182 not starting after sitting for a while, stop + battery lights on. Probably a flat battery, right?

[ExtraSmallBees]

Maybe a dumb question that's already been answered before but I didn't immediately see one about my exact situation so would rather be sure. My 182 hasn't left the driveway for a month now and I've started it twice in that time. First time was when it had sat for two weeks, it started on the second burst (is it right to call it a burst? Where the starter seems to make one big effort per second rather than a consistent smaller one? Also is that normal behaviour on these cars?) and seemed fine.
Second time, it took about five or six "bursts" before it started. Both times I only ran it for 2-3 minutes since it's fairly loud and I don't want to be too big a nuisance to the neighbours. Today I tried again but it didn't successfully start, with the "STOP" and battery lights illuminated afterwards. Given how little it's been run over this length of time, am I relatively safe to think the battery just needs charged rather than it being likely to be more major than that? If not, any other likely culprits? Guessing I should be running it longer in future when I do.
TIA folks

 

[Brigsy]

Prob needs a new battery if its not cranking. They are generally knackered once gone flat.

Take battery off if not using it for a longer period. No need to start it up every week.

 

[Mr Trailer Man]

Starting it up for 2-3 minutes will be doing more harm than good.

Won't be getting hot enough to burn off moisture/fuel in the oil.

If the battery isn't too old, whip it out and stick it on the bench in the shed/garage with a charger that does a repair mode and see if it'll recover.

 

[ExtraSmallBees]

Thanks all. Battery's about 8 months old. Will try charging it soon, see if it starts again, if it does i'll run for 15 mins or so (unless longer/less is preferable?) then remove again, if not then will try a new one.

 

[Mr Trailer Man]

Are you able to drive it?

That's best to warm it up.

 

[ExtraSmallBees]

Are you able to drive it?

That's best to warm it up.

I wish. MOT failure unfortunately. Wanting to DIY as much as possible but I'm bad for procrastinating and also not having the easiest time working with my more mechanically experienced friends' schedules with their own car problems lol.

 

[ExtraSmallBees]

Update, it was the battery. Had to buy a socket extension set to get the old one out since the bolt holding it in is quite far down. Manoeuvring the battery out is a bit fiddly but doesnt take too long, disconnecting the brace to its left gives you a little more room. Its dying also did some funky stuff with the electronics, the most critical of which was messing with the immobiliser so it no longer recognised my keys... fortunately the resyncing procedure (ignition off, hold interior lock button for 5s, wait 10s, press remote button) fixed this, though only after putting the new battery in. After all that it started as good as ever.

 

[Darren S]

Update, it was the battery. Had to buy a socket extension set to get the old one out since the bolt holding it in is quite far down. Manoeuvring the battery out is a bit fiddly but doesnt take too long, disconnecting the brace to its left gives you a little more room. Its dying also did some funky stuff with the electronics, the most critical of which was messing with the immobiliser so it no longer recognised my keys... fortunately the resyncing procedure (ignition off, hold interior lock button for 5s, wait 10s, press remote button) fixed this, though only after putting the new battery in. After all that it started as good as ever.

The battery is always my first suspicion when things like this start to misbehave. I had a new battery in 2020 and earlier this year I started noticing a few 'sluggish' things.

Five years a good run for a car battery IMO - and I cleaned up the terminals (and fuse connectors) alongside the new battery. They were fairly cruddy beforehand...

 

[ExtraSmallBees]

The battery is always my first suspicion when things like this start to misbehave. I had a new battery in 2020 and earlier this year I started noticing a few 'sluggish' things.

Five years a good run for a car battery IMO - and I cleaned up the terminals (and fuse connectors) alongside the new battery. They were fairly cruddy beforehand...

View attachment 1765635

Reckon it'll be the prime suspect in future for me too. Mine was barely six months old so shame to have to replace it this early. Nearly new one was £40 from a friend so not bad at least.

My connectors are looking similar so will be getting a clean before the car goes back on the road.

 

[Darren S]

Reckon it'll be the prime suspect in future for me too. Mine was barely six months old so shame to have to replace it this early. Nearly new one was £40 from a friend so not bad at least.

My connectors are looking similar so will be getting a clean before the car goes back on the road.

Worth given the fuse tray a once over while you're there too. Although mine was covered - crap still gets in there.

Gave all the pinouts a scrub with a small wire brush too. Some did have a little bit of surface corrosion on them - certainly did no harm anyway.