How unlucky am i?

[Goonerdad]

Hi guys,

Had my car for around a month ans so far...........

Smashed it up.....and

Trouble starting it............

Yesterday I was crawling along in traffic in the Blackwall Tunnell when my car had what I can only describe as a 'hissy fit'!

Putting aside my fears about braking down in the tunnel (!) the electrics went haywire!!

Four or five lights came up on the dash, it beeped, warning message that 'DSP had failed' (or something like that)...car juddered....windscreen wipers came on....sat nav went off....radio went off and on and off and on.....

When it settled down the 4x4 yellow light remained on and I was stuck in one gear! Not too much of an issue when in traffic but a real petrol waster when not!!!!!

I continued to my destination and then noticed that I had no reversing lights either although thankfully reverse gear worked.

I attended a very depressing Arsenal game (one all draw for those of you that are interested) and on returning to my car it started and all was back to normal!!!

Is it possessed????????????????????????????

[IanP]

Battery??? Or alternator

[X5Sport]

Check your battery connections in the boot are fully tight. If your battery is more than about 6 years old then it may be on the way out too. If you have the tools, just check the battery volts too. Don't check them at less than 4 hours after last using the car so that the residual charge has dissipated. This can be done from the booster points under the bonnet. The voltage should be at least 12.2 for a fully charged and OK battery, any lower and that's a likely source of the problem. These cars don't like low battery volts!!

Once you've checked the battery, start the car and see what the voltage rises too. It should be up nearer 14V.

Have you been doing a lot of short journeys? That doesn't help keep the battery charged, and as the weather turns colder it will find out if you have any battery issues - usually when it's least convenient!

[Goonerdad]

Ah thanks for the info people.

What a weird car!!!

[shadrack]

when it was in the body shop they could have had the battery off it if they have done any welding on the car (some dent pullers work by welding tiny keys into the dent) could be loose connection?

[Sanj]

Mine wouldn't start suddenly whilst in a supermarket car park.

Connections had worked loose. No idea why or how.

Check battery connections/health as suggested by others.

[X5Sport]

In your case Sanj, there's no telling how it might have happened...........

[Sanj]

Weren't me guv'nor!

[pvr]

Sanj - you, in a supermarket car park????

[Goonerdad]

Hi,

Took the car to ETA Motorsport near Brands this morning who hooked it up to his £10k scanner (10 grand!)...he said there were about 3 fault codes listed, which he cleared, and that he could not see any of them affecting the car how i described.

Sooooooooooo.....I carry on driving and if it goes haywire again then pop it down so he can have another look.

[ITBarbie]

I say with that report I would change the title of the thread as it could be worse

Good luck and I hope it's trouble freer motoring

Penny

[Goonerdad]

Another update - car went haywire again this morning - luckily I was near to ETA Motorsport so I took it straight in. The guy there is very helpful.

Reckons it is either my alternator or the battery - booked in for next Friday to run some tests.

Fingers crossed.