Hi,

I am having an issue with my speedometer not working. I was poking around under the hood tonight; I was checking the battery, thinking that this could be caused by a battery/alternator issue. I noticed that my battery is rated at only 525CCA; this seems low considering I am in a cold climate. Here are the specs on the battery;


Manufacturer: Exide
CCA @ 0F: 525
CA @ 32F: 630
Group Size: 24F
Age: Unknown


Can anyone tell me if this is an undersized battery for this car. Thanks

 

a battery being "undersize" only really affects the cold cranking amps (CCA) - if it were unable to crank the car to a sufficiently high enough rpm on cold mornings, then you could worry about the battery being undersize - with the warm temperatures we have right now and modern 5W-30 synthetic oils, I could crank and drive my LS400 with a battery out of a tiny Ford Fiesta!

I would say just go to a 5W-30 full synthetic (such as Pennzoil Ultra or Mobil 1) or 0W-30 (such as German Castrol) before the cold weather gets here, these modern oils have a pour point and low temp viscosity such that 525 CCA is PLENTY!

Now you mentioned "age of battery - unknown"

now that could be a real problem, I personally replace my battery every 4 years, "whether it needs it or not", as batteries become "iffy" when older than 4 years, and it is just too important to leave to chance, and they seem to always fail near the bad neighborhood! - kind of like you don't wait to buy tires until the steel belts are showing through!

and if your car has ever sat up for an extended period, without the battery being left on a trickle charger, then even 4 years could be generous, a battery in a car that is parked for many weeks at a time could go bad even after 1 year - a discharged state ruins all batteries, whether car, cell phone, laptop computer or any other kind!

 

It's funny how you mention that a car sitting without it being on a charger can cause issues. I bought this car on 1/9/13, so it was sitting in the lot for a bit. I only drive it on average once a week; never really had any trouble ( a couple of time) cranking, I do have a garage tho; but even when it was outside, nothing that would raise a flag. I am trying to determine if the battery is due to be changed, if that could be behind the speedometer issue. I know battery/alternator issues can cause strange things to happen. It's funny another thing I just remembered; in the winter (temp about 27F) I started my car and the instrument cluster took about 5-7 sec to illuminate. This was in Feb/March; nothing since. Maybe the battery could be the culprit. Thanks

 

well take a volt meter and check the battery voltage before cranking, after it has been sitting a few hours, then crank it and take another voltage reading with car at idle - those 2 readings posted here would tell us a lot!

 

Now I confirm that electrolytic capacitors in your cluster are mostly dead or close to be dead judging from your statement above.
Electrolytic capacitors decrease the capacitance and increase the impedance as aged in accordance with the Arrhenius equation and especially when cold, they don't work properly at the end of the life.

You'd better to replace those capacitors in the cluster before you replace the battery.

 

Yamae: So you would say that the delayed lighting of the cluster when it was cold is indicative of the caps failing? Funny thing is I didn't have any issue with the speedometer that night.



LScowboy: I will do what you said and check the voltage on the battery. I am hoping that it is the battery and not cluster. The cluster is only $175.00 to rebuild, but will be a pain to remove.


Thanks Guy's

 

there's a vendor here, taninauto, who does a lot of repairs on clusters. He knowsthe problem and generally fixes them quite reasonably. My LS has the common sticky tach issue, that requires a mechanical fix (drilling and pinning the board).

I'd say it's VERY unlikely that your issue is battery related, and more likely an issue with the CCFL tubes or ballasts in the cluster.