I have just replaced the battery in my Zed - see previous thread. I checked the voltage with the engine idelling - 14.6V - so only the battery was dead and the alternator was fine. So not having driven it for four days I jumped in and off I went.

 

OMG!! I was all over the place - the Zed was acting like a teenager! (or was it me?)

 

I had noticed a drop in performance over the last year but I had put this down to the fact that my Zed was almost a teenager itself and has almost 70K on the clock. I guess that the drop off had been gradual and I had not realised how much I had lost.

 

In addition my radio found a whole set of new stations that had also been lost!?

 

So now I sport a silly grin - the same one I got when I bought the car 2 years ago. You know the one - like a cat with two tails who has just got a bowl of cream!

Is this a wind up ????

(Stu) Your little smiley man has lost 4th gear.

 

Ah, the grin factor..you can't beat it. :D :D :D :D

Well you have probably inadvertently reset the ECU, so that may have made a difference.

Is it possible it goes into safety boost because the battery voltage was outside the normal safe range?

No this is not a wind up, the effect was real and it remains real.

 

I am no expert or a betting man but my 'money' is on an ECU reset.

No a simple thing like that can effect the way the car goes.

 

A bad battery and or bad earth can cause your car to run like poo. AY3388 has a friend who stripped out his Lancia for a respray and when they put every thing back they made sure all the earths on the car where as perfect as they could be and the car flew after that. More power more MPG.

 

A poor battery can cause poor sparks, weak ECU signals anything electrical could be effected and have a knock on effect on the car.

 

Maybe worth testing out my battery cos I mines starting to feel slow. Wonder if it could be that.

 

Stuart

I think the Z suffers more than most from a flatish battery, throws all sorts of stuff out. I know mine did! Thought the starter motor was on its way out ........for a while! duh, just solenoid clicking etc.

Many thanks for all the comments - I was a bit concerned that it was my imagination, (or just old age setting in), clearly a bad battery can affect performance.

 

To be honest I was a little concerned about posting considering the rough treatment sometimes handed out on the forum.

To be honest I was a little concerned about posting considering the rough treatment sometimes handed out on the forum.

 

Well I hope its encouraged you to post more often!

Some cars, the bigger horse power Saabs especially, wont run more than a touch of throttle with a flat battery as the ECU needs more to work.