Date:         Tue, 1 Mar 2011 16:45:04 -0500
Reply-To:     Jeff Lincoln <magikvw@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Lincoln <magikvw@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Cold weather
In-Reply-To:  <4D6D5F8D.1080702@pottsfamily.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Annie,

I was having the same issues. I realized my van had an undersized battery in
it - PO used it in summer only.

So I bought a new battery from WallyWorld. I didn't realize that the sticker
on the "new" battery said 11/09 on it. When I got home and put the battery
in I still had to jump the darn thing to get it going. I then trickle
charged the battery over night. Things were fine until it got real cold
again and then it wouldn't start again.

Long story short I took that darn battery back and sure enough it was bad
off the shelf. So what I am getting at is your battery may only be a year
old to you but how long did it sit on the shelf before you purchased? Most
places I am familiar with have a year replacement and even a significant
discount on a new battery after a year. You may want to check into that.

That being said another thing that occured to me - and I could be WAY off on
this so hopefully others will chime in - but many of us run a thincker
(20/50) weight oil in the summer and then something lighter int he winter
months. It seems to me that if the thicker oil is being used at real cold
temps it could take a significant amount more *Ompf *to crank the engine -
thus causing the battery to work harder on that initial morning start up.
Again I could be talking out my wazoo here so I'll leave it to those more
knowledgable than I to confirm or bust that idea.

--
Thanks,

Jeff
'85 GL (Gertie)
'90 Carat (Grover - the noble parts donor)
'78 Bus (Melissa) Patty's Bus