What's made you grumpy today?

[vexorg]

I used to think duracell were a good brand, but their name is dirt in the USA, nothing about bad reviews on batteries leaking within date.

 

[porta]

I used to think duracell were a good brand, but their name is dirt in the USA, nothing about bad reviews on batteries leaking within date.

Yup, they always advertise as better than, but don’t compare like-for-like, I can recommend Energiser Lithium, expensive but so good I have to order online as, whenever local outlets get them in, they’re gone!

 

[AndyRKett]

Duracell batteries.
Am I the only one??
I have just finished sending them a rant. This time AGAIN, a new pack from Tesco's with a leaker. This is the third pack on the trot with this.
These batteries have become rubbish and are to be avoided if you dont want your battery powered things to be ruined. I have lost all our battery powered standby lights to leaking Duracell batteries now and severa;l torches. It really annoys me as these clown say their battereis dont leak an claim they work longer than others. THEY DONT. I have become aware that they fail early sometimes withing days of forst use. SO I check the voltage and find that in most packs there are battereis with little charge. So you put theseinto say a torch and the weak ones wreck the good ones. VOltages I gave taken recently on 1.v v batteries vary in a new pack from 1.2, which is duff, to 1.61 which is frankly silly in a battery and to me unheard of before most are 1.51 when new. All sorts of size are affected by being USELESS and making me more P***** off is how much more difficult it is to contact Duracell to give them a slice of my mind. I ma so cross about the lastest 2 packs having leakers I am going to report them to Trading Standards. These things are not cheap and they make bold and frankly ridiculous claims about their products so Advertising Standards are going to get it as well.

My Rolson battery inspection light 9Bloody good tool by the way) came with some unknown brand batteries included and they lasted far longer (50 times longer by the way) than the Duracells that replaced them.

I for one will never buy Duracell anything ever again. They are are over priced and under delivering products that people need to expose. Haas anyone else noticed that this once good brand are now abject rubbish.

I must add that after sending them pics of the large number of their batteries in teh house, and the leakers and the upto date in this case unused packaging, I did add that they had better not send me any more of their crap batterieis as " gesture". I certainly dont want anything they make near me ever again. I reckon that the cost of the duff batteries and the damaged battery equipment have cost me well over £50 since Christmas!

I do however recommend Energiser Lithium. I had a weather station outside for 5 years, when it failed, the batteries still had 1.5v showing. They have been in my battery razor and are just beginning to fade after a further 2 years. I have a second pair from teh original pack till showing and looking sound. These although more expensive do what the maker claims they do.

Duracell please note and then get stuffed! Thats about £150 a year of sales yu will not be getting ever agin from me.

Foot note: Batteries in Smoke and CO alarms are a viktal safety feature so make your selection carefully and if you fit Duracell be aware that these things leak. I could post you the reasons they sent me but why the hell should I new batteries should not leak.

SIgned Edward Marow, Harriet Bean, Peter Kale and various other well known consumer champions.

£150 a year !!! Jeez!

I have started buying Lithium rechargeable batteries on amazon. Made by a company called HIXON They are really expensive for AA batteries, but they actually output 1.5v like normal AA batteries and not the 1.2v of most rechargeable. They are stupidly engergy dense and last a really long time.

A pack of 4 is about £25 but at the rate you buy batteries you could have 6 packs for that so 24 batteries ? that will last for ever and be rechargeable.

 

[The Panda Nut]

£150 a year !!! Jeez!

I have started buying Lithium rechargeable batteries on amazon. Made by a company called HIXON They are really expensive for AA batteries, but they actually output 1.5v like normal AA batteries and not the 1.2v of most rechargeable. They are stupidly engergy dense and last a really long time.

A pack of 4 is about £25 but at the rate you buy batteries you could have 6 packs for that so 24 batteries ? that will last for ever and be rechargeable.

That 150 includes a ruined inspection lamp and 2 torches plus one of the standby lights. These things are sold often in packs of 8 and they are maybe £8 a pack or more. I have another battery LED flood light light that takes 4 AA size and its power greedy so they dont last long. Really useful fro work under flooboards... (Daughters, dont you just luvem) I must have 20 in the used battery box already this year but I think there are duds which when fitted with others take half a pack out in quick fashion.

I think about 10 years ago they started adding recycled battery material to the mix and I bet the proportiion of recycled material keps rising. Maybe this is whats underlying the issue. 10 years ago Duracell made good batteries that wereworth the money and I have used them almost exclusively but its now now worth it so I shall have a good look at your suggestion. Our kitchen clock likes eating batteries. One each 3 months. 40 years ago the clock would only need 1 each year. Thats progres.

 

[varesecrazy]

That useful. Its all a bit odd. I will have to take it for a drive and get it warm. Maybe this time we escaped as its all sounding normalagain. Just the we exhaust and thoses error messages. with luck we may have time to round up a worthy replacement. There are loads of good Pops but few have aircon. The Lounge's are much more pricy and Easys are rare beasts. I really wany another 2 to 3 yers out of this car and then it wont owe much, but if its unreliable its got to be sorted one way or another.

Maybe save yourself £40..

