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GTV completely flat battery recovery procedure

3K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  sizewell 
#1 ·
Hi all - I've searched for/read a number of threads on here but can't find quite the same problem so am hoping someone can help.

I stupidly left my 2005 GTV JTS over winter with the battery connected - three months later, I have a completely flat battery and no sign of life.

I thought it would be simple case of attaching my jump starter and firing up.... wrong.

Despite the awkwardness of accessing the battery posts I managed to connect the jump starter... and immediately the alarm started going off. Nothing I tried stopped it - ultimately I just had to leave it and after about 5 mins of intermittent alarm it stopped - I assume because the battery was now exhausted to the point it couldn't power the alarm.

Before doing/trying anything else, I thought I'd better get some advice! What's the best way to now recover the situation e.g.

1) Can I just disconnect the battery for a few hours to charge it, reconnect and try again? Any problems with key codes?

2) Could I put a trickle charger on the battery in situ and see if it recovers charge after a couple of days? Any risks doing this?

Else what would be the best plan - I'm paranoid about key code/immobiliser problems as I'm not sure the (only) key I have is the code/master key!!

Thanks all.
 
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#4 ·
Do you have an old style charger? The newer trickle/intelligent chargers probably won't get a completely flat battery going again whereas the older types will.
Once the battery starts accepting a charge from the older charger you can switch over to the intelligent one.
 
#6 ·
I'm no expert with these particular cars but that's what I would do (and as DavidC suggested).

I haven't done it with my Spider but have done it a few times on a similar era Peugeot 306 cabriolet. No problems occurred, it just started normally afterwards.
 
#7 ·
I've had such issues and my local Yuasa depot have a service for £3.50. They told me it's no so straight forward with domestic chargers.
Apparently they don't get the temperature up sufficiently (chemistry stuff) to enable a "Deep Charge" to regenerate the battery so discharge will always occur quicker.
Also, given the flat battery was at Xmas, an irate breakdown bloke told me that you need 40 minutes at motorway speed to charge a battery, which I did and it's been fine. Hope this helps.
 
#8 ·
Not an answer to your question - but if you ever get the alarm sounding off in the future and need to switch it off, open the bonnet & look for the small access cover on the o/s cover above the wheel arch. In there is the siren, older models had a hex key to switch off the siren, or simply unplugging the siren would work. The alarm will still be going i.e. the hazards will still be flashing, but at least there is no noise!

All my cars have been Ph1 or Ph2 so cannot confirm this is the same on a Ph3, however it's probably worth locating the siren for the next time this happens!

Also, I fitted a small terminal that quickly disconnects the battery; it one of the handiest things I have fitted, I use it a lot. Something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Battery-T...688280?hash=item33be0a7458:g:ggcAAOSwvzRX1mHU
 
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#10 ·
A quick update following all of the advice:

- Following the advice of "Matt GTV" I disconnected the siren (mine is a 2005 JTS, so didn't have the siren with the key option), which made for much less fraught operations without the fear if triggering the alarm!

- I did look at removing the battery, but couldn't get a socket on the nut and an adjustable spanner wouldn't fit (I know, I know - but I didn't have my ring spanners with me).

- Decided to try jump starting with a standalone starter pack - but not enough power in my small home starter pack (although fully charged) - engine turned over slowly but wouldn't start

- Reverted to jump starting off the battery of my Fiat Barchetta. Slightly worried that I might 'spike' the GTV electrics and cause problems, but it started first turn and idled nicely... straight off for an MOT (We'll see how that goes!) and, no doubt, a new battery.

Thanks again for all the advice.
 
#11 ·
Hi all - I've searched for/read a number of threads on here but can't find quite the same problem so am hoping someone can help.

I stupidly left my 2005 GTV JTS over winter with the battery connected - three months later, I have a completely flat battery and no sign of life.

I thought it would be simple case of attaching my jump starter and firing up.... wrong.

Despite the awkwardness of accessing the battery posts I managed to connect the jump starter... and immediately the alarm started going off. Nothing I tried stopped it - ultimately I just had to leave it and after about 5 mins of intermittent alarm it stopped - I assume because the battery was now exhausted to the point it couldn't power the alarm.

Before doing/trying anything else, I thought I'd better get some advice! What's the best way to now recover the situation e.g.


1) Can I just disconnect the battery for a few hours to charge it, reconnect and try again? Any problems with key codes?

2) Could I put a trickle charger on the battery in situ and see if it recovers charge after a couple of days? Any risks doing this?

Else what would be the best plan - I'm paranoid about key code/immobiliser problems as I'm not sure the (only) key I have is the code/master key!!

Thanks all.

Someone may be able to correct me on this but my understanding is it is you may have provoked the "Anti - Theft" alarm.
Simply by allowing the battery to discharge does not disable the alarm system once it is armed. So by connecting jump leads, you are simulating someone having broken into your car. The solution is to completely remove the battery and charge it fully over 24 hours. Starting the car should then disable the alarm. Also, it is worth remembering that chargers are simply A.C. rectifiers without any smoothing. They rely upon the battery, which is taking the charge, to smooth the voltage. A 13.2 volt charger is the equivalent RMS value. The peak value is 1.414 times higher. So if you have a suspect battery, effectively it has lost the capacity to take a charge and therefore offers little by way of smoothing. So your peak value is 18.66 Volts. ECU's are not happy with that kind of voltage. So always fully disconnect your battery to charge. I know of numerous occasions where costly damage has occurred when this has been ignored. Remember! once you switch off your television, you don't know if it still works. And if you allow your battery to discharge, equally you don't know if it has lost it's ability to take a charge.
 
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