Last night I did a few short trips in my 500 and it started fine every time. I came home and my wife realised that we needed some potatoes so I offered to nip to the local shop, went to the car, got in, turned key and nothing! No slow turning starter, nothing. The dash lights all dimmed to nothing too.
Anyway, once it stopped raining I went back out and put my CTek charger on the battery and left it overnight. I went out this morning and the charger was indicating that the battery was charged so I tried to start it, again nothing. To top it all my car was blocking my wife's car in so she had to get a lift to work from a colleague and I had to wait for my son to come home to give me a lift to a local motor factor.
Whilst I was waiting for him I put the battery back on charge, it only took a few minutes for the fully charged lights to come on, after which the battery was showing 12.75v.
When my son took me to the factors they tested the battery and it was only capable of 100amps, not the 300 it should have had, so bought new Exide battery.
I've never known a battery to fail so suddenly, is it what happens with these modern ones?

staffordmike said:

Last night I did a few short trips in my 500 and it started fine every time. I came home and my wife realised that we needed some potatoes so I offered to nip to the local shop, went to the car, got in, turned key and nothing! No slow turning starter, nothing. The dash lights all dimmed to nothing too.
Anyway, once it stopped raining I went back out and put my CTek charger on the battery and left it overnight. I went out this morning and the charger was indicating that the battery was charged so I tried to start it, again nothing. To top it all my car was blocking my wife's car in so she had to get a lift to work from a colleague and I had to wait for my son to come home to give me a lift to a local motor factor.
Whilst I was waiting for him I put the battery back on charge, it only took a few minutes for the fully charged lights to come on, after which the battery was showing 12.75v.
When my son took me to the factors they tested the battery and it was only capable of 100amps, not the 300 it should have had, so bought new Exide battery.
I've never known a battery to fail so suddenly, is it what happens with these modern ones?

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Happened to me twice in 3 years with the stock battery power. My question is, did you replace it with the same rubbish battery again? If you did it will just happen again.
I replaced my stock battery with a more powerful Bosch S5001 one after it failed the 2nd time. So far so good.

staffordmike said:

Last night I did a few short trips in my 500 and it started fine every time. I came home and my wife realised that we needed some potatoes so I offered to nip to the local shop, went to the car, got in, turned key and nothing! No slow turning starter, nothing. The dash lights all dimmed to nothing too.
Anyway, once it stopped raining I went back out and put my CTek charger on the battery and left it overnight. I went out this morning and the charger was indicating that the battery was charged so I tried to start it, again nothing. To top it all my car was blocking my wife's car in so she had to get a lift to work from a colleague and I had to wait for my son to come home to give me a lift to a local motor factor.
Whilst I was waiting for him I put the battery back on charge, it only took a few minutes for the fully charged lights to come on, after which the battery was showing 12.75v.
When my son took me to the factors they tested the battery and it was only capable of 100amps, not the 300 it should have had, so bought new Exide battery.
I've never known a battery to fail so suddenly, is it what happens with these modern ones?

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How old is your car? From my experience a car battery lasts about 3-4 years- depends what sort of battery Fiat uses.

My first one lasted 1.5 years.
My second one lasted 1 year.
My third one? I decided to get a Bosch battery instead of the Fiat specced rubbish. So far so good after 4 months, but there again both previous batteries completely died without any warning whatsoever and would hold no charge. I have a 2 year warranty anyway for the Bosch battery so don't mind too much if this one dies early. Let's see!

I tried to find a local Bosch stockist but there isn't one. Tried for a Varta as they have a four year warranty but couldn't get one till tomorrow and obviously need it today, so went for Exide as it was available and has a three year warranty.
It is the same brand that was on the car from new but has a condition indicator. Can't complain really, the original was nearly six years old. I'm just surprised that it failed so suddenly. I'd have thought that charging it overnight would have got me running as it was fine up till last night.

