Brains trust.
BA Falcon fun..
Car wouldn't start. Checked battery. Battery is green/red, which is apparently fully charged. Thought I'd try and jump start her anyway. Car starts. Took for a fang along the motor way. Turn car off, car won't start again.
In my non mechanical opinion, I'm thinking alternator. How can I check this? And is this something I could attempt myself?
Put a multimeter across the battery terminals with the ignition off. A healthy battery will read between 12.0 and 12.7 with the car not running.
Now turn the ignition onto accessories and perhaps also turn that park lights on. A good battery will still hold about 12.0v.
I suspect your battery will quickly drop away under 12 volts.
A final check would be to jumpstart the car and check the battery has 13.3 to 14.5 volts with the engine running which means the alternator is working.
That red/green indicator is a hydrometer on a single cell of the battery - it won't tell you if one of the others cells has dropped.
Test with a multi meter on voltage settings should be around 14with car running.
But it should have an indicator light in dash that tells you if it's not charging.
You could also test the voltage of the battery whilst cranking it over probably drops to next to nothing & the battery is just holding a surface charge of 12volts & in reality is stuffed .
The fact it jump started & continued to run indicates to me that the alternator is working and it's the battery that has died .
Would be my guess
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
The fact it jump started & continued to run indicates to me that the alternator is working and it's the battery that has died .
Would be my guess
Or both. If your alternator has died the battery may be cactus as well as it will have been deeply discharged.
As knot board says test the battery, then test it running. You can get an alternator from a wrecker for around $75.
Or now is a good time to get NRMA membership if you don't have a multimeter, they'll replace the battery for you if that's just the problem and check the alternator (and probably if you don't have a multimeter already then you're not going to use one if you buy it).
Its not uncommon for the alternator to go on a BA, but it could just be the battery - as actiomax says it should show you a little battery light if its not charging but mine didn't when the alternator went, so ya never know.
Select to expand quoteMrknownothing said..
Brains trust.
BA Falcon fun..
Car wouldn't start. Checked battery. Battery is green/red, which is apparently fully charged. Thought I'd try and jump start her anyway. Car starts. Took for a fang along the motor way. Turn car off, car won't start again.
In my non mechanical opinion, I'm thinking alternator. How can I check this? And is this something I could attempt myself?
Sure, you could attempt an alternator change yourself. Your results would depend on your experience and skills.. just like everything 
They come out from under the car, and you need to remove a bracket, so its not trivial. The access to the belts is not easy either as you probably need to remove the fan/shrouds as well.
The good news is that the BA doesn't have a smart alternator, so they will be producing the same voltage all the time, unlike the BF and FG where the alternator output is controlled by the ECU.
What you describe seems to suggest the battery though. If it won't start with the battery 'fully charged' but starts with a jump start, that tells you something. If it then won't restart, it is either the alternator or the battery, but you cannot tell without knowing if the battery is good or if the alternator is charging. You would have to charge the battery with a battery charger or from a known good car to then see what the behavior is.
These days I treat batteries as consumables. If it has more than 4 years on it, replace it, they are cheap and easy to swap. If the battery fails to charge, it is then the alternator, but you know you now have a good battery for another 4 years.
Falcons do have a known issue though where powersteering fluid drips down into the alternator and ruins it. I think it gums up the brushes.
join another forum www.fordforums.com.au/
they have a dedicated B series section, what they dont know there is impossible.
seriously good forum, no bitching or back stabbing.
Multimeterless test to check the alternator/battery: put headlights on without engine running (accessories on)If theyre not functioning, well theres your problem. If they're reasonably bright then try again with the engine running.
if they're brighter without the car running than they are with the car running, then the alternator's not in good shape. But as everyone else said, from what you've described, sounds like it's the battery thats cactus.
Ok. So I picked up a voltage meter thingy majiggy. Both the battery and alternator are apparently good.
One terminal has some significant corrosion on it. So I'll try an tidy that up and see how I go.
after jump starting and going for a drive, when you tried to start it again and it wouldn't, was it turning the motor over at least slowly, or no starter motor noise at all? Any clicking while trying to start?
I've got a car with a starter motor that has a fault, possibly the windings, and it sucks the guts out of the battery when starting. If the battery isn't close to fully charged it wont start the car. The cars not in good condition so I live with it
If the battery terminal has a poor contact, it'll generally get quite warm under starting load, and create the white powdery stuff over time. You can put some Vaseline on the terminals.
