|
|
Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
|
|
| |
|
|
jonchamberlin
New User
Jan 8, 2013, 5:44 PM
Post #1 of 9
(1953 views)
|
|
Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
2001 Toyota Corolla CE 1.8L
5 sp manual. 290K
Thanks for any help.
I went home for the holidays and my car sat for several weeks. Since returning the car clicks on start about once every 30 starts.
To begin diagnosing the problem I had the battery checked -it's perfect. I then cleaned up the terminals since there was some corrosion.
After cleaning the terminals I thought that was the problem since the car was perfect for a while - even the heater worked, which is usually intermittent - it turns on if I go over a speed bump fast.
Then the same starter problem started to occur again with the same frequency - even the heater stopped working.
Just 30 minutes ago i got into my car after grocery shopping, turned the ignition and heard a couple clicks, but no startup (first time the car hasn't started). Turned it again and nothing happened. No noise, no dashboard lights, absolutely nothing. I turned the key a third time and it starts perfectly. The dashboard clock reset.
I'm not convinced the starter is at fault. I don't believe a starter could go bad just by sitting for 3 weeks. And considering my issues with the heater (the heater dials turn off when working and on when not), it could be electrical. But...the battery is fine.
Could it be a bad ground?
Any help is appreciated since I'm in Palo Alto, CA and repair costs are astronomical.
|
|
| |
|
|
nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Jan 8, 2013, 7:38 PM
Post #2 of 9
(1922 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
You could have a problem in the power or the ground side. The work you've done so far testing the battery and cleaning the connectors is exactly what you should've done to start looking into this. Now we need to take it a little further. You need to follow the power and ground from the batter to wherever they bolt up and get those cleaned up. Pay attention to any small cuts or missing heat shrink tubing where the insulation meets the connector. Then you will need to get a digital multimeter out and do a voltage drop test to see which side or both sides possibly of the circuit are the ones giving you the trouble.
|
|
| |
|
|
jonchamberlin
New User
Jan 9, 2013, 12:13 PM
Post #3 of 9
(1891 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
Thanks Nick
I went out this morning and took the battery out, found the ground wire going underneath the air filter from the negative and the wire going to the transmission from positive terminal.
The wires look fine, but I still cleaned them up.
I put everything back in order. The positive terminal did spark once while reconnecting the wire for some reason. Got in the car and it won't start - even after several attempts.
What happens is I get dashboard lights, one click and then a low hum, which I believe would be the injectors. Besides that nothing happens, every single time.
Unless I shorted the battery, the problem is probably starter related at this point.
|
|
| |
|
|
nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Jan 9, 2013, 4:29 PM
Post #4 of 9
(1879 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
Do a voltage drop test with a multimeter. Set the scale to 20vDC and hook the black lead up to your positive battery cable and the red lead to the large power stud on the back of the starter solenoid. Have someone turn the key to attempt to crank the engine while you note the reading on the meter. Next hook the red lead to the case or a bolt head on the starter itself. Whatever its hooked to just make sure its a shiny surface so you don't get the wrong readings. Hook the black lead to the negative battery terminal, have the helper tr to crank the engine and again note the reading. You'll be measuring how much voltage was lost between the two points your meter was hooked to while under load. Anything over about 0.3v reading needs further investigation. If you get something like 4v then you know that no new starter is going to help because there won't be enough power to run it. If it passes the voltage drop tests on both power and ground side and has 12v to the small trigger wire on the solenoid when the key is in the start position, you have confirmed you have a bad starter so long as the engine isn't locked up and can be confident that you are spending your money on a new one wisely.
|
|
| |
|
|
Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jan 9, 2013, 5:02 PM
Post #5 of 9
(1874 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
Make sure you hooked it up to the right terminal and didn't blow a fuse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
|
|
| |
|
|
jonchamberlin
New User
Jan 12, 2013, 1:03 PM
Post #6 of 9
(1825 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
So having come to an inpass, didn't have multimeter, a second person to help out, or a car that would start, I sent it off to the garage.
Turns out it was the starter. I'm not experiencing any electrical issues apart from an intermittent heater.
Thanks for your help. We would have gotten down to the problem, but time ran out on the starter.
|
|
| |
|
|
nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Jan 12, 2013, 8:27 PM
Post #7 of 9
(1815 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
Well I'm glad you got it fixed. You can find a decent multimeter for less than $75 at a lot of places. If you come across one and plan to do some of your own work again sometime it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick on up.
When you're ready to tackle that heater problem start a new thread and we can get back to business on that.
|
|
| |
|
|
Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jan 12, 2013, 8:32 PM
Post #8 of 9
(1814 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
Get a nice digital one. Digital meters are easier to read, you don't have to deal with parallax, and you don't have to zero the needle as you do on the analog meters. I'm not insinuating analog meters are useless because they are really nice for checking analog sensors.
Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.
(This post was edited by Discretesignals on Jan 12, 2013, 8:35 PM)
|
|
| |
|
|
nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Jan 12, 2013, 8:44 PM
Post #9 of 9
(1807 views)
|
|
Re: Good battery, bad battery symptoms, sounds like a starter
|
Sign In
|
|
But you wouldn't want to try troubleshooting an electronic anything with an analog because they are too low impedance and accidentally probing the wrong spot could wreck expensive modules. You would need a meter with at least 10 megaohm impedance to do electronic work. If you swing by a pawn shop or two keep an eye out for a Blue Point model EEDM503D or EEDM503B (same meter just the older appearance). I use one and its a great meter. I'll probably never need a different one the rest of my life. It's about $160 new, could find a pawn shop to sell you one cheaper if you haggle, since they maybe gave the guy who brought it in $20 for it.
|
|
| |
|
Auto Repair Home
SEARCH
WHO'S 
LOG 
mdma pills for sale : WhatsApp +33758633852
Drive Shaft Repair
2006 Toyoto Camry XLE Driver Side Electric Window Trouble
Grounding Cable, 2017 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk
equipment
