Partner van - electrical issues

[dickiem]

Hi,

I've got a 99 Partner van that's doing strange things.

Couple of times in the last 6 months I've had to recharge the battery because it appeared dead but on the last occasion, it still appeared sluggish to turn over after refitting.

I then noticed if it appeared dead, rocking the van in gear brought it back to life so I wondered if it was a sticking starter motor or something.

It's happened a couple of times in the last week but the rocking worked. A couple of times last night, whilst driving, the lights flickered on and off, the radio went off and the heater went off (all at the same time but momentarily). The engine never cut out.

Got home, got out, locked the door but no central locking. Put the ignition key in and turned....dead!

Came out this morning, rocked it, turned over once but wouldn't start and now seems dead again.

Any ideas where or what to investigate please?

[jonnyald]

winter is when batteries fail. i would get the battery tested at a garage first