A better tool would be a socket designed to grip rounded nuts. Bolt / nut extractors are cheap and generally work well. Usual rules apply: get a set that is made by a known name, like Sealey or similar. If the bleed nipple snaps then at least it is locked in there and won’t leak.

Understood, and thank you for the very helpful update.

Interesting comment - but why, these days, does everyone have to be a lobbyist / activist / influencer? So anyone with an opposing view must have been brainwashed? Why not moderate your language and just educate people? Such aggression.

… that is a proper Land Rover solution - love it..!

An allen bolt extractor should do the job… https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115870675929?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=d78zcfsFR1K&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=5m9z9-2FQ2G&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

If you factor in the cost of extending the life of your battery then the price is quite reasonable. I fully agree that they are ”rather good”… And the newer models seem to further improve.

No idea what an “SOC” is but I think you are being a bit optimistic about their innate intelligence. But it doesn’t matter.

What about the sticker on the under-bonnet slam panel?

They are good, but they don’t auto-detect. New batteries charge better with the “AGM” setting, which is just a slightly higher voltage as required by AGM batteries but also good for the calcium-doped batteries that are sold these days. C-Tek say you should run the refresh cycle every month or...

I ended up getting a kit - the ones specified were way out on size but there were suitable ones in the kit.

Good point. I clean the bay but I also drive the car. But not on muddy tracks or when there is salt on the roads…

Someone is going to get a bargain at auction when the dealer chops it in.

That photo is my son’s 1965 Triumph - my Range Rover is in intensive care right now (V8 Developments)… But the principle is of course the same. As ever, there is more to go wrong in a P38.. And if it can, it will…!!

Clean and simple terminal fitting. Note that the terminal is fitted well down on the battery post. Oh dear, once again stating the obvious.

You need a fat cable between the battery and the starter, as it is carrying up to several hundred amps (battery specs CCA figure shows this). The alternator outputs a bit less max current, but still a reasonable 120 amps max. Losses tend to occur at joints, not in the cable itself. But as said...

…but there is a fat copper cable between the battery +ve and the alternator, and ditto between the -ve terminal and the engine block and hence back to the alternator. So there is nothing significant to reduce the voltage. When the alternator is working hard, eg charging a flat battery, its...

Surely with the engine running and 14V at the alternator, it should read the same at the battery? The +ve terminal is not fully settled on the post, but that should not matter if it’s clamped up. But if it was me I would take that terminal off, polish the post with wire wool, spread the terminal...

I know you guys are all over this with nanocom and complex tests, but being old school and having a 2D brain, have you checked the spark quality? Should be a nice fat purple spark. Not a thin weedy white one. Also, surely the voltage at the battery and at the fuses should be very similar, not...

Old copies of the Telegraph wrapped up with some antique cable ties - what’s not to like?

indeed so - that’s why it’s in V8 Developments as we speak, being fitted with top hats and many other engine parts….