Morris Minor Owners Club

Good Evening All,

I need some help. I came to start my '65 2 door this morning but had what I thought was a flat battery. No interior light and no ignition light, no pump ticking, no reading on fuel gauge. The car had been stored since January so wasn't hugely surprised.
To my surprise the car charger indicated the battery was fully charged after 5 mins. Confused I put my multi meter across the battery and it read 14 Volts. As a last resort I used jump leads from another car and she started straight away.
I drove the car for half an hour and noticed the fuel gauge was flickering every so often from half full to empty. When I got home I turned off then turned the ignition back on. I had interior lights, ignition light and fuel gauge read correctly. I pulled the starter and the starter kicked in then stopped dead. No interior light, no fuel gauge and no ignition light.
The battery is a year old and seems to be holding charge. The car has a dynamo and regulator.
I suspect it might be a fault with the regulator but would like some advice from the vast amount of knowledge out there.
Thanks
Brooky

Likely loose/dirty battery connexions.

Hi Chesney, I cleaned both battery terminals, cleaned the earth to body strap and put vaseline on all the battery terminals as that was my initial thought as well. Thanks for the advice.

See if you can try another battery, you might have a duff cell, despite it's age.

Also check the earth strap, gearbox to body, or just add a second one, engine to body. It cured my intermittent starting.

Hi Les
Thanks, I will try another battery if I can hold of one. I jump started it off a Chrysler Grand Voyager with a huge cranking output so not really a good one to use.

Hi Beero
I haven't checked that yet so will have a look tomorrow. Thanks

Gearbox earth strap cleaned and tightened. Battery fully charged but still no ignition light or fuel gauge or interior light. No fuel pump and of course nothing when I pulled the starter.
Put it on jump leads from a Chrysler and started first time.
Ran it for 30 mins, turned off and nothing again.
Any more suggestions?
Thanks

everything does point to the battery

Not the regulator?
I wish I could find the receipt for the battery. I only bought it last year but it was from Halfords! Strange the voltage reading on my multimeter is showing 13V at the moment.
If the battery was losing charge would the engine not turn over but slowly? would I not get a dim light in the interior?
Thanks for the advice[frame][/frame]

try measuring the voltage accross the battery when you turn the key to crank, if it drops below about 9 volts its going to be the battery, for this test put the meter probes on the actual battery posts not the terminals which are on the thick leads . if the terminal voltage does not drop at all then i would suggest a dirty connection , hope this helps, from sparkie

i bought a halfords battery and it went after one winter

Has there been any rewiring done ? Are you connecting the jumps to the battery connections - or somewhere else?

as above, if you are connecting the earth to the engine or body,when jump starting,indicates no earth from battery,

Thanks for the suggestions.
No wiring has been done and she was starting beautifully when I laid her up.
I cant measure the the cranking voltage as she wont turn over.
I am connecting both jump leads directly to the battery.

In my experience of failing batteries I have always had some functionality but I have absolutely no power. Not even an ignition light.

When I came back from the run I did have an ignition light, interior lights, pump etc and when I pulled the starter the starter kicked in for less than a second and then the ignition light went off, the interior light went off etc.

Aaaaaaagghh

Buy a new battery!

As above - New battery time......

Will get one tomorrow and see what happens. I am so disappointed I can find the receipt for my 1 year old battery with a 3 year warranty!

Take the battery off the car and connect a test lamp, an old fog light will do, and if it works see how long it stays alight.

The battery will have a date code - take it back and chance your arm...