Cold weather starting

[lankyjames]

I know my battery isn't in the greatest of shapes having to be removed and charged most nights to guarantee enough juice to start in the morning, however having tried to get my midas starting this morning (to no avail) I'm beginning to wonder if it is something more!

I'd appreciate any advice on the matter!

Just as back story, my car generally won't start if the battery has sat overnight, I need to charge it to get any kind of response, to which the charger reports its charged after 15minutes. (This looks to me like a loss of capacity and a faulty battery which I know about).

Most of the time this works and the car will continue working all day.

This morning however as cold I get less rotations out of the battery after an overnight charge and about 3 turns out of the minis battery (which would usually turn the minis engine over about 40times easily even after I've tried it on mine).

What could be the issue here? What would be easy to check or replace?

Voltage drops? Engine earth? Starter motor?

[Hans Efde]

check the voltage of the battery over the poles when the car is started. On mine it dropped below 9 volts, even after it had been fully charged (mine is also always on the trickle charger). That's too low, the Haynes says 9.6 volts at the lowest and a good battery will stay around 11 volts during starting. Also check the conncections to the started motor. My solenoid got soaking hot during my earlier starting attempts, but possibly due to a high resistance in the connection of the plus cable. This will eat amps.

[manifold]

My experience of bad turnover starting on A series engines is always due to the following.

Poor Battery. If you get about 5 years out of one your doing well. Keep them topped up (charge and fluids) as much as possible to extend life. Trickle charge if stood about. Dont let them go flat. Sure way to kill them...remember that they lose charge everyday whether there is a draw on them or not. I cant remember the formula for this but there is one. A kill switch wont stop it.

Poor solenoid.

Poor starter:
Bendix on starter sticking. Due to wear. Lubrication tends to make them stick more with bits of the clutch mixing with the lube. Change Starter or Bendix.
Teeth on Bendix on starter or teeth on starter ring on flywheel missing/worn.
Phospher Bronze bearings in either end of starter are worn, causing the windings to touch the sides of starter housing when power applied. The result is a hot starter using many amps....but not turning start....in effect seizing it up. happened to me a few times....especially with the inertia starters. It is possible to replace these bushes sometimes, if you can find them.
Brushes in starter buggered.

The 2 bolts holding starter on need greasing and nipping up....if not nipped up they can cause poor earth or starter to not engage with the flywheel square one. Abrade round the mating face on both sides where starter meets clutch housing.

Poor earth to solenoid (either side)

Poor battery cable. If battery cable ahs been extended into boot (like mine) make sure the cable is 32mm squared (similar rating as car body). Make sure the battery cable is in good order....if its deteriorated it wont allow the amps to draw through. Potentially causing a fire as heat is generated in cable instead. Theres a voltage drop going along the cable the further the cable travels. Hence the reasons for as fat a cable as possible to reduce this.

Poor earth connections on battery cable at either end.

Hot or Seized engine.

Feel free to add your experiences to this.

[lankyjames]

Looks like the new battery may have solved it, but I've managed to damage my kitchen worktop counter in the process, not exactly a cheap fix now!

[b1zbaz]

What have you done to the worktop

[lankyjames]

Battery acid looks like, I tipped it on its side to trim off the side-rails so that it would fit, looked like it left a bit behind, fortunately its only the top layer of varnish (when its wet, you cannot tell!).

Been quoted £180-210 for a repair, which doesn't mean replacement but a fix, and cannot guarantee a 100% fix.... Looking at cheaper alternatives such as varnish, oils and cheap spray on lacquer.

Biggest issue being it's a rented property and I do not want to lose my deposit!

[Hans Efde]

Nasty stuff. My blue Midas had a few greenish stains in the gelcoat. It was a print of the hand of the previous owner. He got some acid on his hands and had put a hand on the car before washing his hands. He hadn't thought of the car, so next day the harm was done.
Sanding down the stains and polishing it step by step most of it is gone now. Maybe you can sand the damaged varnish down as well and polish it up.

[b1zbaz]

What is the worktop made of dependant on material I can walk you through a repair its easy

[lankyjames]

Its a cheap laminate mate;

(click for big, license for scale)

[b1zbaz]

Mate I could replace the hole lot for probably les than that price