Negative Earth Cable

[Cyril]

Last week car would not start so called the RAC out who said it was a low battery and possibly a lose fan belt causing the alternator to discharge the battery. He made adjustments making sure it was secure.
He jump started the car and it did run smoothly.
Bought a new battery and 1 day later the same thing happened. I checked the fan belt but it wasn't squeaking or lose and it had only been fitted in July this year.
I thought its either the battery (which would be a 1% chance as it was new), the starter Solenoid or the starter motor.
I started with the battery and took it back to the supplier. He tested it and came back to the sales desk with a new one, when I asked was the other one faulty he wouldn't really commit to anything just saying that he wouldn't supply me with a replacement if he wasn't 100% happy with the one I brought back!!!
I ordered a new starter solenoid from David Manners group and we got talking about the problem, he said to check the negative earth cable to see if the contacts were clean and rust free as this can cause the battery to act like its flat if contacts are not clean.
To cut a long story short I did not change the starter solenoid as the previous owner said it was only a few years old, and looking at it, it was the newest mechanical part in the chassis.
I took the negative earth cable off and low and behold it was corroded and rusted. I bought a new Lucas cable and cleaned up the contact point on the car body. Its been a week now and it is starting up and running fine.
I wonder if this corroded cable was the cause??
Anyway I now have a spare brand new Lucas solenoid for my spares collection.
Have a good week.
Mark

[bmcecosse]

Of course it was! We always advise to check connections before doing anything else. Just shows how useless the RAC are - if they didn't check that as a first step. Your old battery is probably perfectly good too....and it's NEVER the solenoid! Take it back for a refund -you will never need it.

[Biggles1957]

I had the corroded earth point fault too - but also at a later date my original solenoid failed - the coil in it gave up the ghost

[Cyril]

I have ordered one of these for my battery in winter.[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

What will that do? I can only see it causing the battery to overheat badly when running/on charge.....if you imagine it will 'keep it warm' then I suppose it will - for a couple of hours - certainly not overnight. Same false theory as putting a blanket over an engine in winter.

[Cyril]

Well even if it doesn't do anything practical then at least it looks Christmassy

[tysonn]

Why not draw a reindeer on it?

[bmcecosse]

If it's aluminised (as it appears to be) - what will stop it shorting across ? Have to say - one of the silliest things I have seen for a while - second only to tacky headlight 'peaks'

[lambrettalad]

Roy
hoots man have ye neigh seen the car eyelashes,in ecosse?[frame][/frame]

also available in other lovely go faster colours

[bmcecosse]

Ahh yes - but I haven't seen them on a Minor - yet. No doubt examples will follow...........

[Cyril]

You cant blame me for trying ;-)

[Cyril]

Quote from customer feedback
"Easy to fit, speedy delivery.Well lets wait and see eh?...the snow is down!! so hopefully the RAC will be a thing of the past! "
Quote from supplier
"Keeps starter batteries operational even at low temperatures At -20°C, the maximum available capacity is 20% higher than without cold protection."

[lambrettalad]

20% of zero is still zero

[MarkyB]

I'm sure tickling pedestrians will prove more popular than slicing them