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  How can I prep my car for winter storage? 25 Oct 2016 (Ask HJ)
  I'll be taking my 2008 reg 1.6 VVT Renault Megane cabrio off the road for the winter. It'll be stored in a good dry garage and the petrol tank will be...
• Citroen C2 GT 1.6 2004 - Mysterious noise that is draining my battery 13 Jun 2016 (Forum)
    This continues at 35/40 sec intervals until either the battery goes flat or I return to the vehicle.   It's as if the car is trying to constantly kill power to something, but there is nothing running, so it just keeps going.
• Honda Jazz vs Toyota Prius 27 Apr 2015 (Forum)
  I am thinking about owning the car for ten years becasue this is how long my last used car (VW Polo) lived. My preference is the Prius. My concern here is the Prius battery. I have come across posts online where they have died after a number of years http://priuschat.com/threads/hybrid-battery-survey-gen2-prius-2004-2009.132362/ I read an article saying that it is not the mileage that kills the battery but the length of years and climate.
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  My Scenic's interior light stayed one? 18 Feb 2014 (Ask HJ)
  I left the Scenic and the interior light and boot light did not go off as they usually do. I checked the switch and could not switch it off at all. There...
• Ford Mondeo ghia tdci 2007 2L - Damsel in distress Ford mondeo start up issues 16 Nov 2013 (Forum)
  I'm at my wits end, it all started with dmf going got this replaced with starter etc and ever since egm light been on start up fine for last month then One morning car drove fine down to shop then dead battery 5 mins later on start up, got jump start battery reading 8v,  wouldn't start after that long enough with jump start so had to get it towed,  Mechanic advised New battery but replaced with lead alkaline, I have read it needs to be silver calcium due to smart charge and I believe this is part of issue as 24 hours later car won't start again but when new battery was installed it read at 14v but I read this voltage would indicate smart charge faulty somewhere as should read around 16v?
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  What's wrong with my BMW 520d? 21 Oct 2013 (Ask HJ)
  I have just had my BMW 520d Touring serviced at 33,000 miles by a local dealer, preceded by a warranty check, which found a leaking exhaust manifold and...
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  My Megane cabriolet won't start with its roof down? 1 Jun 2013 (Ask HJ)
  My Megane Coupe Cabriolet won't start after having the roof down. I have the engine running when lowering the roof. The car starts with a bump start and...
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  Do car cigarette lighter sockets work when the engine is switched off? 18 May 2013 (Ask HJ)
  I purchased a cigarette socket phone charger for my 2006 Volkswagen Polo. When plugging the charger into the socket in the dashboard console, with the...
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  How should I store my Mercedes-Benz C-Class? 23 Mar 2013 (Ask HJ)
  My wife and I are off down under for two months as a retirement bash. I shall be leaving my 2004 Mercedes C-Class K200 in the garage and unfortunately...
• Nissan Micra - Nissan Micra problems, failing to start 26 Apr 2012 (Forum)
  Meanwhile i started to just not start first time, like it doesn't have enough power. I then got a fuse replaced on my battery. The car has now stopped just cutting out, it now just doesn't start first time like it has not enough power. I now have to have my foot on the accelorator when i start so it gets going. When i had the fuse changed on my battery they told me that the battery wasn't at it's best.
• VW Golf 1.9 diesel 2005 - VW Golf Diesel - battery flat no one knows why 4 Feb 2012 (Forum)
  We bought a vw golf, 55 plate 33000 miles, fsh, one owner, immaculate etc etc and after 2 weeks of perfect ownership woke up to find the rear lights on and the battery flat. The AA sorted that and we were ok for several more days, then the same problem happened twice in 3 nights. I noticed the nights were cold, this was December. We took it to our local garage that had the car on check for battery drain for 3 nights in their workshop and no problems were found.
• Vauxhall Astra MkV 1.7 CDTI (diesel) - Engine management light 11 Aug 2011 (Forum)
  I think this last information is key. It's an 05 plate, ex-poilice car with 158,000 miles and on the ORIGINAL battery. The built in hydrometer does not show green after sitting (ie, not charged) and that coupled with the extra cranking time leads me to believe it might be a battery problem. Does anyone think the same or know if there is any battery sensing ciruits that are very voltage sensitive that might cause this ?
• Morris Mini 1962 - Dynamo 24 Nov 2010 (Forum)
  My car has been off the road for a while and I recently changed the car to negative earth, which only involved connecting a battery charger to the car in place of a battery and 'flashing' the dynamo. I disconnected the charger and thought no more about it. At the wekend I connected the car up to a battery charger again to test the lights.
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  Smooth customer - looking for the right auto 19 Sep 2010 (Ask HJ)
  I like smooth quiet automatic cars and only do about 6,000 miles a year. I am thinking of buying a 5 or 6-year old Toyota Prius with 100,000 miles on the...
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  My Peugeot 306's radio won't work after I flattened the battery. 27 Aug 2010 (Ask HJ)
  My battery went dead as I left my lights on. I was successful in jump-starting the car but now my in-car stereo is totally dead and there's a flashing...
• Mazda Mazda 6 (2002 - 2007) - 05 2.0 Rear passenger electric window faulty 28 Jul 2009 (Forum)
  Following my flat battery episode detailed here... http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=75029&m=887105#887105 ...I subsequently found that the rear passenger-side electric window no longer works. Whether this was somehow the cause of the flat battery (whilst the car was left in my garage unused for 2 weeks), or happened as a result of the disconnection/reconnection of the battery, I do not know.
• Mercedes Benz E-Class W124 Estates (1985 - 1996) - 89 2.3 Current leak 10 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  Built in 1989. The alternator has recently been replaced and seems to be functioning okay. However the battery loses charge when running with the lights on; and eventually the car fails to run. (Not very convenient during these short winter days!) With the lights off the battery seems to get enough charge.
• Zafira DTI,Electrical problem 25 Oct 2006 (Forum)
  No problems for about three months then, the fault happend again, in the morning, attempted to bump start the car down a hill, no good, called out a breakdown firm, who jump started the car battery, pulled up at my house switched off and started no problems So, I replaced the car battery with a new Varta one, high crank output, last night, drove to work for a good hour travelling time and noticed the dash lights started to dim and the radio, switched itself on/off/on/off etc, so in the stupidity of me, I pulled over in the middle of nowhere and turned the engine off and stereo to recetify/reset the problem, turned key to start, battery flat, dash instruments filkering and alarm sounding.
• Fiesta 1.25 Zetec 1996 starting problem 16 Dec 2004 (Forum)
  The battery finally succumbed after another 2 months of non use. Jump started ok but battery would not hold charge (8 years old so not complaining). Alarm became very confused to the irritation of neigbours and did not want to reset properly until I discovered that manually opening and closing the passenger door would reset it permanently!
• Toyota Yaris - Tom Tom Toyota Sat Nav 11 Feb 2020 (Forum)
  Morning all, I have to replace the battery in my Tom Tom Toyota Eclipse II (AVN45429) Sat Nav. No problem removing the old battery, it's 3.7v 1320mAh Li Polymer but the only replacement I can find (so far) is 3.7v 1200mAh. Any views on whether this will do the job?