[T3] No Start...no Cranking...etc.

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Tue Nov 9 10:16:25 PST 2010


On 8 Nov 2010 at 23:01, J. Jonik wrote:

>   Trouble is....they had no BETTER batteries that would fit a Type-III.    I
> would have just paid the extra.   Replacement value was covered by One Year
> warranty. I was four months under the wire.  So, now I have the same kind of
> battery that failed after only 8 months. Brand name ValueGrade.  Even the
> clerk said I should get something better. 
 
Any battery should outlast its warrantee period, so I'm guessing that you got a 
bad one or this car sat for a long time with the battery self discharging. I 
get great value out of bargain level batteries. Our cars need so little current 
to get started that it really doesn't make sense to pay extra for the extra 
high current versions.

That said, no battery will last long if the charging system isn't doing its 
thing. To check this, the voltage across the battery terminals should be 14.1 
to 14.4 V with the car warmed up after a nice drive, engine running at medium 
rpm, accessories off.

It's hard to do this measurement at the battery, so the voltage should be ~0.5 
V higher at the generator terminals and ~0.5 V lower at the fuse box.

Each of us should check this occasionally, because our voltage regulators DO 
wear out, and this can lead to numerous problems that are not often associated 
with the voltage regulators.

-- 
Jim Adney
jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, WI USA




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