Hiya

Last few cold starts my fiesta has struggled to start. Can hear the starter turn but just before it fires into life it gives up often with a clonk or two. Weird thing is, the central locking then makes noise trying to unlock the doors again?! Or could be the windows. Definitely not pressing the unlock button on key lol when warm it starts fine or after a short drive.

Thinking it might be battery related? Drawing too much power causing some electrical oddities? It's about 9 years old now and it sits 2-3 days without being driven quite often.

Just to add it's a 1.25 petrol 

26 minutes ago, Dfects said:

Hiya

Last few cold starts my fiesta has struggled to start. Can hear the starter turn but just before it fires into life it gives up often with a clonk or two. Weird thing is, the central locking then makes noise trying to unlock the doors again?! Or could be the windows. Definitely not pressing the unlock button on key lol when warm it starts fine or after a short drive.

Thinking it might be battery related? Drawing too much power causing some electrical oddities? It's about 9 years old now and it sits 2-3 days without being driven quite often.

Just to add it's a 1.25 petrol 

1st place to start is check your battery. There's been some cold nights recently so it could be effecting it. .... http://m.wikihow.com/Check-a-Car-Battery

It had 12.40, 14.2ish when running (guessing alternator is doing its job ) and then 12.6 after shutting off. Have just had a 40 Min drive before testing.

Not been able to check the droop when cranking as was on my lonesome ATM.

Guess at least it tells me it's holding charge, just not if it can deliver the amps it needs to start. 

26 minutes ago, Dfects said:

It had 12.40, 14.2ish when running (guessing alternator is doing its job ) and then 12.6 after shutting off. Have just had a 40 Min drive before testing.

Not been able to check the droop when cranking as was on my lonesome ATM.

Guess at least it tells me it's holding charge, just not if it can deliver the amps it needs to start. 

12.4v is at the lower end of the scale so I'd say the battery 'could' be on its way out. The battery should also be a silver calcium one.

You could try charging it and see how it goes. Any idea how old the battery is?

27 minutes ago, Dfects said:

It had 12.40, 14.2ish when running (guessing alternator is doing its job ) and then 12.6 after shutting off. Have just had a 40 Min drive before testing.

Not been able to check the droop when cranking as was on my lonesome ATM.

Guess at least it tells me it's holding charge, just not if it can deliver the amps it needs to start. 

12.4v is at the lower end of the scale so I'd say the battery 'could' be on its way out. It should also be a silver calcium battery.

You could try charging it and see how it goes. Any idea how old the battery is?

I've had the car about 6 years now, its a ford battery in there and it was roughly 3 years old when I purchased so guessing its still the factory battery that's about 9 years old. Pretty good going tbh.

It has had a good innings at 9 years and certainly doesn't owe you anything. That alone could justify getting a new battery merely as a point of maintenance i.e. less of a 'if it aint broke dont fix it' attitude and more 'fix it before it breaks' if you see what I mean!

If you don't want to replace it out of hand take it to a decent battery place and get them to test it. A multimeter can't reveal much other than the most basic of information about battery health - it really needs a proper test tool to load the battery and measure its response.

At home, the battery can usually be ruled in or out as the cause behind starting problems by jump starting it from a known-working donor vehicle.

 

Have reserved a replacement already, going to pick it up tomorrow. Went for this (with the 30% off sale):

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Ford_Fiesta_1.2_2007/p/car-parts/car-electrics-and-car-lighting/electrical/car-battery/?444770637&1&296aed99039e11bb99538806240546579a14b719&000020

Bosch s4, 4 year guarantee with a little more cranking power than stock and is silver calcium. Hoping it fits okay, euro car parts states 212mm but bosch on their site state 207mm... will see tomorrow I guess.

Fitted the battery today, fitted fine :) Car seems a little more sprightly when starting, although its not too cold here today. Just wanted to add a follow up in case anyone stumbles across this looking for the same battery as the measurements on euro car parts is wrong.