battery will show 11 to 12 volts as the voltmeter draws so little current.Placing a heavy drain on it and measuring the voltage across it will show that it drops quite quickly in a duff battery.
I traced the problems I was having to a duff switch on the passengers door.