Scottish Elises

This morning when leaving for work i went to start up the car and it wouldnt start, the car has been in the drive past few nights and not garaged, im not sure if the cold has anything to do with it not starting but i was driving the car last night and it was fine.
I have a trickle charger still from my elise days im not sure if i should put this on the battery when i get home tonight or if i should just jump start the car?

Last year i was working away for three weeks at a time in the winter months and when coming home the car started first time everytime although it was garaged. Also a trickle charger wasnt used once last year.

What are the symptoms of the non start? Is it completely dead? Will it try and turn the starter motor?

The radio came on when key was in ignition but as soon as i turned the key it started to make a strange jig noise as if it was trying to start up but didnt have the power

When you put the ignition on, did the dash lights come on bright, then dim significantly when trying to turn the starter? - From what you have said, it sounds like it might be battery related... see if a trickle charge helps. ...awaits someone more expert than I to advise otherwise

the lights came on the dash if i remember correctly this morning and the radio came on, i have just got home from work and tried again but nothing at all this time, i have disconnected the battery and put my trickle charger on it, hopefully give it a boost for 6 hours or so to see if anything happens, if not i might need to buy a new battery.

Yup - does sound like battery. They are consumables at the end of the day and do sometimes just fail.

Hope a good charge sorts it - if it's a clever enough charger, it should give it enough boost over 6 hour period to get it working.

Shug...thanks for the reply, I have a good trickle charger that was recommended to me from another SE member years ago when i bought my Elise and it always did the trick, i will keep you up to date on how it goes, the evora manual says trickle charge for up to 24hours but unfortunately i don't have that kind of time, If...If it doesn't seem to work and i jump start it and that doesn't work is there any other batterys you recommend to buy ? currently the battery is a ' Bosch 007 S4 Silver ' they are around £70
i have been looking on Halfords website to see if they had them just incase i needed a quick fix but they don't have that one in there stores, i wasnt sure if i could get a similar one which would be just as good.

Try Euro Car parts

Yeah i just found it http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Lotus ... 4cb&000020

If i need to get one tonight though halfords is close by and this one is pretty similar....

This halfords one is 680A 72AH same as the bosch not sure how good it would be though? dimensions are slightly higher also
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs- ... -guarantee

Well some good news...after 4 hours on trickle charge, i re connected everything and it started, took the car for a quick run and it was fine...however the ECU light has came on, or do you call it the MIL...so not sure if this will go off its self because both battery terminals have been disconnected or do i now need to take it into murrays ? I'm not sure what caused the car not to start up in the first place so I'm guessing i am best to go and get the alternator checked to see if its actually charging the battery , if that is fine I'm guessing the battery may be on its way out ?

If there is no actual emissions impacting fault then the MIL will clear after some number of start/stop cycles. If there is a fault (like an O2 sensor out or a misfire) then it will stay on. If it came on when the battery was disconnected, I wouldn't worry about it unless it's still on after a 10 journeys, unless you're about to head off on a 1,000 mile drive, in which case I would get the fault code read out.

You can check the alternator with a multimeter - while the engine is running the voltage across the battery should be higher than when the engine is switched off. Simples.

Cheers,
Robin

Battery has probably fallen off the cliff. TADTS.

Worth a word with CMC, who look after both our Lotuses just now. My Evora suffered similar just after we bought it. OEM battery lasts 5 yrs approx.

My last Evora did the same - as above TADTS. Battery gives up the ghost suddenly at the 4-5 year mark. Charging will get it to start but my experience was that it doesn't hold for long. A new battery will be your best option especially at this time of year with cold nights and lots of battery drain with electrical equipment on.

First few cold nights of the year are usually enough to kill a battery that already on its' way out............

Dark wrote:First few cold nights of the year are usually enough to kill a battery that already on its' way out............