12v battery problem

[PeteB]

2 hours ago, Children's Writerman said:

You're bringing back memories, looking for distilled water to top up the battery. 

not to mention juggling with the choke on a cold engine, grease nipples, turning off the non-self-cancelling indicators, turning the wipers off out of sight (non-self-parking), having tappets adjusted every 3,000 miles... ...

[Catlover]

6 minutes ago, PeteB said:

not to mention juggling with the choke on a cold engine, grease nipples, turning off the non-self-cancelling indicators, turning the wipers off out of sight (non-self-parking), having tappets adjusted every 3,000 miles... ...

I could burst out in song...… Those were the days, my friend......

[PeteB]

 

35 minutes ago, Catlover said:

… Those were the days, my friend......

Certainly were - I found this service receipt for my Dad's car in his papers after he died, the date is four days after I was born!

One pound, twelve shillings and ten pence is £1.64 in today's money, and according to www.inflationtool.com a surprisingly cheap £34.73 when adjusted for inflation!

 

[Ancient Nerd]

I see he had a Standard 8. I was living in Gibralter at the time, and the family car was a Standard 10. Petrol there was tax free at 5d a gallon, just under 0.5p per litre. 

My father drove us home to the UK in the Standard the following summer. Two adults plus two children plus camping gear made it interestingly cosy! 

[Mick F]

Fivepence a gallon! 😳

The first time I seem to remember petrol prices I must have been less than ten years old .......circa 1960.  I'm sure it was over five bob a gallon then.  When I first bought petrol for my Mini in January 1972, we'd decimalised by then and it was 32p a gallon.  Six gallon tank in the Mini Van, so I could fill up for less than two quid! 

Happy carefree days.

Mick.

[kithmo]

I'm probably going to get slated for this 🥺 and I'm not saying anyone is wrong, but personally I can't see the fuss over AGM batteries.

1.How many times has anyone on here had a collision that caused the Battery to burst ?

2. Any Battery acid that comes out of the Battery has to get through quite a few layers of trim, seats etc to get to the occupants.

3. "Scarred for life" is a bit extreme considering the amount of battery acid, if any, does get to the occupants.

Of course it it's a personal choice and up to you, but for me it's not a big deal.

 

[QuantumFireball]

On 4/12/2020 at 6:52 AM, Mick F said:

Some of us are old enough to have owned a Mini or two.

My first was a 1968 Mini Van, and over the years I've owned eight Minis ranging from vans and estates to saloons.  Two saloons were brand new.

The battery in the vans and the estates is behind the driver's seat, and in the saloons it's in the boot.

As far as I know, there's never been an issue with Minis in crashes with battery acid.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

Issigonis did not care for passive safety, he allegedly said: "I make my cars with such good brakes, such good steering, that if people get into a crash it's their own fault" :)

On 4/12/2020 at 1:32 PM, kithmo said:

I'm probably going to get slated for this 🥺 and I'm not saying anyone is wrong, but personally I can't see the fuss over AGM batteries.

1.How many times has anyone on here had a collision that caused the battery to burst ?

2. Any battery acid that comes out of the battery has to get through quite a few layers of trim, seats etc to get to the occupants.

3. "Scarred for life" is a bit extreme considering the amount of battery acid, if any, does get to the occupants.

Of course it it's a personal choice and up to you, but for me it's not a big deal.

I've never had a collision, should I get rid of my airbags too? That's not the point in passive safety.

In a collision, it would not require much force for the panel over the Battery to become dislodged, and there's lots of empty space above that and above the seats for the highly corrosive electrolyte to come into contact with the occupants of the car. Lead acid batteries can and do explode, as well. The risk is much lower when the Battery is in the engine bay, as there's a solid bulkhead and laminated windscreen between occupants and the Battery.

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards the original Mini, early prototypes had the Battery mounted behind the nearside front wing/headlight. It was later moved to the boot to reduce weight at the front of the car, give extra room to install a fresh air heater*, and the increased weight at the rear helped stop the rear of the car from bouncing around.

*At launch, the Mini was priced without a heater, the heater being at extra cost - though one couldn't order a Mini without a heater.

[Mick F]

Just a little nugget about the Mini heater.

My Mk2 van (JTB 63F) had a heater, but it wasn't a fresh air heater.  Just a recirc.  The fresh air ones were in the Delux saloons and they had big hoses into the engine bay to suck in fresh air.  Basic saloons had the recirc just like my van.

Can't say for certain, but I reckon the fresh air heater in any of the saloons never came in until the Mini Mk2 circa 1967.  Mk1's never had fresh air vents at all.

Think about the door windows.  If the vehicle had sliding windows, it would only have had recirc heater.  Wind down windows came in with the Mk2 and that's when the fresh air heater came in.  My 1968 van even though it was a Mk2 had sliding windows.

Sorry to hijack the thread and turn it into a Mini thread!!!!!!!

Mick.

[PeteB]

My first car was effectively a Mini, but was officially called an Austin 7.  It was made in 1960 and I bought it when it was 14 years old (just 3 years younger than I was!). 

The previous owner believed the recirculating heater was an aftermarket, but he may have been wrong.  There was no fresh air delivery into the car except the sliding windows.  The only control for the heater was a rotary knob, which gave continuously variable fan speed (or off).

It made no difference to the copious amount of condensation that was mopped off the windows on anything but a warm summer's day, especially if the occupants insisted on breathing!

[Gerg]

44 minutes ago, Mick F said:

My Mk2 van (JTB 63F) had a heater, but it wasn't a fresh air heater.

Even in 1973 the Mini vans didn't have a fresh air heater. (Well, TUU 248M didn't). In fact to turn the heater hot water valve on or off, you had to lift the bonnet up to get to the valve on top of the cylinder head - so the car had to be stationary to do that, really.  I seem to think there was a circular blanking plate on the inner wing where the amply-sized tubing for the fresh air ducting could have been fitted.