Sounds like a cell went short

Well seeing as I am now aware that my 'ahem 'brand new' TA was in fact 14 months old at the point of purchase, if the battery fails in the next few months Fiat will be replacing it under warranty as I suspect that 14 months of sitting around from leaving Poland won't have done the battery a huge amount of favours and I could probably lay a tenner down the bookies that there won't have been a battery care policy in place in all the time it had been sat idle.

There is a manufacturing code/date on batteries so if anyone does have to get theirs replaced under warranty from a dealer, insist on seeing the manufacturing date. If it's over six months old, personally, I'd refuse it and insist on a newer one otherwise it'll be back to square one.

frupi said:

There is a manufacturing code/date on batteries so if anyone does have to get theirs replaced under warranty from a dealer, insist on seeing the manufacturing date. If it's over six months old, personally, I'd refuse it and insist on a newer one otherwise it'll be back to square one.

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Interesting. Is this on ALL batteries? Where abouts is it *Goes and checks the few floating about the garage*

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Interesting. Is this on ALL batteries? Where abouts is it *Goes and checks the few floating about the garage*

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Yes, I know it's an American video, but see the link below. The date code location may not be obviously apparent, you might even need to remove the battery to find where it is.:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/423023-How-to-Buy-a-Car-Battery

Loose terminal or bad earths are other candidates too

This is the usual failure mode for modern batteries. Suddenly nothing.

Years ago I worked for a major car parts company. We did a lot of investigation into our battery warranty failures and came up with some findings.

1. If the battery is no more than six months old when first used, it is likely to last 6-8 years.

2. If it is over six months old, but has been regularly checked and kept charged, it will likely last 3-4 years.

3. If it is over six months old and been allowed to gently discharge, it will almost certainly fail within two years.

So, as advised above, check the manufacturing date.

These findings have also been borne out by my own experience. Several Fiats, all registered within a few months of build, original batteries lasted at least 6 years. (Current car just had a new battery last summer at six and a half years.) One Fiat, just over 6 months old when registered "new", battery failed just over 2 years later.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Interesting. Is this on ALL batteries? Where abouts is it *Goes and checks the few floating about the garage*

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You may not see my perspective and indeed I know you don't agree with me on the subject, but as I stated in my post in another thread about transparency when buying new cars and when is 'brand new' not brand new. The battery issue sort of demonstrates a little perspective from my point of view and why I'm a bit miffed about why the dealer didn't disclose just how old my 'new' car was at purchase. The whole car may still be in a 'new' condition, but it is no longer 'brand new' after 14 months sitting idle. During that 14 months, Fiat will have built hundreds of thousands of new vehicles. Parts are sometimes revised without the customer ever knowing, so parts on vehicles produced 12 months after a batch produced 15 or 20 months before, may well be better/revised. The car battery that has been sat on our car may already be two years old, which is not very good when you are spending 10k on a 'new' car.

Sounds like a bit of a rant and I know people out there will scoff at my opinion on the subject, but that's the way I feel.

306maxi said:

Loose terminal or bad earths are other candidates too

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crappy earths you say

https://www.fiatforum.com/500-guide...lso-includes-battery-removal-upper-earth.html


:bang: :bang: :bang:

(this caused poor starting caught it early before it became a charge problem.. even so it dropped voltage at 100a draw to about 10.5 -11v on the engine block)

frupi said:

You may not see my perspective and indeed I know you don't agree with me on the subject, but as I stated in my post in another thread about transparency when buying new cars and when is 'brand new' not brand new. The battery issue sort of demonstrates a little perspective from my point of view and why I'm a bit miffed about why the dealer didn't disclose just how old my 'new' car was at purchase. The whole car may still be in a 'new' condition, but it is no longer 'brand new' after 14 months sitting idle. During that 14 months, Fiat will have built hundreds of thousands of new vehicles. Parts are sometimes revised without the customer ever knowing, so parts on vehicles produced 12 months after a batch produced 15 or 20 months before, may well be better/revised. The car battery that has been sat on our car may already be two years old, which is not very good when you are spending 10k on a 'new' car.

