Morris Minor Owners Club

Hey everyone,

My Morris has developed a very annoying problem. My battery needs charged every 3 days!!!! The red light on the speedo glows at idle but turns off when I rev the engine. At idle the lights are really dim and the indicator flashes really REALLY slow...as soon as I rev the engine the lights brighten up and the frequency of the flashing increases for the indicator. I've had the multi-meter out and everything seems to be working fine from the dynamo. Could my problem be down to an old battery??

If you think it is worth buying a new battery, could someone please provide details of what battery to get as I can pick one up today using my girlfriends car.

Thanks in advance.

Al

Does sound like ruined battery - but do check all the connections - and check if there is anything draining the battery when the engine is off! COSTCO do very good batteries at a good price - and MAKRO (Hillington) are ok. Best avoid Hellfrauds - unless you have a trade discount card.

Or try your local motor factors / spares shop. They should be able to provide a suitable battery. Halfords are not the cheapest but they have a 'guide' to batteries instore so you can look up which one you need (Minor parts are usually listed under Rover). They have a choice of standard or heavy duty battery and I've found that it's worth paying a bit more for the heavy duty one as they tend to last longer. I got a heavy duty one for around £43 last year.

ive had no problems with hellfrauds they come with a 4 year guarentee,type 038 is what you want.

If when you rev the engine the lights brighten up then there is output from the dynamo.
Are you sure there isn't a drain on the battery when the car is parked up?
Try disconnecting it over night and see if the problem persists.

Any idea how old the battery is?

Hi everyone,

I have bought and fitted a new battery and the car was running great for a week. Yesterday however it died again. I did spend much of the day in traffic with lights and heater on.

Is there a possibility that the dynamo can output enough to put the red light off but not enough to supply a decent charge to the battery??

Put the meter across the battery and check what charge it is getting. Should be close to 14volts at fast idle....

Awesome, I'll do it when I get home and let you know the results!!

Obviously - you should NOT run with the headlights on - when in heavy traffic. You may need to raise the idle speed slightly during winter to keep some charge going at idle. Is the fan belt tight enough ? And is the red light going out - completely out ?

I'll probably need to duck whilst typing this. Buy an alternator if youre going to run your car regularly in town in the winter

In general - I agree! But -even Glasgow traffic isn't THAT bad - and even with an alternator - it's still polite to NOT shine your headlights in the back window of the car in front -when in heavy slow-moving traffic! On the same theme - don't sit with foot on the brake pedal - blinding those behind with the brake warning lights!

So I checked the voltage across the battery tonight and it was 14.25V when I gave the engine a wee rev. My dad is sick of me borrowing his battery charger so what do you all think?

Buy a battery charger for £35ish or an alternator conversion kit for £60ish???

Does everyone experience the same problems as I am?

That should be enough to charge the battery so I'd start checking for anything that is draining power from the battery when the engine is switched off. If you have a multimeter that can measure current draw, take the live off the battery and place the meter in series and see what drain you are getting - you shouldn't see anything on the meter....

That's fine - so just learn to 'manage' your power consumption - keep headlights off - only use wipers when actually moving - and don't sit with foot on brake pedal! Also consider lifting the idle speed slightly. An alternator from a Mini fits - I only pay £1 for mine at Autojumbles. Certainly no need to spend £60 for a 'kit' !

Bigal - trawl around Glasgow scrapyards and find yourself a Mini alternator No more than a few quid. The MMOC Tech Manual has a good article about how to do it if youre not sure.

An alternator isn't going to help if the battery is being drained overnight.
It'll just put off the inevitable until when you don't use the car for a long weekend.

But it will keep his new battery charged when he is stuck on the M8 with the lights, heater etc on full blast

Only if it starts in the morning.

and turn the radio/cd player off when you leave it overnight.

Sounds like you've got a drain. As has been said, if you can't check for a drain then disconnect the battery over night & see if it solves the problem. Also, check your connections are tight.

Also, when you're checking your charging rate with the meter, have the engine running high & switch on the headlights, heater blower & re-screen heater (if you've got one), then you can check the charging rate whilst under load.



Just a note on batteries & dynamos. New batteries aren't really designed for dynamo's like they used to, so won't last as long as batteries used to (although it should last longer than 3 days!! lol). With a dynamo the charging rate varies, so batteries were designed with thicker heavier duty plates inside to allow for the constant variation of power going back into the battery. Alternators have a very constant charging rate, so over the years batteries have been designed with thinner plates.