2005 CRD Battery Flat but now have CEL

vertrx7 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:15 pm

Spouse says that while driving, the lightning bolt symbol came on, on the dash. She pulled it into a parking lot and turned off Liberty. Couldn't get it started again.

I tightened cables first, but no joy. Jumped the battery and it ran very strangely and then died. I got a new battery at Costco, they now offer only full 36 month replacement as opposed to 6 years, but no questions asked and they are Interstate now. They don't have a listing for the diesel, but did have a battery with terminals in right place and correct CCA's. Started right up. Now I've got to see if the battery goes flat or go to Advance Auto to see if the alternator is charging. Can they test it on the diesel?

Anyway, CEL is lit. How do I turn off once I get code at Advance? They won't turn it off anymore from what I understand. I couldn't find it in the search function though there is lots on CEL's. Is a special scanner required I have to buy? If someone wants to make it easy on themselves and give me a link to directions, that works too! Thank you!

thermorex · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:09 am

Even you can test the battery with a voltmeter. Usually parts stores do a load test after they charge the battery to see if it holds power, but that's more for warranty purposes. I believe You'll need a 800+cca battery for Crd. Regarding reading codes, the cheapest acctron auto parts sell works fine, and you can also clear the codes with that. All you need to tell them is to let YOU clear the code, as they theoretically are not supposed to do it, but depends on how narrow minded that person is after all...

vertrx7 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:58 am

Thank you, yes, it was a 800CCA battery. Since I'm still in temp housing and don't have my tools all here, I was hoping there was some other way to turn off the CEL.

I'll see if advance will do it or let me. Maybe time to buy a scanner. Gets expensive with different vehicles, especially the VW TDI...

Procedure for testing battery and alternator no different for the CRD then I guess.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:08 am

Assuming that nothing happened to cause the CEL to come on before the battery died, if the CEL is related to the bad battery, it should turn off on its own.
Once the problem has been corrected the CEL should turn off after a couple of drive cycles.

vertrx7 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2015 6:41 pm

Brilliant and absolutely correct. CEL turned off by itself. Now making determination whether I have an alternator problem or if the battery went flat on its own. No idea as to age.

dirtmover · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:28 pm

vertrx7 wrote:

Now making determination whether I have an alternator problem or if the battery went flat on its own. No idea as to age.

You'll find out soon enough. This vehicle is pretty power hungry and won't get you far if the alternator is bad.

thermorex · **Posted:** Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:07 am

You can see if the alternator charges with a voltmeter on the battery posts when engine is running. Should be about 13.5-14.5V, if memory servers right.

2005 CRD Battery Flat but now have CEL

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