I was waiting in my car for a friend for about an 1hr so i turned on my tunes. After, the car wouldnt turn over, i would only get a clicking sound from under the engine, im assuming the starter. I got a jump and it started right up. I drove around a bit turned it off and again...the clicking with a slow cranking!!! Got another jump and drover her home, Now at home it does the same thing after having it run for an hour + what is going on?? is it the starter going bad, alternator not giving enough juice? i noticed while driving that my volt meter was reading 11-12 and about 9 while stoped, can the starter cause this?? :blast:
Sounds like a charging problem, likely the regulator. Just above idle I like to see 13+ volts. Before you start throwing money into it, have the regulator, alternator and battery tested. Devon
man this sucks. it was running fine all day then after i was sitting in the car listening to the jams, it messes up. The regulator was replaced about 3 months back. How can i test these? or do i take them into the parts shop?
That's what I'd suggest. Avoid the chain parts stores and find an old time NAPA or some other established shop with some old cranky geezer behind the counter. Bad teeth and black fingernails/fingertips is a plus. They'd rather you came back next time with a smile rather than sell you the wrong parts. Devon
Time for a new battery, the often work just fine until drained to far, then will not charge back up. They are only meant to last 3 years by design. Why the pro rating on them goes up quick on exchange for the warrenty after just a few years.
Bad advice. While that may be the case, I'd never tell anyone to spend a dime without testing first...that's why I haven't had to buy a battery in the last six years when others have suggested it. Alternators are a different story, though...my daily driver eats them due to poorly designed packaging (airflow). Devon
alts just don't go out like that, from running a radio. And he then drove the car with a few jumps and assume no running problems, as he didn't mention it, so the alt/gen must of been providing juice for proper spark. Dunno how many times I had that happen from just that. Jamming the radio for to long and the battery just wouldn't charge back up enough to start the car by any means. Though he didn't say if he charged it, lastish line said it ran for an hr and was still low. An Alt/Gen just keeps a battery up to par, not meant to charge a dead battry. He could just need a good charge. A good fresh battery is always a good idea though, get one with a decent warranty and hope it dies before it runs out For me if I had a bad alt/gen or low battery you knew as how bad it ran. Bad atl/gen with a fresh battery will run good for a while. Always best to test but from the info he gives, I can only assume the bat.
so take my regulator in ... if it checks out maybe the alt, then the battery? what about optimas? should i invest in one of those. red top maybe? i have some generic kragen autolite cinder-block right now.
Unless you know someone who can check the parts right on the car, take all three in. You may find a bad regulator plus find out the battery is on its last legs anyway. Before you go too far, check your battery cables and terminals for corrosion/condition. It might be something as silly as that. No experience with Optima here...there's lots to read if you do a search, though. Devon
Your voltage readings hint that you may not have to worry about that. You might need to get down there to check the wires/cables, though. Devon
If you got cash for a fancy battery like optmia its like better fancy tires, always good but you gotta spent allot and get the red acid gel, they sell regular lead acid ones too. Other wise I stick to $60-80 800-1000cc from like autozone and hope it dies before the warranty is no good. Best battery I have had in a while though came from the landfill, local Jeep plant threw out several pallets of them. Dude who works there sold them for $20 each. Wish I knew who made them.
cool thanks fellas, im going to take the big three in this weekend and hopefully something will point me in the right direction.
Harbor Freight has a Alternator/Battery tester that tests either while still installed in the car. If your getting 11-12 volts at cruise with no accessories on, then my guess is your alternator/regulator is bad. Do you have another car? Swap batteries, and try it.
IMHO the best way to test your battery w/o special tools other than a volt meter. turn your headlights on, blower motor, and rear defrost. As you need to put a load on the battery. measure the voltage at the battery. it should be upper 11's to 12. if it's less you have a problem. Next start the car. jump it if you have too but remove the jumper cable when testing. Next, turn on headlights, blower motor rear defrost. at idle check the battery voltage. it should be mid 13-14. if not it;s more than likely your alternator or voltage regulator. if you have good voltage at idle with stuff on but when you turn the car off more than likely your battery is going bad. Like said above. most newer batteries will only last between 3-5 yrs. I've actually had very good luck with batteries from sams club or walmart. Make sure the label says distributed by Johnson controls. if you don't have a volt meter i highly recommend picking one up. i paid 3 bucks at harbor freight for a cheapie to keep in my car repair kit. Be leary of the auto store places putting an amp meter and stating that your only making xxx amps. As amperage from the alternator is only making up demand to a particular voltage. that just means your not pulling a lot of juice from the alternator. My buddie had this happen to him from 2 places when they tested it on the car.
i would swap the battery but the terminals wont match up, the studs are asian or something. as far as testing the regulator, no one in my area does it. so i guess its going to be the alt, and the batt. hopefully its one of those two. the battery insnt old but i dont have the recipt to show thats it under warranty. im praying its one of these two things or even the regulator, theyre cheap but the keep frying on me.
I've had pretty good luck with dead batteries lately by being more patient. If you've got time, here's what I've been doing. First, the battery won't take a charge. So, I put it on a trickle charger for a few hours. Then let it rest overnight. Put it on the trickle charger again the next day for a while, watch the charger indicators. If "check battery" light comes on, disconnect, rest, and reconnect. After a few false starts I've gotten two back from the dead. Amazingly, the one in my Bentley was like this, fully discharged, not wanting to take a charge but finally gave in and charged back up again. It's a 1993 battery judging from the date codes, original to the car when new. I wouldn't be too quick to replace a battery if you've got time to fool with it. The strangest was in one of the GSs. I did this routine and got the battery charger to say it was all charged up. But the starter just clicked. On a whim, I shifted the auto trans into neutral and it cranked just fine. Put it into park, turned off, and restarted just fine. I know it doesn't make sense, but maybe there was a connection issue with the safety switch. I was ready to start cleaning the battery cable connections but was glad to have saved the effort. If you've got a corroded cable, bad connections to the starter or ground, or bad connections with the cables to the battery, that could be another reason you're not getting enough juice to the starter. Start by cleaning all the cable connections. If you see any corrosion and frayed strands at the battery connectors maybe you need a new cable. I recently had to replace the positive cable on one of the cars. Start by wire brushing the insides of the cable connectors to the battery and the battery terminals and then check and clean the connectors on the other end. Sounds to me like maybe you're not getting full amps into they system off the battery, but with a jump boost you get enough to overcome that. The radio and lights will work fine with weak connections because they don't draw the amps.
