Dead Cell in New Car Battery

chewiee · 12-20-2004, 09:10 PM

I had a new battery fitted to my car last week due to the original one being about six years old, f--ked and not starting first thing.

My new Varta battery has been in as long as the CarPC and I tend to leave the PC on for a few hours if I am working on it remotely from the house.

I went to start the SUV today, and it didn't fire up, just the starter motor. Called Roadside Assistance and he says that a cell in the battery is dead and that it is the the fault of the battery. Alternator showed a nice 14.5v and he thought it could just be a dodgy battery. It was really cold tonight too.

Having my car PC on wouldn't cause this would it? I just thought I'd ask as I am off to replace the battery again tomorrow under guarantee, and it'd be nice to know I've got some facts before I go in.

Chewiee

starfox · 12-20-2004, 10:05 PM

A single dead cell tends to be a manufacturing problem, but how long has the new battery been in?

Kano · 05-21-2008, 07:54 PM

This problem seems to be a frequent re-accurance with my VY Commodore. I recently got it fixed, and the battery was replaced. During diagnostics however, the auto-electrician found that the supposedly "NEW" battery that was installed a month ago, was indeed manufactured March of '07. This battery made driving a living nightmare, it took at least four - five cranks of the ignition for the car to start, and the computer modules of the car were showing up warnings I've never seen before. The immobolizer would also arm itself whilst driving. Since I've had this problem fixed by removing the old battery and immobolizer, my car is running smoothly. Auto-electrician, mentioned that dead cell batteries can cause alot of things to go wrong as the car runs on high voltage, whereas with a dead cell obviously this was not occuring. I am now getting a full refund for the duped battery that was installed.