Thread: Battery and fuel issues

Hi popotia and I am surprised your batteries lasted as long as they have.

First off, you need “DRIVE” for at least 15 minutes every time you start the motor, just to replace the amount of battery energy it took to start the motor.

NOTE, that is “DRIVE” for 15 minutes. Just idling is next to useless as the alternator is only just producing enough power to maintain the vehicle’s electrics while idling.

You need to drive the vehicle for 15 minutes so the alternator is turning at a much high rate, which will allow it to produce more energy than the vehicle’s electrics need and this additional energy will then be used to charge the battery.

Now add to the amount of energy needed to be replaced every time you start with the amount of energy that your batteries loose while they are not used for long periods of time. This is known as what a battery self-discharges, and in your case, you really needed to drive for a good hour or more, every time your started your motor.

I would have a guess and say your batteries are stuffed.

If you replace them, the new batteries will end up the same way, but, if your vehicle is parked inside near a mains power supply, you should get yourself a small, multi stage battery charger and keep your batteries fully charged during those long periods when not in use.

If your vehicle is parked outside, you could fit a solar panel in one of the windows that faces south, so it will pickup sunlight for a few hours each day.

You could use up to a 20w solar panel and you would not need a solar regulator. You could simply connect it to the batteries.

Thanks very much for this reply.

It would have been better if, instead of assuming that the way to go was “parking up” and starting the engine every so often, I had sought advice about the best thing to do. But the past is the past and I have my LR, still with two flat batteries and possibly worse (could there be oil contamination, internal corrosion, sulphated battery?) parked in the street here in Berlin. When my vehicle is running again, later this month, I hope, and has had the necessary service it in any case needs, I shall keep it insured and use it.

When it was in use, prior to March last year, I would frequently park at, and overnight at, fairly “remote” spots: up a mountain track in Turkey, in a forest in Romania, on a field-side somewhere in Bulgaria, etc. etc., in places where, in other words, I needed to know the engine was going to fire next morning, without problem. I expect to be in such situations again, so rather than risk a future non-functioning battery because of damage I might have caused I prefer to replace both batteries.

Your guess is that the batteries are stuffed. I take that to mean they cannot be effectively recharged/rejuvenated/ "saved" but are kaputt kaputt, ready for throwing. Am I right?

Can a workshop tell me, definitively, “the condition of these batteries is such-and-such”?

Do you think other damage is possible/likely, such as oil contamination, engine corrosion etc? Is there a chance of problems having developed in other vehicle parts/systems through lack of use, other than that 30 km. run?

And do you think there could be a problem because of the fuel having been in the system for so long?