Car Runs Fine Then All Lights Come On And Speedo + Rev Count Stops

[Tom549]

So i was driving home from work, car struck up fine, but after 15 mins the lights on the dash started to show, which shouldnt happen and the speedo and rev counter decided to stop working. i got home, turned car off, tried to strike up again and it just "ticked" when i turned the key.

got a friend to jump start it, worked fine.

next morning worked fine, got home, worked all day fine..

next day did the same thing 5 minutes after leaving for work. pulled by the roadside and tried to restart car.. didnt work.. just a ticking noise.

jump lead again and its fine. took it to a garage and they cant find anything wrong.

so left garage , played up again. left it on drive for 5 mins with lights on, came back to it and the lights were off.. tried to restart car and it worked fine..

any ideas?

Cheers

Tom

[jeebowhite]

Sounds like the battery is on its way out. You will need to replace it with a silver calcium variety.

[Tom549]

ive had a garage test the battery and they said its fine. any other ideas?

[jeebowhite]

I wouldn't take it as true I had the same feedback recently, battery was apparently perfect on some tests replaced the battery and issues went away could be a bad cell but given a jump start fixes your issues...

sent using the Ford OC app for android.

[Tom549]

thinking about it , when i left the car running before restarting i turned the lights off.. every other time its broken ive had the lights on.. so , it makes me wonder if the lights have anything to do with it

[jeebowhite]

headlights drain a lot of power from the battery so adds more load when starting or charging.

do you have a friend willing to loan you the correct battery in order to confirm or reject my theory?

sent using the Ford OC app for android.

[Tom549]

thanks.

ill see how running without lights on goes and if not ill try a new battery.

cheers

[jeebowhite]

There is another probability sadly, that is the instrument cluster is known to be faulty. This causes random dropouts and similar symptoms, it could also be the VSS, however given that you need to keep jump starting the car, this is why I am led to the conclusion that the battery may be the issue.

Check the one you have, make sure its described as a silver calcium, if its not, then its the wrong one!

[clive_469]

I had a similar issue with my speedo but the battery light used to come on occasionally as well, another way to tell if it's your battery is if the headlights flash when starting.

My problem was cured with a new battery even tho it was tested and they said it was fine

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Ford OC mobile app

[Tom549]

okay thanks guys, ill look into it further!

[Tom549]

where can i get a battery from online?

cheap as possible

[jeebowhite]

Best bet is to go somewhere like EuroCarParts, they are the cheapest and most convenient to get them from. Otherwise I have heard no reviews of online retailers.

[Tom549]

cheers . ive just looked under the bonnet... ive got a GBA3100 calcium battery

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/dG4AAOxy~ilSSMcw/$T2eC16NHJGgFFmwt3)uRBSSMcv8C5Q~~60_35.JPG similar to that

[clive_469]

I went to my local spares shop for mine they initially gave me a numax type 100 battery but it was smaller than what I took off so went back and swapped it for a type 110 battery for same price and it works fine now :-)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Ford OC mobile app

[jeebowhite]

It should really be a silver calcium variety.

[jizzer]

I agree with not having headlights on when trying to start car but it is still beyond me when you leave the headlight switch in the auto position the headlights come on BEFORE the engine starts it's not beyond the realms surely to ensure the engine starts before the headlights illuminate in the auto position ......

[jeebowhite]

Sadly, they didnt think it through too much!