Battery Sudden Death?

[AJCivic]

Bit of an odd one tonight, had several trips in the car today all of a medium distance, come to start the car to travel home tonight and it really, really struggled to start which is unusual, at first I thought it was because I hadn't waited enough time for the fuel pump to prime, but I took a drive round town before going home just in case, got home with it and left it with lights on in the garage for a couple of minutes (a stupid mistake at best of times I know..), come to start the car again and it was absolutely dead and won't even turn over. Totally flat.

 

Is this likely to be a dead battery or something else? I didn't think a battery would just die like this with no prior warning, surely? 

 

Going to get a multimeter on tomorrow night and have a check. Hoping it is the battery because that's easier than the alternatives, it is 4-5 years old I believe and has previously been left to go flat before I got the car so possibly not in the best health to begin with. 

[YRegMB]

A multimeter will not show the true condition of the battery. It is said that 4 years is the lifespan of a battery before it starts to lose effectiveness.

 

Most garages and car spares shops should have a battery testing machine which will give a reading of the battery condition.

[Dave]

I would replace the battery due to age and the fact it's been totally flat before as they always seem to end up going after that. Once the new battery is on, test with engine off to see what the voltage is. Next, test it again with the engine running (get an assistant to press the accelerator gently for you or use the throttle on the intake manifold) and see what voltage the meter shows when engine is reving at approx 2000 - 2500RPM. Should be at least 12.7 V but ideally a lot more than that. Would test DD's but and let you know what it should be as I just fitted a new battery to her but my multimeter blew up (don't ask! lol)

[AJCivic]

Thanks for the feedback, it's probably a good idea to get it tested actually, at least then I'll know how soon to replace it.

 

Managed to get it jumped and been fine ever since but just really weird how it died like that a couple of times. Couldn't ever imagine a battery just dying the way it did, going to be careful with having lights on too long etc now and see if anything happens again, if so it'll be getting replaced but want to save money and get some bushes done next. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by AJCivic