dhdenney

iTrader: (53)

This one is a little bit of a head scratcher. I replaced my battery about a month ago so that's fairly new. Shortly after putting it in, the car sat almost a week and fired right up. A few days later, I tried starting the car and the starter just barely would turn the flywheel. I put the voltmeter on the battery, said 11.74 volts. That was all I checked, threw the charger on it, waited a minute, started the car and left. I stopped at the bank and was in there all of 5 minutes. Went back out to the car and it won't even turn over. It was like it had been sitting for 5 months instead of 5 minutes. So I call my friend to come jump it off and it fires right up. We go to his garage and put control arms on it for 3+ hours. After we're done, car fires right up. Later on in the day, I take it to the body shop for paint work. Fast forward a couple weeks to today after he finishes a Chevelle and he says battery is dead when fixing to move it in. He said it wouldn't jump off and swapped a battery and it fires right up, starter sounded fine. OK today it sounds like the battery is bad, but it's fairly new. Two weeks ago, sounded kinda like the stater since it wouldn't turn over after 5 minutes. I haven't been back to the shop since I dropped it off. I kinda wanted to get an idea of what was going on before I went down there. Sounds kinda like a combination of things. Any thoughts?

-PEPE-

iTrader: (10)

Bring it back where you bought it for them to test and replace, sounds like it could be a bad cell, I've had a brand new one be bad before. Check your starter wires are all tight, including ignition wire, and maybe test your alternator for giggles and grins. Also did you test your battery while running? Should be almost 14 volts or close if she's charging correctly.

dhdenney

iTrader: (53)

Yeah I thought it might be a bad cell. Considering it was new, I kinda put that at the bottom of the list. The alternater seemed to be charging fine when I drove it last so that has not been gone over yet. Like I said, I haven't had the car since that day so I haven't done anything really. I just found out today he couldn't jump it. I guess I'll go over my starter wires and probably take the alternater off and have it gone through since the shop doesn't charge if they don't replace anything. I'll probabaly get another battery too since that won't cost anything. I guess I've just got the basic **** going on here. Just seemed kinda odd that it was behaving so erractically/inconsistent.

harvickgm

iTrader: (10)

might want to do a draw test and see how many amps are being pulled to what accessories and where.. it can be a PITA test... so if you dont have patience... then i would pay the money and take it to a shop and have them do the test... thats if the battery isnt to blame first...

-PEPE-

iTrader: (10)

Know what your going through, fortunately Jay @GForce saw before startup I had some hots where the grounds go up on the fenderwell, I did my own remote battery rewiring, was all good except for these crossed wires, likely would have toasted the LTCC. Good luck with it man, you'll get her straight.

infinitebird

iTrader: (11)

was the running voltage good?

harvickgm

iTrader: (10)

well also... just because you have voltage from the alt and the battery doesnt mean its going to start... the starter works off of amperage, i have seen some cases that bad cells in the battery killing the amperage output but the voltage stayed the say... its all those little technicalities that kill ya...

dhdenney

iTrader: (53)

Well I went down to the body shop where my car is, swiped my alt and battery. I already got a new battery and will drop the alt off at the generator shop tomorrow to get checked out. I didn't even bother checking the running voltage or anything cuz the battery was completely shot.

dhdenney

iTrader: (53)

Yeah I knew the starter worked off amperage but I'm not an electrician by any means. Are those simple current draws sucking my amperage? Or can a bad starter do that?

harvickgm

iTrader: (10)

well simple draws can screw you... a few hour sit and you have an accessory that isnt shutting down and is drawing amps can kill the battery quickly... im no master electrician by any means either.. but i have experience in doing the test... just giving some ideas as to what to check... i hate to see people who just jump into parts without testing, cuz they read something on here that sounded like there problem and it wasnt... and then they just waste money...

dhdenney

iTrader: (53)

Well the battery and checking the alt is free so we'll hit that stuff first. I might just get the remote battery kill. Can't go wrong there! I don't really want to though, we'll see how my alt checks out. Thanks for the advice guys!

dhdenney

iTrader: (53)

Alternater checked ok. The guy said to do a visual draw test in the dark by yanking off the hot wire on the back while it's running to see if it arcs bad. Guess I'll try that.