There was another safety feature incorporated on the first cars: they decided quite late in the design stage to sleeve down the engine from 948cc to 848cc as it was considered the general public were not ready for a car with the handling and performance the Mini offered with a 948cc engine, it wouldn't be safe!

The fan was a single speed, as you might expect.  And I seem to remember the Battery had a fibrous cover over the top of it.  Crash protection!

[Children's Writerman]

In reply to the earlier quote, "good brakes and steering" aren't a guarantee against being involved in an accident. When I was a wild teenager, I once rear-ended a mini and completely disabled it. In my Austin A35 (aka the flying bowler hat), I was able to drive home.

[FROSTYBALLS]

I didn't say that the heater fitted to production models was a fresh air heater (which it obviously wasn't), but the later prototypes were changed to accommodate one.

The early prototypes had a bonnet, wings and front grill arrangement similar to the A35, and the front grill lifted with the bonnet - quite different to the production version.

[Children's Writerman]

Those who have been following this from the outset will be ecstatic to learn that my original problem is now solved. I invested in one of these smart chargers (Noco Genius 5). Having left it connected overnight, the indicator lights are saying Battery now charged and it is now "optimising Battery for extended life" (whatever that means). Thanks to all here who offered advice. 

[Ancient Nerd]

36 minutes ago, Children's Writerman said:

Those who have been following this from the outset will be ecstatic to learn that my original problem is now solved. I invested in one of these smart chargers (Noco Genius 5). Having left it connected overnight, the indicator lights are saying battery now charged and it is now "optimising battery for extended life" (whatever that means). Thanks to all here who offered advice. 

Glad the problem is resolved. 

 

I don't know what bits come with the Noco charger, but with the CTEK one there is a short lead supplied that can be attached permanently to the Battery. It made plugging the charger in a very simple task. It will be going on to the current car very shortly.

46 minutes ago, Children's Writerman said:

In reply to the earlier quote, "good brakes and steering" aren't a guarantee against being involved in an accident. When I was a wild teenager, I once rear-ended a mini and completely disabled it. In my Austin A35 (aka the flying bowler hat), I was able to drive home.

I'd always heard that Minis were a bit fragile. About 50 years ago, a friend had a Bristol 403. He stopped art a set of traffic lights, unlike the following Mini, driven by a District Nurse looking the other way. The outcome, after checking she wasn't hurt, was that the Mini was undriveable. The grill was wrecked, and AFAIR, the distributor was damaged. My friend's car had a minute chip in the painted overrider, which we found later that day.

1 hour ago, Gerg said:

Even in 1973 the Mini vans didn't have a fresh air heater. (Well, TUU 248M didn't). In fact to turn the heater hot water valve on or off, you had to lift the bonnet up to get to the valve on top of the cylinder head - so the car had to be stationary to do that, really.  I seem to think there was a circular blanking plate on the inner wing where the amply-sized tubing for the fresh air ducting could have been fitted.

There was another safety feature incorporated on the first cars: they decided quite late in the design stage to sleeve down the engine from 948cc to 848cc as it was considered the general public were not ready for a car with the handling and performance the Mini offered with a 948cc engine, it wouldn't be safe!

 

My first car was a 1946 Ford Prefect. It had no heater, and air-con was provided courtesy of an opening windscreen and a hole in the bulkhead between the pedals. Also the wipers were vacuum driven via a rotting rubber hose from the inlet manifold - so the faster  you went, the slower the wipers, eventually reaching a total stop. It had a 0-60 time of about a week, but I never got it to go that fast.

So don't knock the mini heater. I'd have given my back teeth for one back then.

[Mick F]

Thank you all, for info and the entertaining postings!!!!

I wrote a booklet some years ago, entitled "Cars I Have Known" ........... silly downbeat title, but filled with stories and facts and photographs.  I only published it for us, and the two daughters, and the only copy I now have, is on the computer as a PDF.  The two girls still have the printed versions.

It is filled with facts and anecdotes from my childhood to my adulthood cataloguing all the cars from me earliest memories of a Ford Pop in the early 50s to the new Renault Clio in 2001 that we had for more than a dozen years. The history of my cars is including seven various model Minis interspersed with  ......... Triumph Herald, Triumph Spitfire, two Hillman Imps, Humber Sceptre, Hillman Hunter, Talbot Samba, Talbot Horizon, and a Peugeot 205.  Often these cars overlapped. Since then, a Fiat 500 and now latterly ............... and a now a single car, a Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

Mick.

[Duffryn]

On 4/14/2020 at 4:19 PM, Mick F said:

Just a little nugget about the Mini heater.

My Mk2 van (JTB 63F) had a heater, but it wasn't a fresh air heater.  Just a recirc.  The fresh air ones were in the Delux saloons and they had big hoses into the engine bay to suck in fresh air.  Basic saloons had the recirc just like my van.

Can't say for certain, but I reckon the fresh air heater in any of the saloons never came in until the Mini Mk2 circa 1967.  Mk1's never had fresh air vents at all.

Think about the door windows.  If the vehicle had sliding windows, it would only have had recirc heater.  Wind down windows came in with the Mk2 and that's when the fresh air heater came in.  My 1968 van even though it was a Mk2 had sliding windows.

Sorry to hijack the thread and turn it into a Mini thread!!!!!!!

Mick.

I had 2 Mini-vans - a 1962 grey (6097DD), and a 1966 green (JFH655D) which I bought brand new for £395 including £10 for undersealing. Seemed to have as much fun driving them in those days as I do today's car. Happy (youthful) days!

[Mick F]

Yes, happy days!