Car Battery - beginning of the end!

tammy_mn5, Sep 10, 3:00am
I have a 96 Nissan Pulsar. I live close to work, shops etc so it usually only travels distances fo up to 10km. For about 3 years every time it is serviced they always tell me the battery has very low charge. It's never ever caused a problem before. Asked a mechanic a few months ago if it should be replaced. He said some batteries are just like that and to do something when there are symptoms. Yesterday, as I was changing to lower gears pulling up to a red light the car stalled. I restarted straight away with no problem. Have started car 5 or so times since with no issues. Do you think this is the beginning of the end for the battery! Or should I also investigate other causes! Car serviced the day before the stall so hoping it's not related.

willz29, Sep 10, 3:03am
Take it for a longer run once a week.

tammy_mn5, Sep 10, 3:06am
Oh yeah and the kind AA people who serviced my car lost the inner hatch light bulb cover. Any ideas of what to cover the exposed wires with! assuming the cover can't be replaced.

dave653, Sep 10, 6:52am
A battery needs 7min of charging to recover from a start. I found out the hard way too, work used to be 5km from home, was always recharging over the 3rd or 4th weekend. The wifes VN battery was replaced a few weeks ago, turns out the boot light switch was not adjusted correctly, the old battery still holds 12.6 volts after all that time! A stereo memory will drain it as well, I swapped mine for a 'switched' power feed.

tgray, Oct 21, 12:16pm
Air flow metres are a common failure with those engines (GA15).
That could be the cause of the stalling (and irregular idling!)
I come across it all the time with these cars.
If the battery is charged enough to start it, it is probably not the battery making it stall.