Diesel car won't start

So... after clearing six inches of snow off my car today and lovingly deicing every square inch of the windscreen, it wouldn't start. The compressor (it's a diesel) started to turn, but rapidly gave up. I'm guessing that it's a battery problem as

A. It's been about three weeks since I drove it
B. I've had difficulty starting a few times recently
C. The last couple of journeys have been short (but the one before that was Garmish and back)
D. It's the same battery I got with the car, 2nd hand 4 years ago.

Although it's cold at the moment, I don't think it is cold enough to gel the fuel. I can't think of anything else it could be... anyone else?

My plan is to get the U-Bahn to wal-mart/real tomorrow and buy either a new battery or one of those "emergency jump start batteries" you can get. I've got some questions though:

How good/reliable are the "emergency jump start batteries" with diesels?

I have room for a battery ~ 1.4 x larger than the one in there at the moment. I'm happy to spend the extra dosh if it makes my car cold start reliably - any problems with that?

When you buy batteries, are they already charged or will I have to get a jump start off someone and then ride round for a while to charge up?

Thanks as ever...

It might be possible to recharge it but if you do need to replace it, I wouldnt replace it with an emergency jump start battery. (Same thing happened to me last year but my car was out of action, in the garage though, for 3 months, and recharging didnt work, I had to get a new one)

When you buy a new battery you dont usually need to charge it. You can buy them wet or dry. The wet ones are ready to go. The dry ones, the guy at the shop puts acid in and its ready to go.

First suggestion would be to ask a friend for a jumpstart. If that's not possible then ring Taxi Central on 21610 and ask for a taxi with jump leads. It costs about €15 or so and they'll come out and help you.

I tried to start my diesel vehicle a couple of weeks ago as it had been sitting for about 2 months and the battery was flat as a pancake. I had a portable charger unit. It has worked fine on previous vehicles but even with a full charge could raise enough power to attract a randy glow worm. A mate helped me out then with a jump.

If it is the battery and you do get it going, take it for a good long spin out on the motorway. A good 40 minute cruise around at a decent speed to get it charged up again then you should be ok.

If it's not the battery then I suggest you check the flux capacitor. No, ok I haven't the foggiest.

@Kza: I wasn't thinking of replacing the battery with an emergency start one, I was thinking it might work this time, and again if the oppertunity ever arose

@Keydeck: Cheers, I'm in Garching rather than town but I'll bear that in mind if I ever get stuck again. I'm hoping my landlord has a charger I can borrow in the morning, but I don't know any other car owners out here.

I suppose you're not a member of the ADAC (German Automobile Club)?

Flux capacitor then definitely. It's a bugger every time.

I'd say giving your local taxi firm a ring might be a good idea anyway. They probably all provide the service. Failing that just hang around outside and ask whomever you happen to see. I've done that before too and people have been vey helpful.

yeup, often a problem, but surely not below 88 mph? I think my next stop is to check the Mr. Fusion...


Yeup -- last time it happened was when I was sat with my lights on for too long in Schwabing. 5 BMWs either ignored me or were too fast, then a wonderful lady in a VW polo helped me out!

I'm not overly concerned about starting it this time, but I'll be using it quite a bit in the next few weeks and I'd like to nip any problems in the bud before I'm stuck in a tiny austrian village!

Sounds to me like you need a new battery. This happened to me on my car a while back. Was able to jump start it, but then happened again a while later (Even though I had used the engine a long time.) The battery will not last forever and it was just time to get a new one. I bought one for around 50€ and have had no problems since.

Also, we have a diesel "errand" truck at work and it needs to continually be jump started. No matter how often you recharge it - it won´t hold the charge. The only solution I see is to get a new battery.

Cheers for that Lupo. Done lots more reading on this and I think the best thing is to go out and buy a nice, big, new battery. I'm hoping that Fasching doesn't affect Real/Walmart opening hours, and that fitting the thing doesn't cause me too much difficulty.

can you get one for me, whilst you're there?! Haven't started mine since October...

@JB: I'm not sure how many I can carry back on the U-bahn!!

Check the fuse for your glow plugs. If this is blown then the cylinder heads will remain too cold to start the initial ignition regardless of the state of your battery. You might see wispy white exhaust when you try and turn it over on the starter motor if this is the case.

Installment two of the gripping saga...

I've just got back from Real with my new big battery and fitted it. Dead easy (or so I thought) - take off the old connections in the right order, reconnect the new ones: -ve, +ve disconnect, bit of a clean, +ve, -ve reconnect. Turned the key and not even the dashboard lights up.

Obviously I'm not a happy chap.

I asked before, but to save utter embarassment on my part, are batteries sold charged or uncharged? It's a sealed one, and there is stuff sloshing around inside it, so I presume it's 'wet'. If it's flat, obviously I can just go out and get a jump start & job's a goodun... if not I have no idea what can be wrong - the connections all look so simple, I can't see how I could have got them wrong.

Fixed!! Cheers to all for advice. Turns out that the random plastic thing which I thought I ought to put back on was insulating the battery from the connector. Plastic thing is now gone, car is happy.

It can't hurt to check the liquid level in your battery every now and then, and add water if necessary. I've seen plenty of batteries which were nearly dry. Especially during hot summers they lose a lot of water which needs to be replenished regularly.

There are small battery chargers available (20 bucks) that will continously trickle charge the battery, then draw some juice for a few minutes, and charge it again. They sort of simulate normal useage patterns Very useful item for car, boat and bike batteries during winter, or when you don't use your vehicle. The batteries do not have to be connected to that device 24/7, a few hours every week is sufficient.

Note to self for future reference:

START MY FUCKING CAR ENGINE A LITTLE MORE OFTEN

Or if you know you're not going to use it for a while: take the battery out and keep it in a warm place. Can save a lot of hassle in the long run.

And when you take the battery out, it also prevents your car from being stolen. When my car was stolen(twice this happened), both times the battery was gone when it was recovered. What the hell? I can understand taking the stereo, speakers, etc - but the battery?

ahhh, theres money to be had from batteries. each time you buy a new one you pay a deposit. benpather you should take your old one back to the shop and get your deposit money back.

Indeed: 7,50 E...

I've borrowed my landlords charger, and I'm going to keep that battery handy for a while in case the problem wasn't the battery but some sort of alternator problem. Will take it back to Real when I think I'm safe with the new battery - Thanks for the advice though.

If you get problems with your car again, gimme a shout, I used to be a motor mechanic!