Electrical/battery question
July 22nd, 2018, 02:59 PM
#1
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 147
Electrical/battery question
Here is problem. I can start my car with seemingly no battery problems. I take it for ride, park it for 30-40 minutes or whatever and come back, I turn the key, nothing, will not crank, however if door is open the door buzzer will chime. I put my battery booster on it and it starts, so I think, dead/bad/old battery. I just took battery to advance auto to check it thinking they would say it's dead/ bad. They say it's good but needs charging, so it's charging. I bet however when I pick it up tomorrow and try it same thing will happen. Does this problem sound familiar? Battery? Alternator? Wiring? Some other problem?
July 22nd, 2018, 03:54 PM
#4
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pittsburgh Pa.
Posts: 1,306
X2 Clean battery posts and inside of cable that goes around the posts. If it is what I think it is a wire brush will not do a good job of cleaning. Don't go sissy get out the handy pocket knife and scrape the posts and the inside of the cable. I think you will find a hard coating that needs to be removed and the wire brush will only do a partial job. You can wire brush after you scrape. The posts and the cable are made of lead ( some cables are not). The lead is soft so you will know what I mean when you scrape the hard stuff off. I think this is your problem.
July 22nd, 2018, 04:58 PM
#6
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Location: Dallas-Fort Worth
Posts: 3,112
Starter heat soak? OldCutlass and I determined the same issue a few weeks ago on my 64 F-85 and fixed it. Key question-how long have to had the car before this developed? If you have had the car for a awhile and this issue all of a sudden started happening X2 the suggestions above.
July 23rd, 2018, 06:57 AM
#10
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 47,259
Rather than guessing, how about troubleshooting first? When the car won't start, do the headlights come on at full brightness? If so, the battery and charging system is NOT the problem, so stop paying for unnecessary parts.
When was the last time you rebuilt the starter? This sounds like the common pitted contacts problem in the GM starter solenoid. When hot, resistance goes up to the point that the starter won't engage.
When was the last time you rebuilt the starter? This sounds like the common pitted contacts problem in the GM starter solenoid. When hot, resistance goes up to the point that the starter won't engage.
July 23rd, 2018, 08:28 AM
#12
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: central Indiana
Posts: 5,232
Rather than guessing, how about troubleshooting first? When the car won't start, do the headlights come on at full brightness? If so, the battery and charging system is NOT the problem, so stop paying for unnecessary parts.
When was the last time you rebuilt the starter? This sounds like the common pitted contacts problem in the GM starter solenoid. When hot, resistance goes up to the point that the starter won't engage.
When was the last time you rebuilt the starter? This sounds like the common pitted contacts problem in the GM starter solenoid. When hot, resistance goes up to the point that the starter won't engage.
if you throw enough parts parts at it, eventually you will get lucky and fix it!! 😎
a little detective work and thinking the problem thru is always the best approach.
July 23rd, 2018, 10:51 AM
#15
Old(s) Fart
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 47,259
No, go back and read my post.
He says it won't start, but the key buzzer works. I said "next time it won't start, see if the headlight come on at normal brightness". Obviously if they do, and the car still doesn't start, the battery and cables are NOT the problem. That's a simply diagnostic technique, rather than buying a new battery and/or alternator, which is what it sounded like he was going to do.
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