Someone at work has a 2014 Vauxhall Astra with a 1.4 petrol turbo engine. 

The car has been stood for a while after it became unreliable with a suspected electrical fault. 

Would it be a problem to use a conventional flooded battery to see if the car will start? Would the stop-start charging system damage it?

It will not be driven yet as its MOT has expired. They just want to see if the fault can be found before buying another battery or spending much money on it.

I suspect that the fault may have been caused by the original battery reaching the end of its service life. 

Unfortunately the keys have also been lost, although the car is unlocked.

If the keys cannot be found, I suggested fitting an ignition barrel and door lock with matched keys from a scrap car.

They can then have the keys programmed to their car. Obviously they will also need battery power in order to do this.

Thanks for any suggestions.  

 

1 hour ago, AntonovAN12 said:

Would it be a problem to use a conventional flooded battery to see if the car will start? Would the stop-start charging system damage it?

Any 12V battery will be fine

Fun fact...my Mk6 Golf with stop start had the wrong battery fitted when I bought it.  Stop start worked perfectly all the time I drove it. 

There was only one charge related fault.  It wouldn't charge at idle after cold start, which made winter defrosting a pain.  But not enough of a pain for me to do anything about it.

The battery died 4 years later, due to covid and lack of use.  It was only then I lifted the battery cover to see it was just a conventional lead acid battery!  Also found out the battery clamp had been lost so it was effectively loose for all that time as well.  

I never knew that batteries could catch Covid 🤣.

1 hour ago, mjt said:

I never knew that batteries could catch Covid 🤣.

Obviously didn't get it vaccinated!😀

9 hours ago, mjt said:

I never knew that batteries could catch Covid 🤣.

Tested positive........... I'll get my coat! 🤣

Thanks for the information. 

Does anyone have any idea what a mobile technician would charge to program the chipped keys? 

This is assuming that the replacement lock barrels were already fitted to the car. 

Would they want to get involved with used keys that they hadn't supplied themselves?

1 hour ago, AntonovAN12 said:

Would they want to get involved with used keys that they hadn't supplied themselves?

No !!

For the simple reason, if the key fails then then customer would blame them.

Remember that it is the CAR that gets programmed to recognise the key, not the other way round. The correct programming process completely deletes ALL keys from the vehicles memory. Then all the keys that are to be added back in to the vehicle memory has to done at the same time, otherwise the whole process has to be done again.

Probably wouldn't be much cheaper anyway, the cost is in the programming, generic keyfobs themselves don't cost much.

I'd expect to pay around £100-£150 to have a new key cut & programmed around here.  Second key shouldn't add much extra cost if required.  Might be more expensive around London.

10 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Probably wouldn't be much cheaper anyway, the cost is in the programming, generic keyfobs themselves don't cost much.

I'd expect to pay around £100-£150 to have a new key cut & programmed around here.  Second key shouldn't add much extra cost if required.  Might be more expensive around London.

That is useful to know.

The V5 is also apparently missing. I assume the key company would want to see it to make a key. 

5 minutes ago, AntonovAN12 said:

That is useful to know.

The V5 is also apparently missing. I assume the key company would want to see it to make a key. 

Not necessarily.  Key cutters are often called to people stranded away from home who have lost a key while out for the day.  They won't have a V5 to hand.

The owner will need a V5 even to scrap it though, so a replacement needs to be ordered asap anyway.

The owner did ask how much they would get for scrapping it. I told them they would get a few hundred quid if lucky and would also need the V5. 

If the car was running and had an MOT they would likely be able to sell it. Supposedly it doesn't have any major mechanical problems and the bodywork is ok. The mileage is 65k so not too high. 

Similar cars are listed for around £4000 on Auto Trader.