[chris87]

Hi guys,

I hope that you can shed some light on this pretty strange issue i have with my 2015 i30 1.6 crdi.
Its something that happened a while ago (around 3 months) and also happened earlier today.

When trying to start the car, turning the ignition to ON the instrument cluster would not light at all and seemed that battery was dead.
Even after trying to switch the car on literally nothing happened!! I went to get my wires to jump start the car - and as strange it may seem until I got the other car close my wife switched the ignition off and on again and magically the instrument cluster was ok and the car started just fine.

As I mentioned this happened some time ago, then everything was ok and today morning it happened again.
An other think that may give you some idea of what's happening, my start-stop system rarely works as most of the time it says "cannot be used right now" or something like that I am not sure. Do I need a new battery? If I needed a new battery would it play dead and after a while out of a sudden be working properly?

Thank you in advance for any reply and your help!

[tw2005]

Hi guys,

I hope that you can shed some light on this pretty strange issue i have with my 2015 i30 1.6 crdi.
Its something that happened a while ago (around 3 months) and also happened earlier today.

When trying to start the car, turning the ignition to ON the instrument cluster would not light at all and seemed that battery was dead.
Even after trying to switch the car on literally nothing happened!! I went to get my wires to jump start the car - and as strange it may seem until I got the other car close my wife switched the ignition off and on again and magically the instrument cluster was ok and the car started just fine.

As I mentioned this happened some time ago, then everything was ok and today morning it happened again.
An other think that may give you some idea of what's happening, my start-stop system rarely works as most of the time it says "cannot be used right now" or something like that I am not sure. Do I need a new battery? If I needed a new battery would it play dead and after a while out of a sudden be working properly?

Thank you in advance for any reply and your help!

A couple of things to check.

First , i would make sure the terminal connections and posts are clean and tight. You could loosen them sligtly and twist the connectoions back and forth and that may be enough to clean them up.

If you remve power then the radio may qask for the pin code to re-activate

The other would be you could get the battery load tested and confirm what it's current capacity is.

Failing that, assuming Hyundai gives 5 year wty worldwide, report it.

[eye30]

Is it possible the anti theft/key is at fault in that the code is not being read correctly

[Dazzler]

Hi Chris from your introductory post it appears your battery (and car) are less than 3 years old so battery shouldn't be dead or dying. As Gerard said, I also suspect an intermittent poor battery connection. Fingers crossed this proves to be the case. 

[Surferdude]

This happened a few times to my daughter's Accent. Exactly the same. Turn key. Nothing. Then worked fine and started.
Had the battery load tested. It failed.
Replaced the battery and has been fine now for over a year.

[nzenigma]

Terminals corroded as Tw2005 and Dazz have indicated. 
 Part of the test is to try to start with headlights on. Nothing there, then nothing coming from battery leads. Twisting the terminals is a quick fix, should remove them from battery , clean battery terminals and inside of each connector. Apply a small bit of grease to each and tighten back down. ( 10mm nut)

Is it possible the anti theft/key is at fault in that the code is not being read correctly

As usual Lester, NO!

This happened a few times to my daughter's Accent. Exactly the same. Turn key. Nothing. Then worked fine and started.
Had the battery load tested. It failed.
Replaced the battery and has been fine now for over a year.

Chris 's 'power' has failed 3 months ago then performed ok. Batteries don't do that.
Failing a load test? Battery sellers do that. 

[Surferdude]

Terminals corroded as Tw2005 and Dazz have indicated. 
 Part of the test is to try to start with headlights on. Nothing there, then nothing coming from battery leads. Twisting the terminals is a quick fix, should remove them from battery , clean battery terminals and inside of each connector. Apply a small bit of grease to each and tighten back down. ( 10mm nut)

Is it possible the anti theft/key is at fault in that the code is not being read correctly

As usual Lester, NO!

This happened a few times to my daughter's Accent. Exactly the same. Turn key. Nothing. Then worked fine and started.
Had the battery load tested. It failed.
Replaced the battery and has been fine now for over a year.

Chris 's 'power' has failed 3 months ago then performed ok. Batteries don't do that.
Failing a load test? Battery sellers do that. 

As I said.my daughter's car did it several times over a period of months. With rally cars in my history I know a bit about batteries.
I have complete trust in the guy who did the test.
There is no doubt in her case, the battery was failing intermittently.

[nzenigma]

Not wanting to have a who knows most contest, mate. 
And your trusted guy was trustworthy 

Batteries get inefficient over time and they are temperature sensitive. During cold weather an old battery will let you down, but as the day gets hotter it can work quite well.
However, I have never had one recover from dead flat ( eg even cluster will not light).
I have a Stat. Corolla that I use on this property, came out of the Bundaberg flood. The DEAD battery was saved the other day when I simply cleaned the terminals.

[chris87]

Thank you guys for your prompt responses!!   

So I went to have a look at the battery connectors as most of you advised and seems that most probably this may be the case. The connector to the positive terminal was significantly loose.


I tightened it up and cross my fingers that this will fix it 

I will also be doing a load test in the following days just to make sure.

Again thank you everybody for your help, it's very much appreciated! This forum is AWESOME 

[Surferdude]

Not wanting to have a who knows most contest, mate. 
And your trusted guy was trustworthy 

Batteries get inefficient over time and they are temperature sensitive. During cold weather an old battery will let you down, but as the day gets hotter it can work quite well.
However, I have never had one recover from dead flat ( eg even cluster will not light).
I have a Stat. Corolla that I use on this property, came out of the Bundaberg flood. The DEAD battery was saved the other day when I simply cleaned the terminals.

I agree with everything you say.
I'm not suggesting I know any more about batteries or cars than you. Quite the opposite actually. Your experience would seem to be way more complete than mine.
I merely explained a situation which neither I nor Pelican Motors could explain.
Turn the key, no click. Dash lights go out. A couple more tries and away she'd go.
Obviously the first thing I checked was the connections including the starter motor end.  Removed. Cleaned. Reattached.
Failed again a week or so later.
Never happened when I was there. Each time the car would start and my daughter would go on driving it until she next came up my way or image down there.
Probably happened four or five times over a six month period.
Like I said. Replace battery and it's been fine ever since.
I suspect something wrong with the battery post internally but I have nothing to back this up except a vague memory of something like that with an Exide battery back in the early 80s.

Again I wasn't trying to get into a pissing contest. Just throwing one personal experience into the mix.

[nzenigma]

Alls cool Trev, we were both talking about the same thing, sometimes you step on an egg shell in the haste.

Later, my new XA Falcon did come to mind. Being the new model Ford, they came with a 5 minute battery. The one in mine went open circuit at the Gin Gin servo ...on a Sunday.   
On reflection, I suspected an internal pole break. I never got to find out if it was intermittent... because a major storm was coming in so I bought a new battery at the servo . The Gin Gin 'mechanic'    installed it with ....polarity reversed 

I manged to kick him out of the way as he stood and gazed at the smoke belching out of the wiring loom ( and switches).
Then drove back to Brizzy with bare wires exposed so that I could run lights and wipers.

[Surferdude]

Off topic I know but your mention of the XA Falcon reminds me of the XC.
It had been out something less than a year and I was talking to a guy I knew who had a servo in Commercial Rd The Valley.
He told me the XC was the greatest car ever made.
I looked at him stunned.
He said, "Yep! It's gonna keep me in work for years".

[nzenigma]

 

Nowadays its the Navara that puts food on the tables. Cheers G.