lost confidence in van - extremely fed-up...

[Simon Baxter]

I think it's T4 time.

[T'Onion]

^^^

disconnect the 'headlight buzzer' , and the split charger for the liesure battery and make sure the fridge is switched off 12v (if you have a 12v fridge) ,take the main battery off and charge it up over night. Stick it back on , try starting the van , and check the voltage at the battery should be get 14ish volts.

Isn't there a handy fellow member near you Kathy that can help a pregnant lady out ??

[kathyshack]

Thanks guys for all the support. yesterday i just wanted shut of it and was indeed considering upgrading to a T4. Thing is we have invested far to much money in this van now and no idea what it'd be worth if we sold it, but doubt we could afford a suitable spec T4, esp as it would have to be able to sleep 4. I think we have realised that we just can't have the van as our everyday vehicle as it just isn't practical for us. We decided to run it as our only vehicle because it would be better than having it standing and stuff, but tbh, i think it has just put more wear n tear on it. Who knows what is the best course of action is...
Anyway I am feeling a bit better looking at it today.... I do love it really... honest.... Think we have just had a particularly bad run of luck with it recently, but with any luck that will change soon...

Will let you all know how I get on with it, and thanks again for the tips and advice.
kathy

[Ian Hulley]

tbh, i think it has just put more wear n tear on it.

You run any car/van as a daily driver and you get wear and tear ... that's the price ... servicing, tyres, exhausts, windscreens, clutch, (especially on British roads) suspension and steering parts it's all part of running a vehicle, no-matter what it's called or how old it is. The knack is to factor these into the decision when you make it.

Ian.

[Dartmoor]

Thanks guys for all the support. yesterday i just wanted shut of it and was indeed considering upgrading to a T4. Thing is we have invested far to much money in this van now and no idea what it'd be worth if we sold it, but doubt we could afford a suitable spec T4, esp as it would have to be able to sleep 4. I think we have realised that we just can't have the van as our everyday vehicle as it just isn't practical for us. We decided to run it as our only vehicle because it would be better than having it standing and stuff, but tbh, i think it has just put more wear n tear on it. Who knows what is the best course of action is...
Anyway I am feeling a bit better looking at it today.... I do love it really... honest.... Think we have just had a particularly bad run of luck with it recently, but with any luck that will change soon...

Will let you all know how I get on with it, and thanks again for the tips and advice.
kathy

This is sacrilege on this site, but I am surprised at just what good value for money is out there on T4's. Apparently it has been the most sold van ever - there are so many out there, that the prices are not as high as you'd think. Reasonable ones are cheaper than rusty Bays with the gleaming paint over the bulging filler. You see the occasional rusty T4 - but they seem a lot better than most.

[kathyshack]

UPDATE:
just been out to check the voltage of my starter battery and it was reading 12.46 I decided to try and start it so i could check if it would start and what it was getting when running etc. Still won't start. Kind of get an electrical ticking/vague buzzing type noise but nothing. Tried hazards to see if they worked. first time got a buzzing noise coming from fuse box area in glove box and second time they came on fine. Trned everything off and checked voltage on starter battery again - 12.32 v.
What should I be getting when testing a battery? I thought 12v was about right, ie not a flat battery???
checked my leisure battery just to compare and that was 12.02v
just wondering now whether the problem is indeed a flat battery or not....
What ya reckon?

[T'Onion]

Is the engine turning ?

Can you get the main battery on charge ?

The leisure battery does sound low

[kathyshack]

hi,
engine not turning no. absolutley nothing except this vague electrical noise coming from dash pod.
Found my battery charger but no croc clips on it just the metal ends. God knows where they are but they appear to have dropped off. Could possibly wedge the bits on or attach with insulation tape? Just wondered whether it was worth taking battery out of van if 12 v meant it wasn't flat?

[CycloneMike]

Did you check the earth to the body?
It doesn't matter how charged the battery is if the electricity can not flow round in a full circle back to the battery.

[kathyshack]

Did you check the earth to the body?
It doesn't matter how charged the battery is if the electricity can not flow round in a full circle back to the battery.

had a look and yeah it looks fine.

[kathyshack]

probably a dumb question, but here goes....

when disconnecting a battery do you do it in a specific order? ie negative first then positive? does it matter? Don't want to shock myself or anything.
Also is 12.32 volts flat?
If I took it to halfords tomorrow in its current state, ie 12.32 volts will they say i need a new one, ie can they see if there are faulty cells if its not fully charged or not. You probably think why doesn't she just put it on charge, but as i said my charger is missing its croc clips so not sure if its safe to charge by attaching the metal ends of cable with insulation tape to battery???

[ambivert]

12v is OK but not brilliant. A typical so-called "12 volt" battery is really meant to be 13.2 volts when fully charged.
As the battery is made of 6 cells (each outputting 2.2 volts) if a cell fails, the voltage usually drops right down, to something more like 10v.

The battery could be on its way out, but perhaps more likely it might simply not be fully charged.

You should give it a good charge up (leave it charging overnight) but you won't have much luck if you're taping the ends of the charger wires onto the battery terminals. There needs to be a strong physical force pushing the metal surfaces together, to give a good contact area, for a decent current to flow.

The proper way to fix your charger is to buy some replacement crocodile clips (from somewhere like B&Q, Maplin, Moto-man, Halfords, etc), then crimp and/or solder them on to the wires.

Alternatively, you could use some giant metal bulldog clips (from an arts & crafts shop, or a good stationers) to clamp the wires on with.

[Oldiebut goodie]

12.32v is pretty flat - you should be seeing around 12.7+ on a fully charged battery.

State of Charge/Specific Gravity/Voltage

100% 1.265 12.7
*75% 1.225 12.4
50% 1.190 12.2
25% 1.155 12.0
Discharged 1.120 11.9

[CycloneMike]

That voltage should be sufficient to turn the engine over even if it is slowly.
Do your lights come on or do other electrics work? If not then the power is not getting to them or back from them.
I know I am going on about this earth now, but it is not something you can rule out by a quick look. The bolt that screws into the van holding the negative battery cable under the drivers seat is exposed to water from the outside and corrosion builds up between the connection. This is the mother of all bad earth problems! If this is the problem then everything electrical will suffer and the battery won't charge properly. If the bolt is hard to remove then it is probably corroded. A quick fix is to move the connection and clamp it to a good earth such as the bolt that holds the battery retaining bracket. It has to be worth a try even if just to rule it out.
Good luck

[steveo3002]

anything much over 12v should start it , might sound a bit sluggish

checked our cars the other day...5 month old battery stood a few days read 12.4 and it starts fine

id suggest you find someone that can knock up some new heavy duty battery cables and earths , do all of them and a extra earth for good measure ...cable is cheap enough it shouldnt cost alot