Keep a' rollen or sittin'

1928Pickuppain

1928Pickuppain

Senior Member
So it seems to me that these things realy dont like to sit long I let mine sit for 2 days and the batterys dead and she dosent want to start and coughs and spits for the first two miles after jumping. And I was just reading the (Atleast i got to drive mine) post and he had issues after sitting. as long as i drive mine every day theres no problem. and id expect there to be problems the amount I drive her, 40-50 miles a day when i dont take her to work 85-100 when i do and the only reason im not driveing her to work every day is im scard shitless of taking her 60 year old ratty tires on the high way (tryign to save up now); just order my first two firestone white walls yeasterday. So what do you think do they hate sitting or not.
 
Mine will fire right up after sitting for extended periods of time. Sounds like you have a short running your battery down. Maybe your cutout sticking and draining the battery.
 
Like to say that it likes to be driven and gets angry when it doesn't. However it is probably more about the more you drive them, the quicker you figure out all the bugs and get those taken care of. I have had the distributor shaft go dry after not driving for 8 months and I didn't think to oil it because I wasn't using it. ( now I know to keep oil there all the time!) Water pump "leakless" seals start leaking after sitting
too long, battery go dead, carb needle stick, etc. Keep driving them and both you and the car stay happier
 
As mentioned above, lots of things can happen when a car sits for an extended period, but a few days should cause no issues. I only drive mine about once a week or so without any problems at all. It starts every time and runs happily.
 
Something is wrong.I park mine in the sheds and garages in November and drive them out in May.I use regulators,and I pull the fuses while they are parked.Unless the battery is bad they start right up in the spring.
 
Use a "agriculture grade" 8 volt battery, and call it a day. If everything is all up to snuff electricaly on your car.....frustration for you will be gone.
 
8-volt batteries are a band-aid, especially on something low-compression like a Model A.

And if there's a gremlin in the system that's causing the battery to go dead in two days, an 8-volt will go just as dead.

I've been driving 6-volt stuff since getting my license over 25 years ago, and have never had to resort to an 8-volt battery or a 12-volt "up-grade".

That's with a dozen different 6-volt vehicles and nearly 500,000 miles driving between them all.

My '28 has a conventional lead-acid 6-volt and a 6-volt positive-ground alternator
(came with the car). It sat un-driven in an un-heated garage from February thru April earlier this year, and still spun-over fine in May, and has been going since. Have not needed a jump or had to put the battery on the charger.

It's been down in the teens here this week, and she's still cranking and starting fine.
 
Sounds like a short somewere is draining your battery down....Disconnect the battery and wait a few days. Reconnect and see if battery is charged up or drained. That will tell you if it is the battery or a short causing the issue.
 
Bad cell in the battery (aka "battery won't hold a charge") or something draining the battery while it sits. Have worked with 6v + ground systems for years on my tractors, most of which are simpler (generator with cutout, mag, no lights) than the A. Snowbird's suggestion sounds right on. Or you can pull the battery and have it load tested at your favorite garage.

Batteries that aren't used regularly can gradually lose their charge. When the charge drops enough, sulphation sets in. This causes sulphates to precipitate out of the battery acid and deposit themselves on the floor of the battery. This can bridge across plates in the battery, shorting them out (since alternate plates are +/-). Battery tenders - the ones that bring your battery up to full charge and then maintain it there - are a good way to avoid this.
 
Also, most standard lead-acid 6-volts are good for about three to four years, anything beyond that is a "gift". Battery tenders can extend that lifespan.

I've been getting four-five years out of the six-volts in my drivers.
 
Special Coupe Frank said:
Also, most standard lead-acid 6-volts are good for about three to four years, anything beyond that is a "gift". Battery tenders can extend that lifespan.

I've been getting four-five years out of the six-volts in my drivers.
Click to expand...

Must be the brand? I get more years than that from the 6 volt batteries and have 6 years on the junkyard battery in my car now, so I don't know how old the battey actually is. Back in 1971, when I got out of the Army, my neighbor gave me an Interstate 6 volt battery that he had lying around his garage. I stuck it in my 1949 Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck and got another 10 years out of it.

I don't know why, but I always get more years out of a 6 volt battery than I get out of a 12 volt battery in my modern cars. Most 12 volts last me about 6 years and 6 volts last about 10 years.

I don't know why that 6 volt interstate lasted so long, especially the way I abused it by letting it set dead several times, and then I would recharge it and drive the truck some, then let it set for another year and go dead, etc.

I haven't had real good luck with 12 volt interstate batteries. I've had the best luck with Sears Diehard for 12 volt batteries. When I worked at the salvage yard I'd recharge and check batteries for resale, and there I also had the best luck with Diehard batteries.
 
Last edited:
That's interesting... when I was a kid, we had 6-volt tractors and my Grandad's '54 Chevy pick-up, and I struggled with ancient, sulfated batteries that wouldn't take a charge or hold a charge, no matter what.

Finally when I got my driver's license, and was going to be driving that '54 Chevy, I saved-up my grass-cutting money and bought myself a brand-new 6-volt battery (group 1), I believe it was a Douglas battery, made in North Carolina.

I was amazed out how well the truck started and ran with a decent battery.

I asked the battery-man if it were possible to get a six-volt with a longer warranty period than 3 years, pro-rated, and he told me that the battery people didn't make them that way, and that aside from cosmetic changes to the case, it was still essentially the same 6-volt battery internally that would have come in the truck in 1954.

That battery lasted about 4-5 years as a daily driver.

As for 12-volts, I've generally been getting a couple years beyond the warranty period in terms of service life. If it's going in a "keeper" vehicle, I usually buy a 60 or 72 month battery... usually Exide from my local mom & pop.

For the last ten years or so, I've been getting my six-volts from Sam's Club, which I believe are "Champion" brand.

They definitely seem to last longer in vehicles that are driven regularly.

I guess my original battery point was that I don't expect much out of a 6-volt battery that's more than 3 years old. If it takes and holds a charge, great; but if not, l I'm not surprised.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top