battery problem 2002 E53 4.4

[lezmtaylor]

I have a problem with the battery on my car :
Bought 12 months ago, a 100AH, 900 cranking gel battery with a 4 year guarantee.
The problem is when loaded (car starting) sometimes it cranks the car, other times it won't, I had a seized alternator, which I replaced with a new one (not reconditioned), fitted a recon starter motor and charged the battery and it would not turn the engine over, so I fitted another starter, still no go.
I took the battery to where I purchased it from , they tested !! it with a little black box and pronounced it good.

Brought it home put it back on car, still no go. (I am convinced there is a dodgy connection  internally on the battery)
Now I was a forklift truck engineer, and we used to test diesel batteries with a drop tester which basically shorted the battery and put a hell of a load on the cells. ,But they don't appear the do this now relying on a
small box digitally testing the battery.
I went to a motor shop where my grandson works, he tested the battery and said it was down 200 on cranking test (remember my intermittent fault !!).

So I bought a new 100amp, 900 cranking wet cell battery With a 5 yr guarantee, brought it home , fitted and eureka it starts the car.

What do I now regards the 1 year battery  and what recourse do I have regards it (still have the receipt)?

[Horizon]

I m a service engineer on compressed air equipment, and have worked on Petrol and diesel powered plant since I served my time from 16 years old on diesel powered generators.
The only credible way to test a battery is by Drop / load testing it.
A battery will often look good to a volt meter and battery condition test equipment, but will fail under a load.
I think your next port of call is writing / emailing the battery manufacturer and explaining tour findings.
Good luck, very frustrating dealing with some people when they insist there is no fault when you have proven there is.

[X5Sport]

If you can get a copy of a drop test (on something usable) from grandson's place then go and wave it under the shop's nose.

A proper 'drop test' is still the only way of doing it 

Bring back real 'heavy' engineering I say.

[ianst0028]

from a suppliers point of view

the tester we use gives a code if the battery tests faulty we then need to print a copy of the test and send that with the battery to the manufacturer
no fail code no credit

therefore if that tester says ok or good recharge thats what we have to go on and we either charge overnight and retest or send you on the way

but !!!! if we are unhappy about the test either because it doesn't read the way we expect or going on the history and description of the failure we can swing the test in the customers favour (we dont always do this so remember to be nice to your parts staff)

in my experience however if a battery is going to go faulty it will do it in the first 6 months if it goes after that then it's usually something else causing it

i also agree that a drop test is the better tester but it doesn't give a quantifiable code that the manufacturer can work with and unfortunately in today's Health & Safety orientated workplace the chance of injury/damage/explosion mean we're not able to do it the old fashioned way

the testers we use are designed to simulate a drop test and are now accepted by 95% of manufacturers as the best way to check a battery  ...... also for a half decent one dont expect change out of £450

[lezmtaylor]

I do not understand how a small black box measuring 6 inches by 2 inches with a coup[le of light weight cables can possibly simulate a massive drop test, the cables will fry and the box blow up.
Seems to me to be a massive cop out, and if the test can be swung, what is to stop it being swung to the detriment of the customer.
I am going to contact the head office and if I do not get some sort of satisfaction am considering a small claim court action.(the battery cost £140)

Lez

[X5Sport]

I think the latest generation ones only operate the 'drop resistor' - acts as the load - for a maximum of 10 seconds after which they basically melt!

The 'proper' ones can run for as long as you like - and either the battery boils, bursts.....or dies!  Gel batteries typically won't boil but could burst from the gas being generated in the paste. 

Could be that the 'wet batteries' that I grew up with were fine with the dead short (almost) we put on them and gel batteries just aren't.  I know gel batteries are almost universal now and really don't like going flat at all.

[ianst0028]

the latest ones do some kind of digital witchcraft to simulate a drop test
it's been explained at great length to me by our battery supplier but i dont mind admitting that my eyes glazed over after the first couple of mins

yes if you can fiddle a test to help a customer out you can fiddle it to get the sale of a new battery and i know that some firms do that (i'm not naming them here)
i'd like to think that myself and my staff have a lot more integrity than to ever pull a trick like that and as i said in my earlier post if a battery fails after 6 months generally its end of life (outside warranty) or there is something else wrong
if i "fiddle the test" to sell you a battery and there is something else wrong youll be coming back to me fairly shortly telling me that A: the battery is crap and faulty and B: there cant be anything wrong because it was tested last time

[Smeeagain]

[quote="lezmtaylor"]
I have a problem with the battery on my car :
Bought 12 months ago, a 100AH, 900 cranking gel battery with a 4 year guarantee.
The problem is when loaded (car starting) sometimes it cranks the car, other times it won't, I had a seized alternator, which I replaced with a new one (not reconditioned), fitted a recon starter motor and charged the battery and it would not turn the engine over, so I fitted another starter, still no go.
I took the battery to where I purchased it from , they tested !! it with a little black box and pronounced it good.

Brought it home put it back on car, still no go. (I am convinced there is a dodgy connection  internally on the battery)
Now I was a forklift truck engineer, and we used to test diesel batteries with a drop tester which basically shorted the battery and put a hell of a load on the cells. ,But they don't appear the do this now relying on a
small box digitally testing the battery.
I went to a motor shop where my grandson works, he tested the battery and said it was down 200 on cranking test (remember my intermittent fault !!).

So I bought a new 100amp, 900 cranking wet cell battery With a 5 yr guarantee, brought it home , fitted and eureka it starts the car.

What do I now regards the 1 year battery  and what recourse do I have regards it (still have the receipt)?
[/quote]

Where did you buy it from?
Smee

[lezmtaylor]

Hi There,
Battery Megastore, Tewkesbury, Gloucester.
Needless to say NOT on my recommended supplier list.


Where did you buy it from?
Smee
[/quote]