Battery fail

[Conniecar61]

Probably been done before. My ‘65 saloon has had a glowing ignition light ( quite dim ) while driving for 3 days. It’s only intermittently. The drive has driven fine but it’s broken down with a flat battery suddenly today. I’ve checked the wires, all ok. I suspect the dynamo. It’s booked into the garage on Wednesday anyway, so 4 days away. Question is.... can I safely use the starting handle until then without damaging anything? I need to get to work in it until then. Used it twice today after stopping. Thanks.

[myoldjalopy]

Ignition light not going out whilst driving and a flat battery suggests a non-charging issue...and, yes, that could be the dynamo. It could also be a loose fan belt, bad electrical connections, or a faulty regulator. If you have a battery charger and charge it every night you might get away with just using the starting handle for short journeys - but if you are driving in the dark, and/or using heater and wipers a lot the battery will loose charge quickly.
So you won't damage anything - but you might get stranded with a flat battery again!

[jagnut66]

Hi,
If you are using it regularly for work etc. you might be better off fitting an alternator (or a Dynamator if you want to keep it looking original).
Best wishes,
Mike.

[oliver90owner]

To answer your question - you could well damage your battery unless it is recharged. Car could fail with a completely dead battery, if you continue to use it, if it is not being recharged at all.

As the ignition requires battery power it would not start with the starting handle if the battery were to be completely exhausted.

The usual scenario, for using the starting handle continually, is if the generator is charging OK but the battery is failing to retain charge, or has one cell that has gone dead.