Pull all 4 x sparkplugs

Line them in order

Anything Clean /RUSTY : NOT GOOD

My old 1.1 blew 2 HG's in swift succession (failed matrix losing coolant)

The plugs were "Steam Cleaned" and had hints of rust


Cheap and easy Diagnostic tool

The car was great after sorting that

 

[FiatMatt94]

I left home at 9am this morning to drive to family on the outskirts of Liverpool, it was horrible weather & as I got to the top of Reigate Hill onto the slip road to join the M25 which is about 15 minutes from home I was greeted by a familiar beep, looked at the dash & yet again i have airbag failure & fuel cut off unavailable with both lights on the dash, the issue can wait until I come home, I'll ring the company to see what the guarantee is on the refurb of the module, only difference is this time I haven't lost the seatbelt buzzers

 

[varesecrazy]

I left home at 9am this morning to drive to family on the outskirts of Liverpool, it was horrible weather & as I got to the top of Reigate Hill onto the slip road to join the M25 which is about 15 minutes from home I was greeted by a familiar beep, looked at the dash & yet again i have airbag failure & fuel cut off unavailable with both lights on the dash, the issue can wait until I come home, I'll ring the company to see what the guarantee is on the refurb of the module, only difference is this time I haven't lost the seatbelt buzzers

That's annoying, sounds like the next 200 miles was acceptable though

TBH, I've had an easy life with the last 15 to 20 years electrically

But I now own an Alfa again..

 

[FiatMatt94]

That's annoying, sounds like the next 200 miles was acceptable though

TBH, I've had an easy life with the last 15 to 20 years electrically

But I now own an Alfa again..

It was ok apart from the traffic, be prepared now you have possession of an Alfa again

 

[The Panda Nut]

Maybe save yourself £40..

Pull all 4 x sparkplugs

Line them in order

Anything Clean /RUSTY : NOT GOOD

My old 1.1 blew 2 HG's in swift succession (failed matrix losing coolant)

The plugs were "Steam Cleaned" and had hints of rust


Cheap and easy Diagnostic tool

The car was great after sorting that

If it ever stops rainng I shall do just that. Im moving towards doing the head myself if required. Ive lost my nerve a lot these days. Having the same trouble with relatively simple jobs on the burgeoning housing front too, Maybe I should buy her a Panda 1.1 without the camshaft gubbins and I wouldnt hesitate. I will pull the plugs and do a compression test as well and see what it suggests. Thanks for the suggestion / push. On the basis with cars that its better the devil you know fixing and keeping a car of this age and value must be the sensible way.

 

[portland_bill]

Duracell batteries.

Interesting.
We use a lot of AA batteries, and have mostly bought large packs of Duracell. Recently got a bit miffed with a few gentle leakers, but only slight damage to the items.
Pack now is Energizer, significantly cheaper than Duracell, and pleased so far.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Interesting.
We use a lot of AA batteries, and have mostly bought large packs of Duracell. Recently got a bit miffed with a few gentle leakers, but only slight damage to the items.
Pack now is Energizer, significantly cheaper than Duracell, and pleased so far.

Interesting. I suspect they have a problem. Their car key batteries we used in our kitchen scales also leaked and wrecked the scales. Ive cordially invited them to send me a postage label so they can have every last one back. I dont expect anything as I have also sent a case to trading standards complaining about their sub standard products and blatently misleading advertising. I shall be trying other brands. Energiser must be better. They certainly last well, I have some in my box of batteries bought well over 8 years ago. They dont leak. Ill never used that size again so really ought to get rid.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Most of the day trying to overbear on daffo hoping he will submit to my stronger will. No kinchance. Ecu full of codes of doom. So tested compressions if I did it right. Had to mod a pair of pliers to get the bugger bach off no2. Ended up grinding the compression gauge adapter so I can undo with a 17mm socket. Lifw was easier afterwards.

No 1 8.4 bar
Nos 2 & 3 9.9 bar
No 4 8.9ģ bar
Plugs all look normal if a bit white. I decided not to change them in case head gasket is going.
Cleaned the Vvt actuator and the manifoldg so probably cleaned the Map sensor too, and the throttle body.

Results : Eml on... It was flasing.

Decided the faults related to compression tests. So cleared faults.
Started the car and its running as sweetly as it could ever do.... Really sweet and smooth.

Test drive with mes watching temps and pressures. All looks normal.

Parked it up for work tonight, but sprang round on it when it thought I had finished. and told it its b Italian attitudes will get it scrapped and gave it a formal British Warning!
While I was there I removed scuttle cover... looking for lost torx tool. Retaped the wiring harness where the entire covering had gone, cleaned the scuttle and removed and cleared duckbills. Fitted the scuttle back properly (after winscreen people) that looks better.

Im suspicious of the head but rad pressure entirely normal looking certainly not excessive. Coolant looks normal, oil looks normal. Fans working properly. SO IM NO WISER WHY IT OVERHEATED.
considering looking for temperature sensor and fan ballast resistor.
I think Daffo is at **** at the moment
Bloody torx tol finally appeared back in my tool chest. The garage elfs will die if I catch them. It wast there earlier. Another 45 minutes wasted finding the wiper nutcover Idropped on tge gravel drive. Im done in.

 

[varesecrazy]

From experience..
Check under heater matrix for coolant

Low coolant level will bring on Rapid heating,

 

[The Panda Nut]

From experience..
Check under heater matrix for coolant

Low coolant level will bring on Rapid heating,

Will do. Thanks