Sounds like a bit of a rant and I know people out there will scoff at my opinion on the subject, but that's the way I feel.

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Fair point, but this is why you get a comprehensive warranty to cover things like this. Ouch of interest did you ask how old the car was or when it was built when you purchased it

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Fair point, but this is why you get a comprehensive warranty to cover things like this. Ouch of interest did you ask how old the car was or when it was built when you purchased it

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Well, yes, good question well asked. To be honest, I was so intent on getting the best PX deal I could get on our old POP that asking the actual build date of the new car was not on my mind and for me personally, that was a bit of a fail. Plus, I was buying the new car 'blind' over the telephone without ever actually seeing it in the metal prior to closing the deal. Yes I did get a good deal price wise on the new car but actually if you analyse it properly, I can see why the vehicle was heavily discounted in the first instance, probably because the car had been in dealership hands for so long and why it had been registered some months before I bought it. So it comes back to transparency and in my own opinion, the dealership should have disclosed just how 'old' my 'new' car was before I closed the deal.

As for the warranty, well, yes, so Fiat provide a warranty, but in my opinion it still doesn't compare to some other marques out there although to be fair, our previous POP had warranty issues sorted without fuss.

As for the new car, we are loving it If any warranty issues do raise their head and I have to visit my local Fiat dealer for rectification, if there are any 'issues' doing work, I will politely inform Fiat Customer Services just how old my new car was when I bought it and that the information wasn't voluntarily disclosed, especially if the battery fails!

Still haven't got round to sticking a third tank of fuel in it yet as we've been out of the country enjoying some winter sun, but the orange lamp is glowing, so it will be getting filled in the next couple of days.

My battery died on me without warning while I was at Heathrow picking up my sister and consequently were late for our own party! RAC man tried to charge it without success and in the end fired it up for the drive home - luckily I didn't stall! He said that modern batteries more often than not go suddenly and with no warning...

Melanabb said:

My battery died on me without warning while I was at Heathrow picking up my sister and consequently were late for our own party! RAC man tried to charge it without success and in the end fired it up for the drive home - luckily I didn't stall! He said that modern batteries more often than not go suddenly and with no warning...

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Absolutely true. In the good old days batteries would turn the starter motor slowly so you knew it was failing. Today's batteries do fail suddenly. One day they're fine next day kaput . I tend to change my car batteries every 3 years regardless of condition.

I've got what I think may be a pretty similar problem.

1.2 Pop is just over 5 years old, girlfriend has had it from new and never replaced/charged/conditioned the battery.

Over the weekend we used the 500 a lot as the clutch has gone on my car, we did about 250 miles. She went to start the car yesterday but nothing happened. At this point the remote locking wouldn't work, so I figured it was a flat battery.

Fast forward to this evening and I tried to jump start it from my car, so I could get it into the garage to connect up to the charger, but it wouldn't start. So I removed the battery and connected it to my CTek charger. After an hour it was fully charged, which seemed a bit quick to me. I put the battery back in the car, but still wasn't able to start it.

Is there anything else worth testing before I get it towed to the dealer?

Craikeybaby said:

I've got what I think may be a pretty similar problem.

1.2 Pop is just over 5 years old, girlfriend has had it from new and never replaced/charged/conditioned the battery.

Over the weekend we used the 500 a lot as the clutch has gone on my car, we did about 250 miles. She went to start the car yesterday but nothing happened. At this point the remote locking wouldn't work, so I figured it was a flat battery.

Fast forward to this evening and I tried to jump start it from my car, so I could get it into the garage to connect up to the charger, but it wouldn't start. So I removed the battery and connected it to my CTek charger. After an hour it was fully charged, which seemed a bit quick to me. I put the battery back in the car, but still wasn't able to start it.

Is there anything else worth testing before I get it towed to the dealer?

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Use the battery in your car?

Try starting my car with the battery out the 500? Or the 500 with the battery from my car, but without the 500 battery? Jump starting didn't work.