Select to expand quoteHaircut said..
after jump starting and going for a drive, when you tried to start it again and it wouldn't, was it turning the motor over at least slowly, or no starter motor noise at all? Any clicking while trying to start?
I've got a car with a starter motor that has a fault, possibly the windings, and it sucks the guts out of the battery when starting. If the battery isn't close to fully charged it wont start the car. The cars not in good condition so I live with it
If the battery terminal has a poor contact, it'll generally get quite warm under starting load, and create the white powdery stuff over time. You can put some Vaseline on the terminals.
Hmm.
Yes. If the contacts too dry, add more lube. now where've i heard that before?
A sticky starter motor solenoid contactor can be a good candidate. Locate it and give it a good whump with a hammer while someone is turning the key. On some older cars, both terminals are exposed, so you can just short across with a couple of large spanners or screwdrivers.
It's gotten me out of some tricky situations a couple of times but then you do need to get it fixed.
If the alternator is cactus then most cars have a dash lite come on curious to know battry age ?
I wouldn't do or buy anything until both battery terminals and clamps are scraped clean.
Remove both the battery terminal clamps. Scrape clean the inside of both the positive and negative clamps with steel wool. Not a quick once over. Spend a good five minutes doing this on each clamp until the inside of the clamps are shiny metal.
Then before re-installing the clamps use the steel wool on both battery the terminals. Get them shiny too.
Just buy a new battery mate. That's all it is . Simple as . It's dropped a cell . It happens . Find a wholesaler, at least 2/3rds the price saving. don't go to super crap ..
Also check the earth strap on the drivers side this can be eliminated by placing a jump lead from the negative terminal of the battery to the engine lifting hook. I have replaced a few of this in my time
Got out in the shed this afternoon. Popped the bonnet, and pretended like I actually knew what I was looking at.
I reckon it is actually the starter motor now. With the bonnet up it makes quite a loud ticking noise.
That's a job for the mechanic I think..
Cheers all!
Loud ticking noise could still be the battery, did you try the head lights on option to see if they are bright?
Anyhoo a horse can be led to water, but sometimes drowning the ****ing thing is best.
Select to expand quoteMrknownothing said..
Got out in the shed this afternoon. Popped the bonnet, and pretended like I actually knew what I was looking at.
I reckon it is actually the starter motor now. With the bonnet up it makes quite a loud ticking noise.
That's a job for the mechanic I think..
Cheers all!
Probably a dead battery.
The starter motor will make a loud clicking noise if it's spinning, but not tuning the engine because it hasn't got enough power to fully engage the engine. This could easily be a sign of a weak battery. As kk says, if the headlights are bright while this is happening, that points to the starter motor, if headlights go dim, that's either battery or battery connection. What did the volt meter show???? before trying to start and while trying to start. Also is there a difference when connected directly to battery or the battery leads
My MIL had one. The bane of my life. Check if the alternator is covered in oil, Ford saved 2c on a dodgy o-ring on the power steering hose which then p1sses oil onto the alternator frying it. This was told to me by a guy at spares shop when I bought a new alternator from him, he even had a special hose upgrade kit for the problem it was that common. Also as mentioned, ignition switches die, there is a guy on gumtree n Perth who fixes them, Frank Hauptle , you take the car round to him, he strips out the Bosch ignition barrel and puts in his doctored one. Takes 15 mins and never gives sh1t again. MIL has Corolla now and life is good.
Select to expand quoteMrknownothing said..
Got out in the shed this afternoon. Popped the bonnet, and pretended like I actually knew what I was looking at.
I reckon it is actually the starter motor now. With the bonnet up it makes quite a loud ticking noise.
That's a job for the mechanic I think..
Cheers all!
Everyone else has already told you now that it's the battery, which is the most likely based on what you have said.
The starter motor draws a ridiculous amount of current when cranking the engine. If you start it okay with jumper leads, its unlikely to be the starter motor that is the problem.
As someone has said, a single cell in the battery could have failed.
With falcons I would put the battery first, alternator second, and the starter motor way at the back of the list of likely failures.
Select to expand quotePhezulu1 said..
My MIL had one. The bane of my life. Check if the alternator is covered in oil, Ford saved 2c on a dodgy o-ring on the power steering hose which then p1sses oil onto the alternator frying it. This was told to me by a guy at spares shop when I bought a new alternator from him, he even had a special hose upgrade kit for the problem it was that common. Also as mentioned, ignition switches die, there is a guy on gumtree n Perth who fixes them, Frank Hauptle , you take the car round to him, he strips out the Bosch ignition barrel and puts in his doctored one. Takes 15 mins and never gives sh1t again. MIL has Corolla now and life is good.
