New battery

How old is the battery? It might still have a date stamped on it of when it was made or when it should be installed by? If those dates are over 5 years then I personally would replace it. Also tell us what the spec of the battery is. cold cranking etc it should be written on the top of it. You could ask a local independent about your alternator get them to stick a meter on it if you are unsure but 13.2 is too low for a charging voltage. Have you checked the conditions of your earths? Get a jump lead and connect it from negative on battery on to the engine block. Measure the voltage again. If you get the same reading chances are your earths are fine, different reading then you want to buy a couple of extra earth cables. 1 from batt to chAssis and 1 from chassis to engine/gearboxes.

I know I am labouring about the battery bit but large Diesel engines do tend to knock the crap out of them.

I'd say the battery is pretty old and as for the specs its a Halfords one and from what I remember about 70 or 75ah capacity. Earths seem fine. I can't afford to replace both a battery and an alt at the moment so has to be one or the other! Hopefully just the battery hah!

D90mitch said:

I'd say the battery is pretty old and as for the specs its a Halfords one and from what I remember about 70 or 75ah capacity. Earths seem fine. I can't afford to replace both a battery and an alt at the moment so has to be one or the other! Hopefully just the battery hah!

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Start with battery but if you don't replace the alternator soon then it will knacker the battery after a while.

That's why I was thinking with going for a deep cycle type. I am open to suggestions, would rather pay a bit more for a good one but don't want to pay a ridiculous amount. Needs good capacity and cold start. Thanks

D90mitch said:

That's why I was thinking with going for a deep cycle type. I am open to suggestions, would rather pay a bit more for a good one but don't want to pay a ridiculous amount. Needs good capacity and cold start. Thanks

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Do a good search about advantage and disadvantage of doing such. Look careful about charging system. Me battery charger has several settings those of attention to you are the setting for regular battery and then deep cycle battery. As a deep cycle battery I do believe needs a slower chargeing to do a full cycle. Think your alternator will charge it to fast.

But a auto electricton could do a good explanation

With a fooked alt it wont charge it too fast lol

If your Alternator is charging sounds like it is its simply your battery a dead cell ect it may read 12-13 volts but it needs to a drop test ie to see if it can hold its charge on draw like when starting if it can't every thing will drop when starting with you starter that draws aLOT
more than your sounds

So your saying I should test the voltage when starting up? And if it drops loads then the battery is fooked?

As for choosing a battery should I just go for the one with the most CCA and AH that I can get?

D90mitch said:

So your saying I should test the voltage when starting up? And if it drops loads then the battery is fooked?

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Yep but you need a tester that's does it without damage not a multimeter there are lots of free tests at autocenters or buy yourself a battery tester not multimeter .

Another thing I might aswell mention is that it starts much easier when the engine is warm say after starting after a quick stop - guessing this is because the engine oil is less viscous then? Maybe the battery is loosing it's oomph? I hate auto leccy

D90mitch said:

Another thing I might aswell mention is that it starts much easier when the engine is warm say after starting after a quick stop - guessing this is because the engine oil is less viscous then? Maybe the battery is loosing it's oomph? I hate auto leccy

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Yes and that your battery has just had a boost just test battery to be sure its free.

Ok, I'll get it done over the next few days hopefully - I'll be having some 'silent' journeys for now!

A suggestion for your new battery Numax CXV-X 1000 Amp - Leisure Batteries - Numax Leisure Batteries

That looks pretty good, don't know if I would go for the next one up with the 100ah capacity though and sacrifice some CC. Will decide hopefully when I get my battery tested. It could be that the battery is fooked due to all the throwing around off road.

Just got it tested and turns out it is indeed fooked, so new battery is on the cards and will be careful to choose a good one. Hopefully this will solve my issue. To get more life out of it when the engine is not running I will see what stuff I can lower down on the stereo to save power etc. Thanks for all the help!