simple car repair question

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

It has been a long time since I have worked on a car.

Last night my wife's car would not start. The start motor barely turned and then just clicked. Sounds like a dead battery but the headlights were nice and bright. (the car is a 2007 with factory battery)

Two months ago the same thing happened when my daughter had the car but she had a friend who jumped the battery and it started right up. The next day I took it to a repair shop and they did a battery test twice. Both tests showed the battery as good and fully charged.

I am going to pull the battery tonight and have it tested again.

Now my question is: if it still tests good should I replace it? or do you think I have charging problems.
battery is not under warranty but car is. The trouble with warranty work is that if it acts OK when you bring it in they wont work on it, has to be misbehavin.

 

[Ed SW Fla]

..... if you can manually twist / move the battery terminal connectors with your hand they are too loose. Try that. Good luck Dan

 

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

cables are tight, when I had it checked 2 months ago I asked about that. there was a bit of corrosion on the terminals and the guy sprayed some red stuff on them but didn't remove the clamp or wire brush them.
I will try that before I pull the battery. Maybe just corrosion on terminal. thanks

 

[Craig in Alabama]

To find out if you have a charging problem (I assume you don't have a dash gauge) once you start your engine, remove the positive cable. If it keeps running, it is charging. If you do have a dash gauge, you should be getting somewhere around 14 amps. Probably just a loose cable though.

 

[Craig in Alabama]

n/t

 

[therick]

n/t

 

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

n/t

 

[BiLL IL]

n/t

 

[General Ray]

n/t

 

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

n/t

 

[Elson(La)]

Most common thing in this case is bad battery,Are bad battery connections.Next could be bad connection on the starter.If all wire's are good and good connections them we go into a mess,( new starter here )Yep bad solenoid on starter are bad bearings in the starter witch will give you lights but will drag when trying to start the car.Hope it's just connections my friend.

Ya'll have fun now

 

[General Ray]

n/t

 

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

n/t

 

[cyberdan (SoCA)]

Thanks all. problem solved. Cleaned the cable clamps. Engined slowly turned over and started. Ran a few min and turned off. Started again just fine. Took to wallyworld, the same machine that said good battery two months ago said to replace battery. now new battery. Damn ain't life good (elson taught me that) They have been crazy this week replacing batteries. I saw a pallet loaded with dead batts from this week.