I had Seas Auto do a car battery test since I keep having to jump start my car and they said there is nothing wrong with the battery, alternator, cables and whatnot. I asked why the car sometimes doesn't start and he suggested that it was an electrical problem and the there could be a "dead spot" somewhere that might not allow my car to start up sometimes. Any ideas on what could be wrong before I go walking in asking someone to fix it?
Just got my car battery tested...
- Thread starter DPK
- Start date
Just because it tested okay means nothing. I have had totally dead batteries leaking acid test "OK" on those machines. If a jump start works, the problem is not a bad starter.
Edit: yes need details on when and how it does doesn't work.
Edit: yes need details on when and how it does doesn't work.
Ok, let me back up a bit.
I have a 1990 Toyota Camry Wagon V6 with a fairly new Diehard battery. A few weeks ago it wouldn't start one morning until I jumped started it. Then one day last week it started fine but wouldn't start back up after Imade a stop to get some gas. Then this weekend I had the same problem. In these situations the lights and radio work fine but nothing happens when I turn the key to start it.
I have a 1990 Toyota Camry Wagon V6 with a fairly new Diehard battery. A few weeks ago it wouldn't start one morning until I jumped started it. Then one day last week it started fine but wouldn't start back up after Imade a stop to get some gas. Then this weekend I had the same problem. In these situations the lights and radio work fine but nothing happens when I turn the key to start it.
Yes, works good after the jump. However, I have noticed a variation in the time it takes to start up when I turn the key. Sometime it's instant and other times nothing will happen for a half a second to a second, or nothing at all.
fairly new is about 2 months old.. and the test showed the battery was good.
fairly new is about 2 months old.. and the test showed the battery was good.
Ok .. so have you experienced that while your car is hooked up with jumper cables, the engine *still* doesn't crank when you turn the key? Or is it only while on the die hard that this happens?
Hmm, not sure exactly what you are asking. From memory it still seems to have the same start time variation when the jumper cables are connected or not connected.
Next time it doesn't crank, have a buddy go under the car and tap the starter w/a hammer while you hold the key. If it cranks up once the hammer touches it, it's likely the starter.
I just went through that with my car - if I switched the key back and forth a bunch of times, it would eventually fire up without the hammer for some reason....this could explain why it worked when you "jumped" it.
I just went through that with my car - if I switched the key back and forth a bunch of times, it would eventually fire up without the hammer for some reason....this could explain why it worked when you "jumped" it.
Ok. thanks. Now I just need to find out which part the starter is 
I don't know what it looks like.
I don't know what it looks like.have you checked the battery cables to make sure they are snug? that would definetely explain why it magically works after a jump. it's not the jump, it's that the cables got jiggled back into firm contact when you were messing with it. this happened to my car once. a quick turn of the wrench and it was back in action.
Zenmervolt
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Yup, sounds like a dead spot on the starter armature. One spot on the contacts is "burnt through" and therefore "dead". If the starter stops rotating at precisely that point, the brushes will have a significantly less-than-optimal contact with the armature and it will take much more juice than normal to "push" the starter past the "burnt" spot.
ZV
Zenmervolt
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Because even though there's not enough juice to push it completely past the burnt spot, there's enough to "rock" the starter a little bit and possibly give the brushes better contact. That's why jumping sometimes works for him, doubles the voltage so he's actually getting close to 24 volts instead of 12, which is enough to force the starter past the bad spot.
ZV
I'm not gonna show myself as an ass on this one by claiming I'm right (and then being wrong, like usual), but I'm *pretty sure* that the proper jump start method involves connecting the batteries in parallel.
- Oct 10, 1999
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I agree. Jump starting a car doesn't double the voltage. It doesn't double anything.
DPK doesn't say whether the car tries to start, with the typical starter noise. If the car is just dead when he tries to start, maybe he should have the ignition switch checked out.
Zenmervolt
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Doubling amperage would be impossible if the battery is dead. The battery doing the jump starting is all the starter will see.
Zenmervolt
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"Doubling" assumes that both batteries are in identical condition. How about this, one adds the voltages together, one adds the amperages together. That's more technically correct.
And you're right, the system is only getting 12 volts on a proper jump. I should have said that amperage is increased, not voltage. Late night mental slip.
ZV
Ok, to add some more info:
The times my car wouldn't start meant that I heard nothing at all, not even a click (although I guess it's possible I didn't hear it but I doubt that). Again, everything else would work (lights, radio, etc) except the car starting up. It seems as though the most likely culprets are a dead spot in the starter or something with the ignition. Though, the 'dead spot' seems more likely based on the random no starts. After a quick search, fixing problems with the starter seem fairly simple, but in this case can I easily replace the burnt area or will it require a new starter?
The times my car wouldn't start meant that I heard nothing at all, not even a click (although I guess it's possible I didn't hear it but I doubt that). Again, everything else would work (lights, radio, etc) except the car starting up. It seems as though the most likely culprets are a dead spot in the starter or something with the ignition. Though, the 'dead spot' seems more likely based on the random no starts. After a quick search, fixing problems with the starter seem fairly simple, but in this case can I easily replace the burnt area or will it require a new starter?
rh71
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- Aug 28, 2001
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an electrical short can keep draining the battery as I found out. Has anything of the sort been newly installed ? Any accessory that could be the culprit ? For me it was a ignition cut-off switch I had put in.
EDIT>> When my starter went, there was still a click when you turn the key.. it just never turned over.
EDIT>> When my starter went, there was still a click when you turn the key.. it just never turned over.
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