Will a car run without a battery (once started)

**steveked** · 21st August 2009, 09:25

gets in the fiat workhorse today starts no bother i stop on way at a garage for a paper and it started "oddly" and the clock and trip comp etc had reset anyway gets to work thinks i better switch off and try again - dead as a doornail , no power whatsoever , radio dead , hazards wouldnt even come on , pops the bonnet looks at the battery fiddles with the connections and its back to life again so obviously a dodgy battery connection came loose , the worrying thing is if it happens on the way home and the battery loses its connection will the car just die or will the alternator keep it running ? just worried incase it dies on the a19 and i end up dead !!! what do you reckon ? i think it should keep running with the electricity generated from the alternator but not sure . I have no tools at hand what so ever so i cant do anything till i get home

**ed taylor** · 21st August 2009, 09:37

I think you will find the car will stop. It sounds like you have a loose connection. Have you checked all the terminals on the battery and the starter motor. I had this happen to a car I had once. One of the leads on the live side of the battery was loose so it intermitantly cut all power to the car the engine and everything stopped. All was back to normal when I tightened the loose lead.

**vec3.2** · 21st August 2009, 09:37

Crash it into a tree then get your insurance to come recovery it then claim on your insurance...just a suggestion

**SignumPhil** · 21st August 2009, 10:46

It's never a good idea, as it may cut out at tickover, with insufficient power being generated to run the engine, and the alternator generally uses the battery as part of it's voltage regulation circuitry -without it you may damage the alternator.

Phil

**steveked** · 21st August 2009, 11:56

thanks guuys pretty much what i thought , it is definately just a loose connection on the battery , no suprise because i put a new battery in 2 months ago so its obviously working itself loose somewhere , i just need it to get me home tonight so i can get my tools and tighten everything up again

fingers crossed !!!

**rockh** · 21st August 2009, 14:40

Had the battery on my old work van fail whilst on the A1 at Team Valley. The motor kept on running as it was an old diesel escort van but nothing electrical worked which was a real PITA as it was throwing it down with rain

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**steveked** · 21st August 2009, 14:44

Originally Posted by rockh

Had the battery on my old work van fail whilst on the A1 at Team Valley. The motor kept on running as it was an old diesel escort van but nothing electrical worked which was a real PITA as it was throwing it down with rain

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hmm thats kinda what i thinking could happen . took it for a spin at lunch time and i seem to have fetled it with my earlier tinkering so i'm confident i'll get it home tonight (famous last words !!)