<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4142">After a night on low charge, the battery worked fine. Car started on first try...but with a cloud of exhaust smoke for a few moments...and then all was well. What would that smoke mean? Anything related to starting problems?<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4203"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4224">Questions remain: <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4283"> Why did battery test ok in all 6 cells before charging, yet not work?</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4267">Does that indicate something wrong with the battery even though it's not that old?<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4241">Or....could it just have been the connections?...which weren't crudded up or anything. Pretty clean, actually.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4557"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4595">Another thing: horn beeps when hitting little bumps while turning left. Ground wire in steering wheel is disconnected pending replacement of plastic cover (which won't stay attached to the wheel). Don't (yet) have a clue where a faulty wire may be. Could the horn be trying to work when car's turned off and parked thus draining battery?</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4671"> How to know that nothing is secretly ON when car is off, parked, and left for days? No, it wasn't radio. <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4490"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4533">The old story---something got "fixed", but I don't know how or what.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4353">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4362"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4469" dir="ltr">From: "Dave Hall" <<a class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_3396" href="mailto:dave@hallvw.clara.co.uk">dave@hallvw.clara.co.uk</a>><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4365">To: <<a class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_3395" href="mailto:type3@vwtype3.org">type3@vwtype3.org</a>><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4368">Subject: Re: [T3] Cold Battery<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4370">Message-ID: <<a class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_3394" href="mailto:297D5B4E063B4E989E67AFCF0DDCF077@DavidPC">297D5B4E063B4E989E67AFCF0DDCF077@DavidPC</a>><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4373">Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4375"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4377">Most likely just discharged battery, but could be corrosion (?salt) working<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4379">its magic on the wires to the starter motor maybe? <br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4381"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4383">I had a VW Bus which one morning on the way to school simply stopped a few<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4385">hundred yards short. As a teacher, some mornings I didn't want to go to<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4387">school, but I didn't think the bus felt the same!<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4389"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4391">Starter absolutely dead. AA(A) called and the main starter wire terminal<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4393">from the battery had corroded off the wire. The night before, I'd driven<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4395">over a few hundred yards of slurry-coated road from a leaking farm tanker,<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4397">which had eaten through the terminal. Sounds unlikely, but it happened, and<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4399">boy, was I glad the repair man had the job of soldering the new terminal on,<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4401">and not me!<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4403"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4405">When they drove a Beetle across the Irish sea, it stopped after some hours<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4407">due to the salt-water running down the battery. Maybe the snow/salt<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4409">cocktail packed under the car was draining the battery.<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4411"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4413">Dave<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4415">UK VW Type 3&4 Club<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4417">===================<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4419"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4421"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4423">-----Original Message-----<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4425">From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:<a class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_3400" href="mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces@lists.vwtype3.org">type3-vwtype3.org-bounces@lists.vwtype3.org</a>]<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4428">On Behalf Of J. Jonik<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4430">Sent: 28 January 2016 01:49<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4432">To: <a class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4434" href="mailto:type3@vwtype3.org">type3@vwtype3.org</a><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4436">Subject: [T3] Cold Battery<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4438"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4440">71 FI Standard sat for days under snow and started on first try.? But then,<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4442">about 3 days later, still sitting...not having been driven yet...it almost<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4444">started on first try...then didn't go...then got weaker and weaker, with<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4446">just groans.? Let it sit a bit...tried again...groans got weaker and<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4448">weaker.?? Lights looked ok....but it seemed that the battery (not even a<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4450">year old) wasn't helping.<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4452">Checked the battery,?? All cells were up there in the top of good area.? But<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4454">I put it on a charger anyhow.<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4456">What if, after a charge, in a nice warm house, starts the car just fine<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4458">tomorrow?? What would that mean?<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4460"><br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4462">So...what to suspect as culprit here?? It wasn't THAT cold (just in mid 20<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4464">degrees at night...up to 40s in day).<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4466">Starter-solenoid?Bad battery?Bad connections?Plugs? (though recently<br class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4468">cleaned)</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4326"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1454018628529_4335"><br></div></div></body></html>