Technical Car not turning over

[tomanderson91]

Hey everyone,

Looking for a bit of advice please,
It started on Thursday evening when I left work at midnight, my car wouldn't turn over eventually I got it to start then it made an almighty squeak and once it started it was running fine, no misfiring etc.

So I got home thinking it was just a one time thing then comes Friday so trying to go to work and same thing again, eventually will start but this time no squeak then once I finished it work it struggled to start again but not as bad this time, So after I finished I went for a long 45 minute drive pulled onto my drive and went to sleep woke up this morning (Saturday) it was 0 degrees and it started perfectly so while it was started i figured I'd go see a mechanic who tested the battery he said it was showing 9v (when turned off) which he said was okay and that the battery was showing as healthy, he said the problem might have been that I only drive literally two minutes up the road to work and then back not giving the battery enough time to charge so I gave the car a good run again today, got home and washed my car then about 5 hours later thought I'd see if its starting okay and back to the usual struggling to start but it didnt squeak as before.

So I'm not sure what the issue is, from looking online most people say that the voltage should not be less than 12v, So I am guessing that the battery needs changing although the mechanic said it should be okay, or could I just charge the battery overnight.

My main concern isn't disconnecting the battery and putting a new one in myself, its trying to get everything to work again once I disconnect the battery e.g. the radio

So any advice on what the issue could be.

 

[Matthewr1990]

As long as your radios not aftermarket it should be ok for a quicke change. I had mine changed and the radio still worked. As far as the problem with the starting have you checked starter motor?

 

[tomanderson91]

I'm not sure how to check the starter motor, but my concern in the battery voltage of 9v as much research into batteries it seems to be that batteries should be running above 12v. I dug out my battery charger this morning and let it run for about an hour it started at about 11amps and went to about 9amps I know it should be lower around 0-2amps but I had to run several errands so had to cut it short, if anyone thinks that just giving it a full charge would benefit then thats my job for tomorrow.

Although the mechanic seems to think due to the amount of time I spend driving it does just need a good charge.

A typical day for me would be get up at 5am, get ready for work, leave for work around 5:30 so when I get in the car my lights are on, heaters are on, radios on etc then drive to work which is just over a mile away, park up leave it for 9 hours, come home leave it over night to repeat the following morning.

 

[MKoers]

I guess the battery if I read hwo it's used.
It has to deliver quite some power twice a day without fully charging afterwards.

Got no other car around the house to swap the battery as a test?

Or use a charger during the night?

 

[ChrisUK]

If it's a factory radio there's no harm disconnecting the battery the radio code is stored in the body computer.

 

[keat63]

I'd say that 9v seems a little on the low side if i'm honest.
I'd expect to see maybe 11.5, then raising to about 14.5 with the engine running.

 

[Andy Monty]

Did the mechanic load test the battery or just test voltage?