Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Weak new battery???

Hi all
My 19814/4 was equipped with a big battery, oversized and cantilevered dangerously behind seats. So l bought a varta B34 , 45Ah, 330A and installed it yesterday, with proper support. When tested, after full load and with avg temp about 10C, starter was very slow, slower than the previous big battery which was supposed to be dead... Even after a ride and a short stop, engine hot starting was very slow and l was not sure of the success.

l cleaned the positive connection on the starter without improvement.
Any idea? How is done the negative connection of the starter, where can l check the contacts down to the neg pole of battery?
Any other idea?
Any advice for fault finding?

Try the earth connections. There is one off the battery but also from the gearbox to the scuttle. I was on the verge of changing the starter motor on my Roadster for a similar reasons but cleaning the earths solved it.

Here are the Roadster earths.
http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/Roadster_earth_grounds.html

Try giving it a full charge on a smart charger before use, as you ideally should with any new battery. Before installing and after a rest period of a few hours, check battery volts at terminals. You should see minimum of 12.7 volts.

Fair point Richard always best to check the obvious.

Try using ajump lead as a temporary earth lead on the negitave pole.

I assume Toucan is using the same earth he was on the Old Big Battery so that should not cause the difference but agree worth checking.

I was always told that new batteries should be fully re-charged before use so I'd go with Richards recommendation.

Ray posted exactly what I was going to type. You can’t have too many earths and s good friends +4 of mid 80’s era had the same problem, after doing what Ray typed it spun over like a good un. He fitted an extra earth strap from a bell housing bolt to the chassis and it was cured.

BR
Colin

Colin,
I saw a 4/4 at Allon White with the engine out for a new clutch. The corrosion on the earth strap to the bellhousing was amazing. The other side you would normally see looked fine. As I said cleaning that up worked for me.

Cars from the 1980’s rely on a very puny earth strap from the chassis to the gearbox. On our 1985 car, I added an extra earth cable room the bell housing to the chassis. It made a big difference. If the heater actuator cable is getting hot when you start the car it is a good indication of an earthing problem. Don’t grab hold of the heater cable to find out though - mine got hot enough to burn me.

Totally agree with all the above, replace the earths and add more. I once almost had a fire when my choke cable became the main earth, it was glowing red by the time I realised what was happening. That incident made me fit fire extinguishers in all my Mogs as an insurance policy, not had to use them on my cars but have on others.