I shall begin this post with a quick update on website progress, for those of you who may be interested in the world of computer code. For now, this blog is very much a single page affair, but in time each post will have its own page, and eventually indexes will be created to allow you to see posts by topic, date posted etc. I’m currently working out the best way of doing this, and I’ve got some ongoing PHP tests in progress. However, despite future changes, the overall page layout and colour scheme will remain broadly similar to what you see today.
Now, back to the cars, and today I’m focussing on the Kia Cee’d. Although OK in day today use, I’ve know the battery in my Kia to be on its way out for a while now. The stop/start function has never worked since I bought the car, and a misjudgement of using the headlights whilst storing away logs, confirmed that the battery can be drained rather easily. A recent trip to Kendal led me to having to ask for a jump start, as I’d accidently left my lights on during a coffee break.
In what will be a two-part post, I’m charting the replacement of the battery. Firstly, with money being a little tight, I’ve acquired a stop gap battery. With similar specs to the one in the Kia, I’ve obtained a second hand battery that came out of my brothers Fabia vRS. I understand that it was prematurely replaced whilst undertaking another repair, and when picking it up I was assured that it is holding a charge.
I’m yet to swap the batteries over, but initial observations are promising. My battery charger, which is relatively new and so I’m confident it is working correctly, declared the second hand battery full in around 10 minutes. A good sign that after a period of un-use, it is still working correctly. The brand, I hear you ask? Halfords. Now OK, its far from Asda Smartprice, but despite not being from a ‘premium’ brand such as Bosch or Yuasa, it appears to be working well, and does give an indication on what brands I could look at for the permanent replacement.
I hope, assuming time allows, to get the batteries swapped over in the next day or so, and will report back once time has elapsed to allow for observations on performance. However, it is nice to know that my brothers Skoda Fabia vRS is able to help my Kia out in its own way. It did, however, owe my Kia a favour after my car towed a stricken vRS to safety after the timing belt snapped. There’s a story in that one too, but I’ll save that for another day.