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Trouble starting

H

Howard

Lifer
99 Civic

Car turned over extremely slowly for a few seconds and then stopped turning over altogether and just made a bunch of clicky noises from everywhere in the dash. The alarm went off in a sort of weak, half-cycle mode and went off again for real when I opened the door to get out.

Yesterday the motor turned over very slowly but eventually started after 2-3 seconds. Also, all the lights would dim when the rear defroster was on and brake was applied, or with defroster at idle. Lights would get brighter when I revved the engine (at idle).

I'm thinking the starting issue is the battery, but not so much the low voltage at load... maybe the grounding?
 
Howard said:
Also, all the lights would dim when the rear defroster was on and brake was applied, or with defroster at idle. Lights would get brighter when I revved the engine (at idle).
Click to expand...

damaged/faulty alternator maybe?

for kicks try disconnecting and cleaning the battery cables/terminals and reconnecting - see if that does anything.
 
Sigh. I hate working on the cars in the winter - below 0F right now.

I doubt it's the connections but even if they are, the battery will likely be low and require jumping, right? My minivan can't jump worth shit (battery's negative is hidden and there aren't many good grounding spots) and my CTS is blocked in the garage by the Civic.
 
Battery is low and the alternator should be load tested because it might not be putting out enough juice (which is likely why the battery is low in the first place).

ZV
 
See if it will jump start and use a digital meter to check charging voltage... With a weak battery it should still be around 13.2 volts or better when running at the battery (within a few seconds of starting)... If not then you may have a weak or bad alternator... Also that cold of weather will kill an older battery pretty easy so most likely its the battery...
 
Do you have a volt meter, check voltage with car off then with it running.Off 12+,Running13.5+
These voltages do depend on the charged state of your battery.
Checking at the posts and terminals will tell you if it's a bad connection if the alternator is functioning.
If voltage stays the same bad alt. If it goes up bad bat.
Post/Terminal explained.
If you connect the meter to the terminals and get 13.5 volts but only 12 when connected to the posts you have a bad connection.
 
Last edited:
Howard said:
Yeah, it jumped OK. What should I do now? Drive around on the highway for a while? Or just buy a battery?
Click to expand...

you're lucky you've got 3 cars to deal with, too bad it's damn cold though.

what i'd do:

take out the battery & alternator from civic and see if autozone/auto place will load test them
 
5150MyU said:
Do you have a volt meter, check voltage with car off then with it running.Off 12+,Running13.5+
These voltages do depend on the charged state of your battery.
Checking at the posts and terminals will tell you if it's a bad connection if the alternator is functioning.
If voltage stays the same bad alt. If it goes up bad bat.
Post/Terminal explained.
If you connect the meter to the terminals and get 13.5 volts but only 12 when connected to the posts you have a bad connection.
Click to expand...
By terminals do you mean the terminals of the alternator?
 
fack, my meter's low battery is making the reading whacky, I think... started off around 11.5V then went down to 10.3 and then all over the place after that, didn't bother checking with the engine on
 
By termainals I meant Battery terminals, but at the alt is fine too.
That would help you trace a bad connection between alt. and bat.
Continuity test(Ohms)between battery and alternator will tell you if that big fat red wire is OK.
Even if your meter is wacky you may be able to tell if the charging system is working-just start it up and look to see if voltage goes up or down.
 
Last edited:
Replaced the batteries in my meter. I don't think it changed much. With the engine off, reading varied from 11.5V to 10.3V with some outlying readings. With the engine on, I was able to get a steady 12.3V.

All of the above voltages read from battery posts.
 
Howard said:
Replaced the batteries in my meter. I don't think it changed much. With the engine off, reading varied from 11.5V to 10.3V with some outlying readings. With the engine on, I was able to get a steady 12.3V.

All of the above voltages read from battery posts.
Click to expand...

Get it load tested. There is no better test other than this. Most likely the battery, 3-5 years old is old for a battery.
 
Howard said:
Replaced the batteries in my meter. I don't think it changed much. With the engine off, reading varied from 11.5V to 10.3V with some outlying readings. With the engine on, I was able to get a steady 12.3V.

All of the above voltages read from battery posts.
Click to expand...

hmm. that's low. do you trust your meter? check it on your good vehicles, they really should be ~12.5 off and ~13.5+ engine on.
 
Load test with volt meter-simple test.
Connect volt meter and turn on headlights/wipers/radio/fan and watch the meter go down,down,down.-bad battery.
 
You will not get full charging voltage with a low battery.
That the voltage went up with the car running proves that the alternator is working at least some what.
 
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