I think people give falcons and commodores a bit of a rough time. These are cars that are meant to be big enough to meet the market demand, also good on fuel, be decent enough during the warrranty period, but then kept alive for decades as they get passed along the chain of successive owners.
Someone was telling me about how wonderful Volkswagen is, but show me how many of them that are regularly in service after ten years, have affordable spares, and then compare that to falcons and commodores. I exclude Magnas from this list as Magna owners are the desperate of the desperate! ;-)
Sure you're onto it by now but my one tip- if you do need a starter or alternator, NOT Repco etc. My alternator died so helpful FIL said he would go grab me one while I was at work. Lucky he rang me whilst there - $600
Fark me! I got on eBay and had genuine Bosch delivered at $260.
Select to expand quoteFormulaNova said..Phezulu1 said..
My MIL had one. The bane of my life. Check if the alternator is covered in oil, Ford saved 2c on a dodgy o-ring on the power steering hose which then p1sses oil onto the alternator frying it. This was told to me by a guy at spares shop when I bought a new alternator from him, he even had a special hose upgrade kit for the problem it was that common. Also as mentioned, ignition switches die, there is a guy on gumtree n Perth who fixes them, Frank Hauptle , you take the car round to him, he strips out the Bosch ignition barrel and puts in his doctored one. Takes 15 mins and never gives sh1t again. MIL has Corolla now and life is good.
I think people give falcons and commodores a bit of a rough time. These are cars that are meant to be big enough to meet the market demand, also good on fuel, be decent enough during the warrranty period, but then kept alive for decades as they get passed along the chain of successive owners.
Someone was telling me about how wonderful Volkswagen is, but show me how many of them that are regularly in service after ten years, have affordable spares, and then compare that to falcons and commodores. I exclude Magnas from this list as Magna owners are the desperate of the desperate! ;-)
Desperado here, had my manual (yes, manual) magna now for 20 years, have not had to spend a cent on it mechanically outside of regular maintenance, no rust and long legs when on the open road. Beats the crap out of it's predecessor, a VL holden that slowly but surely fell to bits from not long after the warranty expired. 
i bet its the safety switch on the gearbox. try cycling through all gears with the auto. sometimes it will work. replacement part is about $40.
I and many friends had same issues with Falcons over the years.
Select to expand quoteUncleBob said..FormulaNova said..Phezulu1 said..
My MIL had one. The bane of my life. Check if the alternator is covered in oil, Ford saved 2c on a dodgy o-ring on the power steering hose which then p1sses oil onto the alternator frying it. This was told to me by a guy at spares shop when I bought a new alternator from him, he even had a special hose upgrade kit for the problem it was that common. Also as mentioned, ignition switches die, there is a guy on gumtree n Perth who fixes them, Frank Hauptle , you take the car round to him, he strips out the Bosch ignition barrel and puts in his doctored one. Takes 15 mins and never gives sh1t again. MIL has Corolla now and life is good.
I think people give falcons and commodores a bit of a rough time. These are cars that are meant to be big enough to meet the market demand, also good on fuel, be decent enough during the warrranty period, but then kept alive for decades as they get passed along the chain of successive owners.
Someone was telling me about how wonderful Volkswagen is, but show me how many of them that are regularly in service after ten years, have affordable spares, and then compare that to falcons and commodores. I exclude Magnas from this list as Magna owners are the desperate of the desperate! ;-)
Desperado here, had my manual (yes, manual) magna now for 20 years, have not had to spend a cent on it mechanically outside of regular maintenance, no rust and long legs when on the open road. Beats the crap out of it's predecessor, a VL holden that slowly but surely fell to bits from not long after the warranty expired.
Ha
I am just taking the mickey. I had a colleague that had a 3L Magna and swore by it. so they can't be too bad.
I just seem to take notice of the ones that I see on the road that are uncared for. I filter out the ones that are taken care of. so its probably more of a reflection on the particular owners than anything else.
Select to expand quoteBertie said..
i bet its the safety switch on the gearbox. try cycling through all gears with the auto. sometimes it will work. replacement part is about $40.
I and many friends had same issues with Falcons over the years.
How would this explain if it was jump started and it worked, versus not starting on the battery?
