Help please!

[Sabby99]

Hi all
My vw crafter won’t start. (It’s not the battery as there is still power.)
I pulled into a campsite, turned off the ignition for 5 mins and then nothing! We tried jump leads. Nothing! We were able to bump start it to my pitch!

Bit of background, not sure if it’s relevant but I had a problem with my electrics today. i put the microwave on earlier & it switched straight off & also inverter panel switched off. Inverter started beeping, tried switching the engine on but didn’t stop. Started driving here, stopped beeping within 1 mins of driving.

I’m 4 days into a 14 day holiday so wondered whether this is likely to be something that can be fixed by a breakdown service? I don’t want to call them tomorrow if they can’t fix it and need to tow me home! I’d rather hang on a few days
Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[meanders]

Suggest plugging in overnight if you can. It sounds like the leisure battery may have failed. Or, are you are running everything off the starter battery?
Jump leads should have worked, so the starter may have failed, or jammed, or the starter solenoid may have failed. Or the jump leads were not man enough.

Poor earth possibly.

Breakdown should be able to sort out starter, battery and solenoid issues, but probably will not be able to help with the habitation side or the inverter.

 

[Sabby99]

This is what the app is saying about the electrics

 

[Silver-Fox]

When you say it wouldn’t start we need a bit more info.

Did the engine turn over or did you just get a click?

 

[Sabby99]

Suggest plugging in overnight if you can. It sounds like the leisure battery may have failed. Or, are you are running everything off the starter battery?
Jump leads should have worked, so the starter may have failed, or jammed, or the starter solenoid may have failed. Or the jump leads were not man enough.

Poor earth possibly.

Breakdown should be able to sort out starter, battery and solenoid issues, but probably will not be able to help with the habitation side or the inverter.

Thanks for the response. It’s running from solar & leisure battery
I’ve just downloaded the battery app and it’s showing this. It’s been charging for an hour

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[Sabby99]

click?

No click, nothing.

 

[Sabby99]

No click, nothing.

Sorry meant to say click - didn’t turn over

 

[Silver-Fox]

Sorry meant to say click - didn’t turn over

If you get a click but won’t turn over cab battery is probably flat as a pancake.

It might revive by charging from the mains but it may not.

HTH

 

[meanders]

146 hours to charge? Something amiss there. Plug in if you can tonight.

 

[Sabby99]

If you get a click but won’t turn over cab battery is probably flat as a pancake.

It might revive by charging from the mains but it may not.

HTH

If you get a click but won’t turn over cab battery is probably flat as a pancake.

It might revive by charging from the mains but it may not.

HTH

TV

146 hours to charge? Something amiss there. Plug in if you can tonight.

thanks

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[Just smiffy]

Your batteries are flat….

 

[Minxy]

Looks like your batteries are flatter than a flat thing

Did you ensure you had them fully charged before you set off?

 

[Neil Bedwin]

Quick way to check the cab battery.....turn your head lights on full, get someone to watch them, and try to start the engine. If the lights go out you have a flat battery. If they dim but stay on and you get a click it's possibly the starter motor. If they dim and stay on but you get no click it's possibly the starter solenoid.

 

[JJ]

...could be starter motor cog stuck in flywheel...

...put in gear... handbrake off... and rock the van...

JJ

 

[autorouter]

146 hours to charge? Something amiss there. Plug in if you can tonight.

50Ah left in a 300Ah battery, so 250Ah required. Charging at 1.7A. So 250Ah / 1.7A = 147 hours. That's the leisure battery, the starter battery is presumably getting nothing from solar too. I agree that plugging into EHU for 24 hours would be a good idea.

Your solar is not going to fill the battery during the day. A 100W panel will give you about 30Ah to 40Ah, so it will take a week to fill up that battery even if you don't use any power at all for the habitation loads. The question is, even if you get a hookup to charge the leisure battery, does that charge the starter battery too? Some systems do, some don't.

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[pappajohn]

Why does everyone refer to the hab battery, it's the starter battery with the problem.
It also appears, judging the app, it's a lithium leisure battery.
I don't know of any vehicle with a lithium starter battery

 

[autorouter]

My vw crafter won’t start. (It’s not the battery as there is still power.)
I pulled into a campsite, turned off the ignition for 5 mins and then nothing! We tried jump leads. Nothing! We were able to bump start it to my pitch!

You do appreciate that there are two batteries involved. The starter battery starts the engine and runs the vehicle electrics: headlights, wipers, etc. The leisure battery is separate, and runs the habitation electrics: water pump, interior lights, fridge, heater controls etc.

The battery in your app is a big lithium battery, of the type used for habitation electrics. It is not connected to the starter battery, they are always kept separate so that if you run the leisure battery flat you can still start the engine. The inverter will be wired to run from the leisure battery, so should have no effect on the starter battery side of things.

Can you try measuring the starter battery voltage with a multimeter? Maybe you can borrow one from another camper. If not you can get one for about a tenner from any DIY store, which I appreciate is difficult if you are on a campsite with no transport. The starter battery voltage will tell us if the battery has a problem, or if it's more likely to be a connection problem.

If you have just arrived after a reasonably long drive, the starter battery should be 100% full. If it's not then the alternator is not charging it for some reason. May be an alternator fault, does the alternator light on the dashboard go out when the engine is running? If it stays on, could be the alternator drive belt snapped, or could be the engine earth strap is loose or broken.

If you have jump leads it's easy to check for an engine earth strap fault. Clip the negative jump lead between the battery negative terminal and a solid metallic part of the engine. If the problem goes away then it's the engine earth strap.