Flat Battery or worse?

[Alpha98]

Hi all, ive not had my MK2 on the road since before xmas, when i went to start it, the battery was dead. I jump started the car and took it for a nice 1 hour drive with radio, lights etc all OFF. when i got home, i shut the engine off, left it for a minute while i went into the house for a pee(was busting after the drive), came back to the car and turned the key, the battery was still dead! Should a 1 hour drive be enuff to charge the battery? or is my Alternator dead? or something else? while driving i did try the radio for a minute or 2, i also tested the lights etc! all worked fine. the battery is quite new, maybe 6 months old!

[Uruk Hai]

If everything worked while you were driving it seems unlikely to be the alternator, you could try giving the battery an over night trickle charge as I doubt very much if a one hour or longer drive would re-charge  the battery after its been left for that long. It doesn't do battery's much good to be left to go very flat (its known as deep cycling) before being charged up again, as I said give it a good 16 - 18 hour slow charge and see what happens but it may not recover, good luck !

[keithyboy]

If the batt was flat and it started and ran for an hour it can't be the alternator.

Leaving a good battery flat for so long could quite easily kill it.

[knobby]

If a good battery is left and decharged fully it can bend the terminals in the battery.. or so i was told.. and this can kill it...

BUY A NEW ONE!!!

[monzablue16v]

Did your battery warning light come on?

Before a new battery which it probably is to be fair, if you have a multimeter check the voltage at the battery terminals when running it should be betwen 13-15 volts if so your alternator is fine.

[Agreeable Slick]

can almost guarentee the battery, if a battery is dead then it is very reluctant to charge and will not want to hold charge. Get it tested at a local halfords as they have battery testers.

[Alpha98]

Thanks so much for your replys!

I dont believe the battery light was on, i couldnt get into the car untill i connected another battery(in another car) to the MK2 to get the central locking to work!

I do have a multimeter so i'll check the voltage just to see, but from reading your replys i think ill go buy a new battery over the weekend.

Now we're out of the winter ill be driving the car alot more, this wont happen again!