Wish I knew more about car stuff

Terminal box looks good.
MDC battery price is good, close to my suppliers quote.

The battery is probably unable to sustain current while the starter motor is running.
Running the fan is a tiny amount compared to the starter motor, that battery is supposed to provide 560Amps for cold cranking.
You can edge a few more starts by dipping the clutch and making sure everything electrical is off when the key is turned but if that battery is original it is probably done.

Swap it for a Nissan Micra with a new battery that starts every time ?

Just got back from my 2nd tip to MDC. I am now the owner of a new battery, and have to fit it myself. They donā€™t offer fitting. A few nuts here and there, how hard can it be?

The old battery was apparently showing 34% both on capacity and life according to the tester thingy they connected to it.

Just doing some double checking they gave me the right battery and if there might be anything else I need to know (like the car resetting security codes or similar nonsense) before I actually go ahead.

They said the new battery is supplied charged. Still wondering if it is worth giving it a top up since thatā€™ll be the 2nd time Iā€™ll use the new charger I bought.

Edit: quick search consensus makes it sound like I donā€™t need to do any memory preserving (keeping it powered) while swapping battery, which should help a lot with difficulty. So thatā€™ll be a job for after lunch.

New battery in. Everything still seems to work. Starts ok. Done.

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awesome work :+1:

Excellent.
You well on the way to having abackup career as a Halfords Master Mechanic.

You just need to complete the hands on course on parking customer vehicles

The above hopeful would fail, 52% of the score is achieved by wearing the hat reversed.

Do Halfords pay as much as they charge for their batteries? Would have cost more than double if I went to them according to their website.

Now I just need to wait for the next time the scrap metal collector passes and old battery will be gone.

Also this has shown me the possible value in a torque wrench. I have no idea how tight things should be. Got it tight enough it isnā€™t going anywhere, but I didnā€™t go all out with whatever strength I have.

Forgot I still need to look at the fan speed resistor at some point.

If in doubt just check the fixings are still tight after the first drive.
Try and give the battery a bit of a wiggle, if it moves at all more tightening is needed, insecure battery is an mot FAIL.
Check the terminals are still secure but donā€™t over do these, if the clamp wiggles on the terminal it needs a tweak, if it is over tightened the clamp can bend out of shape and wont ever do up.

The video above has more links.
I had several Avis rental cars in South Africa that would do thisā€¦

Hmmā€¦ might have over-tightened the terminal clamp then. The metal seemed soft. There was no obvious end point to tightening it. Even when getting the connections off the old battery I had to get a screwdriver out to lever apart the clamp bit.

If the clamps dont twist about if you give them a jiggle its all good.

Next up the HAGWCPGW* method you used to get the battery out needs to be applied to the glovebox.
Then you can swap out the fan resistorā€¦

Unless you think the car is just going to break something else and have
to leave the fan part broken to appease the evil pixies ?

Have A Go What Could Possibly Go Wrong

" Wish I knew more about car stuff"

Waves a magic wandā€¦ Your wish is granted!

How about a service Webinar all about blower resistors ?
You have to register

Saw this late for the live, but it apparently is also available on demand. Might check out later. Just not motivated to take apart front of car interior to progress mine. At lower speeds I open the window and if Iā€™m on the motorway anyway the noise at full isnā€™t so noticeable.