Mechanical Question

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:42 pm

I have a mechanical question, and it's probably pretty elementary to those of you who are more mechanically inclined folks.

Sometimes my car doesn't want to start, and I THINK it's the starter. I get the usual symptoms (doesn't wan't to crank, clicks), but only every once in a while. But here's what puzzles me. If I put a voltometer on the battery, it reads fine. But then when I crank it, it drops WAY down while cranking, and makes a sound similar to a dead battery. However, the battery takes charge just fine. And if I put the battery on a charger after the starter clicks and won't turn, it will start right up (while still hooked up to charger). Sound like a starter, or do I perhaps have some other sort of electrical problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Tom S. · Post by **Tom S.** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 8:13 pm

I've had this happen twice and both times it was a bad battery. The first time we went right for the starter and it was in good working order. Then, we checked the battery and it had something wrong with it. It's much easier to start with something easy first as the starter is a b!tch to get out.

Post by **negusm** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 8:14 pm

Almost sounds like a sulfated battery. Voltage accross the terminals doesn't tell you much, however, the fact that the voltage drops so low under load is a sign of a sulfated battery.

Next in line would be to check all your connections and grounds.

-Mike

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:22 pm

All of the connections and grounds checked out. The reason I was skeptical that it was a battery was because it only happens sporadically. Then again, I only know enough about mechanical issues to get me in trouble. Thanks!

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:48 pm

Check the Cables, or look to see if a terminal is loose, better still, how's the Alternator ??????

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:56 pm

Cables and terminals seem to check out. I've run the car for long distances at night with no problems, the ammeter reads fine and jumps up when the rpms go up from idle, so I don't think the alternator is the culprit.

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:13 pm

mike is right sounds like a salfated battery replace it and you should be good

if its only starting with the charger on it then replace your battery

if you have a quick charge charger then quick charge it for 5 min and then mesure volt if its below 14.5 then replace

svo413 · Post by **svo413** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:26 pm

I had the same problem on my Contour. I all I did was disconnect the battery to reset the computer. The next day, not enough juice to crank the engine over. It turns out the battery had only a partial connection below the battery post. If I torqued the post it got a better contact. The whole time the battery checked out with a volt meter but it had no current. As soon as it started to crank, it went totally dead but quickly came back to life when turned off. This drove me nuts for about a week until I got a new battery. It's a good thing the starter was too hard to get off!

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 3:28 am

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It was the battery.