Girlfriends car wont start?

[Austin-182]

Can anyone give me any ideas here...?
My gf has a 1.2 punto y reg.
It fails yo start all the time! Mostly on the morning when its been cold, however today shes got to the petrol station and it wouldnt start again
we jump start it and its fine everytime but so anouing for her having to jump it all the time to get it going
anyone got any ideas why it could be doing this??
Cheers
Austin

 

[Scott S]

Does it turn over? Or is it just 'dead'?

My lass has a 1.2 Punto and I had to buy a new battery for it recently, as it wouldn't hold it's charge in the cold weather.

£55 for a battery and no problems at all since.

 

[Austin-182]

Not reli ticking over mate , turn the keys makes one kind of weird noise then nothing and will only start with jump leads.she had this prob before n we got a new battery about a year n a half ago
cheers for ya info, think it mite be the battery?

 

[st3ve]

I'd say battery, if not it will be alternator, if you have the equipment test both for voltage.

 

[Scott S]

Is the battery under guarantee? The one I bought only had one year guarantee, but Halfords offered one with three years guarantee (then said they had none in stock ).

It would be worth trying another battery before buying a new one, although they are little square top ones and most other batterys won't fit in there (even with the battery cover removed).

Some places offer 'free' battery checks, although the motive for these 'free' checks always concerns me.

 

[Scott S]

Where abouts in Co. Durham are you?

 

[Austin-182]

In peterlee mate

someone tested it ages ago when it was happening and it was fine, they thought it mite of been the c played using the battery even when car was off so we took that out and now sges only got the tape player in.
Its mainly every time its cold the car just will not start without jump leads

 

[Scott S]

ROFL, I was actually going to ask if she listens to CD's as that was something that came up when I was looking into why my lass' car wouldn't start (as the battery would charge in the house without an error showing on the charger). The Fiat CD player sometimes tries to eject the CD when the car is stopped and can wear the battery down.

If you were closer to me, i'd have helped you test the alternator output etc, but plee is pretty far from me (Stanley/Consett).

One thing I found was that if I switched the lights off before turning the key for the first time on a morning, the car had more chance of starting. The lights on the Punto switch off when the car is off, but come on automatically with the ignition, so can take away from the power the battery sends to the starter.

The batterys on the Punto's seem pretty prone to failing in the cold. I'd get it checked at least. If it's free for a check then there's not a lot to worry about. If the place that tests it says you need a new battery, make sure you get prices from a few places, I had prices from £48 all the way to £85.

 

[Austin-182]

Cool cheers for ya help mate. She gets all work done from the same garage and are reli good for prices so a think wel jus takenit ther to get a new battery, hopefully that will help with it and the weather should be getting warmer now aswell