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• Dodgy alternator? 25 Nov 2002 (Forum)
  I have a 1991 Peugeot 205 DTurbo that exhibits the following: On starting the car after a prolonged stop the battery charge light stays on. When the slightest amount of revs are applied the light goes off and doesn't come back on (and the headlights brighten slightly). Battery charging seems to be fine. Is the voltage regulator just a bit lazy on starting the car, or is the alternator about to pack in?
• Stopping electrical corrosion 20 Jul 2002 (Forum)
  Halfords and a local car accessory shop tell me that the red petroleum jelly I used to buy for coating battery terminals is no longer made and I should use grease or Vaseline. The car shop even suggested modern batteries don't get terminal corrosion. A quick check with a meter suggests neither of these conducts electricity very well, if at all.
• Mercedes alarm/central locking 6 Jul 2002 (Forum)
  Hi I have a Merc 300sl 1990.I disconnected the battery to recharge it and now the alarm(factory fit) cannot be activated via the infra-red remote. Before I disconnected the battery when locking the car the red LED on the door handles used to light up and when unlocking the green LED used to come on.
• Mondeo 1.8 Pinking 16 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  Further to a thread in the past my 99 Mondeo 1.8 is still pinking on normal unleaded (fine on optimax) I have replaced the plugs and HT leads, ran three doses of VAG fuel additive through the system and reset the ecu by disconnecting the battery for half a day. Incidentally, since disconnecting the battery and resetting the ECU the pinking seems to be worse (I might be imagining it though.) The pinking occurs mainly at 30mph in fourth gear when I floor the throttle.
• BMW 523 electrical problem 6 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  My dad owns an R plate BMW 523. Hes been having a few problems with the battery going flat when left for extended periods of time (=>3/4days). Its not due to driving short distances as he drives to carlisle and back from nottingham each week. He has had a brand new BMW battery and the problem still persists.
• Smart chargers 17 Jul 2021 (Forum)
   Has anyone any experience of the NOCO Genius5UK smart battery charger?
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  Why does my EV show a longer range than the claimed figures? 24 Apr 2025 (Ask HJ)
  The official WLTP range of my Kia Soul is 280 miles, but when fully charged it's showing 310 miles. Any ideas why this should be?
• Do you think it's the battery? (Vectra) 13 Jan 2005 (Forum)
  So - a) how do you re-mobilise a Vectra and b) do you think it's the battery?
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  Why has Jaguar disabled the charge to 80% feature on the I-Pace? 6 Jun 2025 (Ask HJ)
  Recent correspondence on HJ referred to only charging your EV to keep it in the sweet spot of 20 to 80%, which I understand and practice with our Tesla...
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  Why is the BMW 330e plug-in hybrid zero road tax? 3 May 2022 (Ask HJ)
  How is it that the new BMW 330e plug-in hybrid variant can be zero tax rated when after 25 miles it has to run on its petrol engine when my BMW i3 can...
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  Why is the Government so obsessed over electric cars, shouldn't its focus be on hydrogen vehicles? 6 Sep 2021 (Ask HJ)
  Why is the Government so obsessed with electric vehicles considering the energy involved in mining for lithium and the generation of electricity to power...
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  Can you explain whether a PHEV or a self-charging hybrid would be better suited to my driving? 6 Nov 2019 (Ask HJ)
  I'm looking at changing my diesel car for a plug-in hybrid or a self-charging hybrid. Could you explain the difference between the two systems and whether...
• Mazda CX-5 Sport Nav 2016 - Serious battery issue after having car service 22 Oct 2019 (Forum)
  It wasn't until Friday when I noticed that the auto windows were not working and I checked the manual to find that if the battery had been disconnected the auto windows have to be initialised, on mentioning this to my wife she had forgotten to tell me that this had happened with her also on the Monday evening after the service which seems to confirm that the battery was disconnected at some point whilst they had the car.
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  Is a used Tesla S a sensible buy? 18 Jan 2019 (Ask HJ)
  There are many three or four-year-old Tesla's on the market, probably because the four year 50k warranty has expired. I have read many horror stories regarding...
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  How do I proceed with electrical faults in my Skoda Fabia? 27 Dec 2016 (Ask HJ)
  I drive a Skoda Fabia. I notified you in April when various electrics failed, including the dashboard electrics, and caused the engine to suddenly cut...
• Renault Megane 99/T - Central locking not listening..? 25 Jul 2023 (Forum)
    Everything was fine apart from the small lake in the rear footwell... so we had the carpet out, left it to dry out with the rice and newspaper etc. While it was parked, I disconnected the battery to keep the immobiliser from draining it. Some weeks later it's all back together, so I charge up the battery (which didn't take more than 20m) and I went to start the car. 1999-era Meganes are peculiar in that to disarm the immobiliser after a battery-off job, you need to remote-lock the car using the blipper on the key, then remote-unlock it.
• Ford S-Max 1.8TDCi Zetec 07 Plate 17000miles - Ford SMax Power Loss - Critical Engine Fault 20 Feb 2012 (Forum)
  The branch manager phones to say that the car is OK and that they cannot recreate the fault and that their computer didnt show up anything...I tell them to FIX IT! Two weeks later - Ford Call and say it is sorted - A Battery Fault...Hmmm Battery Starts the motor not drives it...but I am told THAT is the problem...We will see says I - Another £107 for a battery.... Less than a week later the SAME DAMN problem - Critical Engine Fault without warning - Power Loss - Creep mode...etc The Camel now has one straw too many and I call the garage to pick it up...and VOSA to report a SERIOUS Safety Defect with my engine...
• Ship carrying Porche's & VW's on fire in Atlantic. 20 Feb 2022 (Forum)
  "BERLIN/LISBON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – A ship carrying around 4,000 vehicles, including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, that caught fire near the coast of the Azores will be towed to another European country or the Bahamas, the captain of the nearest port told Reuters on Friday. Lithium-ion batteries in the electric cars on board the vehicle carrier Felicity Ace have caught fire and the blaze requires specialist equipment to extinguish, captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas said. It was not clear whether the batteries first sparked the fire.
• 2019 SE NAV + 2019 Hyundai Tucson - 2019 Hyundai Tucson Starting issue. 23 Sep 2021 (Forum)
  Hi all My Tucson's had no issues starting until today. in short this happened; Normal key; Opened all ok, turn key= nothing  (car battery lots of juice).. Tried several times, all the same. Got spare key ; car started first time and every time when tried. No issue with spare key,  contacted Hyundai dealership, response it's the remote's battery and not a key fob programming issue.
• 2003 NISSAN MICRA III K12 - 2003 NISSAN MICRA III K12 Identifying rubber pipe 24 Sep 2019 (Forum)
  --[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 I recently removed the car battery and I noticed a rubber pipe behind it with one end not connected to anything. The following links show the end of the pipe in the engine compartment with a red arrow pointing to it -  photo1 photo2 The other end of the pipe is connected to a lower part of the engine below the battery shown in the following link also with a red arrow - photo3 I am unsure how long it has been like this as I have removed the battery before but maybe I just didn't notice it was disconnected.