So in the past week my car has been going haywire. First it wouldn't start first attempt and would click when trying to start. Then I got a fault with the radiator and immobiliser. Now it is saying airbag failure and none of the needles were working. It's fine again now.

Im buying a new battery tomorrow, is it logical that this could all be down to a dying battery?

Check the -ve wire from battery all along its length and especially where it connects to body.

I don't know what the -ve wire is sorry. I just check all my connections and they looked good.

The battery is connected by two large cables.
The +ve (positive), the red one, goes from the battery to the starter motor. These seem to last well.
The -ve (negative) one, the black one, goes from the battery, to the gearbox casing, then on to the car body. These have a tendency to corrode. First the connections at the gearbox and body corrode, but later the cable itself can corrode internally, so whilst the connections may be OK, there are breaks along its length. A good test of these is to use a jump lead from battery -ve to engine. If all is then well, you need a new cable. Don't need to buy the genuine Fiat one, any universal battery cable will do and can be made up with terminals midway for the gearbox, or use two.

So you don't think it's the battery? I've read some people saying it's the battery and I've not been getting long journeys in recently. Mostly ten minutes to work and then back. Drove from Scotland to England yesterday hoping it would give it a good charge

Just been in it again and now it's fine!

Lawrence25 said:

So you don't think it's the battery? I've read some people saying it's the battery and I've not been getting long journeys in recently. Mostly ten minutes to work and then back. Drove from Scotland to England yesterday hoping it would give it a good charge

Click to expand...

Short journeys will not recharge the battery fully and a low state of charge will throw up all sorts of electrical malfunctions. Shame we didn't get all the information at the start.

Scotland to England and back could be a mile! Depends where you start from.

portland_bill said:

Short journeys will not recharge the battery fully and a low state of charge will throw up all sorts of electrical malfunctions. Shame we didn't get all the information at the start.

Scotland to England and back could be a mile! Depends where you start from.

Click to expand...

Sorry! I left it out because I knew that 10 mins wouldn't charge it well enough, should have mentioned that.

So from Aberdeen to where I am now is about 220 miles. So more than enough to charge it but I guess if the battery is buggered it's not going to hold its charge.

That's exactly the purpose of a battery tester ...

BRs, Bernie

The symptoms you are describing, are compatible with either a dead battery, a bad earth cable or a dead alternator (causing a dead battery).

You can have any combination of the above.
You have to take them one at a time and test them all.

Sorted by cost it would be

1. do the cable test (grounding) can be diy with battery lead(s)
2. have the battery tested (really 2' @ the garage)
3. have the alternator checked

BRs, Bernie

All sorted now. The terminals were really corroded and not making correct contact. Thanks everyone

Thanks for the update !

Hope you've protected them now (vaseline) ?

BRs, Bernie

If someone here helped You fix -or better- understand your issue, hit the thanks button @ bottom right corner, it's free and makes us feel helpy ;-)

Bernievarian said:

Thanks for the update !

Hope you've protected them now (vaseline) ?

BRs, Bernie

If someone here helped You fix -or better- understand your issue, hit the thanks button @ bottom right corner, it's free and makes us feel helpy ;-)

Click to expand...

It's been greased

Well done !!