P38A She’s Dead, Jim

Grrrrrr said:

If the interference is strong then disconnecting the receiver is not enough. Is there a wireless weather station nearby? That's what was waking mine.

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If the receiver is disconnected, no amount of interference will affect it. If only the aerial is disconnected, that's another matter, in that case you could be right

awkwardbob said:

Ok, so the battery is reading a sorry 0V DC.

it’s a Yuasa HSB334: 100AH, 830 CCA

It claims to have a 5-year warranty.

the alternator is a, presumably OEM, Magnetti Marelli affair.

What would the advice be ?

recharge battery ?
Claim on battery warranty ?
Buy a more suitable battery ?

change alternator for one more suited to modern batteries ?

Buy an expensive bottle of Rum and drown the sorrows ?

any help/advice is most welcome

Bob

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If the battery is down to 0 volts, it's probably toast, what is more, most guarantee's are not valid if the voltage is below 11 volts.
No need to change the alternator, just the internal regulator, easy job.

As I don't smoke, ashtrays are of no use to me, so I fitted a USB charger/voltmeter unit so I can keep an eye on the charge voltage. Dead easy to do, uses the cig lighter feed.

Datatek said:

If the battery is down to 0 volts, it's probably toast, what is more, most guarantee's are not valid if the voltage is below 11 volts.
No need to change the alternator, just the internal regulator, easy job.

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Ah ok,

Im reasonably 'Handy', is there a guide to replacing the regulator to which you could point me. ?

I'll try and charge the battery in the meantime.

As for the Key fob thingy, perhaps it was jus the aerial I disconnected as I can use the remote locking if I'm really close. Is it worth forking out for one of the filters or the 'homemade' kits ?

Thanks again

awkwardbob said:

Ah ok,

Im reasonably 'Handy', is there a guide to replacing the regulator to which you could point me. ?

I'll try and charge the battery in the meantime.

As for the Key fob thingy, perhaps it was jus the aerial I disconnected as I can use the remote locking if I'm really close. Is it worth forking out for one of the filters or the 'homemade' kits ?

Thanks again

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If you can use the FOB, then it's just the aerial disconnected so still susceptible to RF interferance.
For the regulator, you first need to identify the alternator. The P38 diesel uses Valeo and I know the regulator for that.
Good luck trying to charge the battery.

As said above by others.... putting a "Buddy Battery" in the mix to get charging started is a good step for an allegedly totally dead battery.
Most "Smart Chargers" need to see a minimum voltage on the battery to be charged before they will play ball.
I have resurrected allegedly dead batteries this way in the past. Good Luck!

Datatek said:

For the regulator, you first need to identify the alternator. The P38 diesel uses Valeo and I know the regulator for that.
Good luck trying to charge the battery.

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Its a Magnetti Marelli alternator, not sure of the exact model but will have. dig.

In terms of regulator am I looking for something which will deliver 14.5V ?
I'll have a look again at the RF module as can't have the battery dying like that every other week !

Thanks again

Bob

Regulator is easy for access on a diesel and cost about £14. Petrol may be more involved to gain access but something you could do bob.
Try get a warranty claim for new battery first. Do not mention rf drain or anything like that to them. Worst they can tell you is no and you have lost nothing. If the claim is with the manufacturer they should know it’s under warranty due to date of manufacture.

Datatek said:

If the battery is down to 0 volts, it's probably toast, what is more, most guarantee's are not valid if the voltage is below 11 volts.
No need to change the alternator, just the internal regulator, easy job.

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True about the warranty, but if it's 0 then more likely internal failure rather than discharged

Datatek said:

If the receiver is disconnected, no amount of interference will affect it. If only the aerial is disconnected, that's another matter, in that case you could be right

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That is my suspicion.

awkwardbob said:

Its a Magnetti Marelli alternator, not sure of the exact model but will have. dig.

In terms of regulator am I looking for something which will deliver 14.5V ?
I'll have a look again at the RF module as can't have the battery dying like that every other week !

Thanks again

Bob

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14.8 volts ideally but 14.5 acceptable

Datatek said:

As I don't smoke, ashtrays are of no use to me, so I fitted a USB charger/voltmeter unit so I can keep an eye on the charge voltage. Dead easy to do, uses the cig lighter feed.View attachment 251834

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That's a small one uv got ...would it fit in a dash switch blank ,cause iv bought 2 or 3 and there all to big .but id like a green numeral one to go with the dash where did you get yours ....

Here is the one I bought, it does not fit a P38 switch blank which is why it's in the ash tray. Available with red, green or blue display. I chose red as it's the best for not affecting night vision, not that it matters, as it ended up in the ash tray I can just shut the lid
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-2A-Twi...Toyota-/203459784308?var=&hash=item2f5f25ee74

and two useful USB outlets as well. Might get one of those.

New 14.7V VR ordered for alternator and managed to snag a green dot fob receiver for £150.

will attempt to take the (no receipt) battery back to Halfords and will report back how I get on.

I have a cigarette lighter Voltimeter but it’s not as sexy as that one. Would be great to get one that fitted in a blank ponders 3D printer....

awkwardbob said:

New 14.7V VR ordered for alternator and managed to snag a green dot fob receiver for £100.

will attempt to take the (no receipt) battery back to Halfords and will report back how I get on.

I have a cigarette lighter Voltimeter but it’s not as sexy as that one. Would be great to get one that fitted in a blank ponders 3D printer....

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Have you opened the receiver to check that it is a genuine green dot,there are some cowboys on the Bay selling the older ones by sticking a green dot on them.photos have been posted cue @Brian P38 .

You rang

Thank you, I shall check it when it arrives before fitting.

Halfords, to their credit, exchanged the battery with no issues, the sales guy actually remembered me. But hats-off. I read it at 0.18V but on their machine it was totally goosed..

hopefully the other bits will arrive soon and I can get on with it (and the kink in the rubber seal on the upper tailgate !)

awkwardbob said:

Thank you, I shall check it when it arrives before fitting.

Halfords, to their credit, exchanged the battery with no issues, the sales guy actually remembered me. But hats-off. I read it at 0.18V but on their machine it was totally goosed..

hopefully the other bits will arrive soon and I can get on with it (and the kink in the rubber seal on the upper tailgate !)

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In some products Halfords buy in bulk with no returns to the manufacturer policy but with a lower price on the understanding a certain number of units will fail. I sometimes wonder if manufacturers take advantage of that and slip all their "seconds" in. I cannot remember what it was now but I did 2 x 20 mile round trips before I asked them to open and test in the store until we found a decent one. Might have just been a bad batch, of course. Might have been in the bike section, now I think about it. Possibly inner-tubes.

So the new battery is in, there was a tiny spark in connection so there’s some current draw.

Predictably the key is now not synced to the car, is this where I have to do the funky key turning dance with the key in the lock to re-sync it ?
Or is there a simpler way ?

thanks again

bib