totally noobed out!

[mycale]

Left my lights on last night and of course the battery is dead. Tried to jump it with the help of a kind friend, but she has a GEO! It wouldn't turn over! I figure it's the tiny little Geo engine/battery that isn't cutting it...i hope, could there be any other explanations b4 i go running to panic-stations.??

[Green1]

that all depends on what happened, if it tried to start but couldnt' it could be the weak electrical system, or poor connections with the cables (that's common)

if nothing at all happened, the dead battery isn't likely your problem...

If you need to jump a big engine from a little engine, or jump a vehicle with a REALLY dead battery, your best bet is to connect the cables, leave the small vehicle running, and wait 5-10 minutes, then try, that way it's not trying to start your vehicle as much as it is just recharging your batteries to let your system work properly.

[mycale]

well i just tried my buddies SUV for a boost, and we went his +- to my + grounded. nothing at all, even after waiting a good 5-7 minutes with his truck running. Am i missing something or do I need a new Battery or a new Alternator? weird...I just left the lights on all night. Could just be the battery is pooched. Really no idea

[loki]

are they the batteries that came with the van? if they are the Japanese batteries they are probably completely dead, for ever, and can charge even a bit.

[Adam]

You could try revving the SUV while you crank the ignition after you've wait 10 minutes or so with it hooked up and charging.

[Green1]

when you say "nothing at all" ... if that's what you really mean, then the battery is not likely your problem, nor is your alternator.

"nothing" means that you have other issues.

start with the basics, when you hook up the jumper cables does the dome light come on? if yes, you know you have electricity, and "something" should happen. if no, then no electricity is getting through and you are either connected wrong, have bad booster cables, or have a problem in the delica's wiring (an open of some form)

after you establish that you have electricity (per the previous test) let the battery charge for a few minutes and try to start, if it tries to crank but it sounds slow and won't start, charge it longer, or get heavier gauge cables. if it doesn't turn over at all, what does happen? does the dome light dim? (that would indicate a draw from either the starter motor or another issue) do you hear any clicks? if you don't even get a click then you have either blown the fusible link at the battery, or your ignition system is having problems. If you hear a click but the starter doesn't turn, you have either a problem with getting voltage to the starter itself, or a bad starter.

more information is needed to troubleshoot by remote....

[mycale]

Well when we were attempting the charge, we had some issues connecting to the + prong on the Deli because of it's proximity to some sort of a vent...we weren't a 100% on the connection with the larger wires with the larger SUV offering the boost, the connection with the GEO earlier in the day was 100% confirmed as the cables were much smaller. In addition, the GEO driver set the cables up, +- +- (with no grounding)(since then I have discovered this procedure isn't a good way to boost a vehicle) and at that time, the dome lights came on, the glow plug light came on, then went off with about a 5 second delay...turned over twice then just ran out of steam. We did that three times and three times the same result. Prior to leaving the lights on all night, the truck started up perfectly without any hitches glitches or burps. I have only logged about 600km with the van since early AUG this year. Much appreciate your help btw

[Green1]

sounds like what you did with the small car was right, you just didn't let it charge long enough.

whatever you were doing with the SUV though, something wasn't going, possibly one of your connections wasn't actually connected, or something else was wrong.

be careful too, if you at any point reversed the connections you could have done some damage to the electrical system which may result in being unable to start until you rectify it. If that's the case you should look for possible damage to the fusible links near the battery (I'm afraid I don't know exactly where or what they look like on an L400, but I'd suspect you'll find something very close to the + terminal of the battery.)

[mycale]

I will take a look at the battery later today and see if I can see any issues with this fusible thingy. Of course I have no idea what it looks like...but I will poke around just because I need to be doing that anyways...if it turns out the worse case senerio is that I need a new Battery where would I get a N70ZZ battery (that's the type of battery (?) suggested to me)?

[Green1]

it is HIGHLY unlikely that what you describe is a battery issue. (though it's possible your battery is worn out, it won't cause this "nothing happening even while I'm being jump started" thing.)

I suspect your SUV friend either didn't hook things up right, or you've damaged something in the electrical system, if you're getting absolutely nothing right now when you connect leads to it to jump start, including no dome light, I would suspect that you'll find a fuse type thing of some form near the + terminal of the battery which has been blown.

Batteries aren't generally that hard to find, you can go fancy if you like (and there are many recommendations on this site for that), but what I did when I needed new batteries was to take a tape measure and walk in to walmart and find the largest capacity batteries that would physically fit in the hole in the delica.

[mycale]

Ok here are some pics of the + side of the battery. There are three "fuses" coming off the battery as illustrated...of course I have no idea if they are blown or not, but at least now we are all on the same page the battery is of course Japanese so who knows how old it is...planning on a replacement when I get home next weekend...

[marsgal42]

What do you mean by "+- +-" when talking about the jumper cables?

...laura

[MardyDelica]

try & get any good booster cable. most of the booster cable they sold is no good. the wire is too small. thats why you got small current that goes to the battery even you boost it. only way & easy is used a solid good gauge 4 wire booster to give more boost to the drain battery. try this & runs the vehcile see if the battery is totally dead. usually its just drain. usually battry from japan is good than battery here locally. but agian depends on the type of battery. in japan there battery has more amperage than here.just the way they do it there. here they usually lessen it.
try this maybe & hopefully will work.
Cheers;
Mardy

[EnviroImports.com]

a geo wont even get the headlights to come on, Ive picked up vehicles in vancouver where customs leaves the lights on or the door open with the interior lights on .... battery 99% discharged, called tow truck to get it going and took almost half an hour with a F450 Diesel and 2 batteries in that to get the delica to charge the glow plugs and then start. dont give up, but also dont think its going to just Jump start in 5 min. put a charger on the battery, leave it for a day, should fire right up, or get a boosting charger.
I would sugest you put in 2 red top optima batteries, run them with one to the starter & glow plug circut and one to everything else. so if you drain one, you can ALWAYS drive away, even if your delica only came with one battery, there is room in that spot for 2 optimas.

[mycale]

ahhh thanks guys I just got home from a week out sailing around...will pick up a charger tomorrow at crappy tire. Are those fuses on the battery easy to come by? Does it matter which voltage charger I use? ie 12 or up?