battery problem after fmic install

[mospin]

basically ive just finished fitting a front mount intercooler and what a pig that was
anyhow i got a battery off a mate which he said it was good and charges great i only got it due to the fact he was breaking his micra after someone crashed into him.

so manage to get the battery in started the car and ran first time i kept it running for 5-10mins and turned it off . came back to it tonight and it started and died. so first port off call jump leads ....nothing .

so battery off to check the fluids and very low so ive topped it up with ironised water and stuck it on fast charge for a bit

my question is will it be fine to run the battery after its charged up and would the very low fluids cause it to stall and battery die

its a banner starting bull 545 12v, 45ah , 330a

[daveyboydave]

Are you saying the engine stopped running and the battery was dead? The car is (or should be ) powered by the alternator when running, not the battery, so it sounds to me like you have an alternator or some other electrical system fault.

If you can get hold of a voltmeter (or ammeter) you'll be able to diagnose if the battery is being charged when the engine is run.

[Chriscooke]

A completely failed battery can cause a car to stall. It happened to a vectors I used to own.

[mospin]

yes the engine stopped running and the battery was completely dead but i know it cant be an electrical fault because my other battery works fine on it just too big to fit next to the pipe work and the car has been sitting for a month since i last used it daily .

so first start with smaller battery ran for 5mins ish then i turned it off . it could be that the battery was flat and only had enough power to start once and died the second time it started and the engine cut off after a few seconds so its on charge now and il try it tomorrow

[Jonny Wilkinson]

If the battery had enough juice to start the car the second time, it would have had enough power to keep your car running for quite a while.

I know this to be true as I run total-loss on my race bike and if that will start, I know I'm good for at least 20 minutes running on track. Starting is a massive drain compared to running an ECU and stuff.

You will have dislodged quite a bit of stuff to fit the FMIC so don't discount the possibility that you have stopped the alternator from charging the battery.

Also, if the plates in the battery have been exposed to air for an extended period, they will not hold charge anything like as well. They are designed to live in liquid battery acid and will grow a plating of oxide when exposed to air.

[mospin]

ok put the battery on and it was a real pain to start the engine was flooded got it started and it sounded like it was running on 3 so i kept the revs on now she is running on all four fine but my passenger headlight is staying on even if the light switch is off any ideas

[croustibat]

Yes, you overlowered the car and munched through your electrical harness with your front tyre.

[mospin]

car is not low enough to chew through the loom just checked and had a good look over the looms and found one broken wire on the light but still nothing
but apparently my mate just told me it used to do it before i installed the fmic so ive took a look at the bulb connectors on the passenger side and they have been bodged about so this may be my problem so i need i diagram or picture to show the connecting block to the bulb and what wires goes were if anyone can help and il go from there

[mospin]

right updates battery is charging fine so it was low fluids

but the dam passenger headlight when you turn the ignition on but not start the car the passenger headlight main beam is on ????

so what im i looking for tomorrow when i start searching the problem

bad earth
steering stalk
the bad wiring
??