Car People… Help!
All the people who read this who know something about cars, can you provide me with some suggestios? I believe that the battery in my car is dying, but I’m not completely convinced.
What’s happening is that after the car has been sitting for a bit, it’s really sluggish to turn over. It cranks slowly, but after a few revolutions it starts up like normal and runs just fine. After starting slowly, the idle speed will swing back and forth between ~600RPM and ~1500RPM for about 10 seconds.
If I drive the vehicle for a few minutes and then shut the engine off, it’ll start right back up like normal. If I let it sit for a few hours, it’s sluggish to start again.
To me this sort of sounds like a battery which is reaching the end of it’s life. The battery is the original, and the car is a bit over five years old, with 120,000 miles on it.
It should also be noted that there are no engine or electrical problems while the car is running, so it’s definitely not an issue with the alternator not charging the battery.
So, does it sound to you like the battery is what’s going?
Thanks!
Batteries last about 60 months…it could be…you can go to like an Auto Zone type place and they can check it for you…
My battery gave me absolutely no notice before it quit. My car just would not start. Drove it to the store and it started just fine, drove fine. Went in the store. Came out of the store 10 minutes later and it wouldn’t start. Every car can be different though…..
Could me a myriad of things
electrical problem, spark plug problem, distributor problem, fuel pump/filter, bad tach…unlikly to be the battery, but that should be replaced regardless because of the milage on the car.
also, is the engine not revving with the swing of the tach? then its more than likely a bad tach
if it is, then you might have some sort of ‘brain box’ issue, have a code pulled.
Yes, the engine is revving with the swing of it. And it can be settled by manually throttling the vehicle up. But as I said, it only happens for a few second, like it would until the alternator throws some charge back into the battery.
I’m curious how you think it could be any of those if it only affects the vehicle after it’s been sitting for a while.
While I will not outright disagree with you, more often than not things such as this are simple problems if the car is not showing other symptoms such as rough idle, poor acceleration, poor cold performance etc…
This is a starting issue, not a driveability one. Starting issues are caused by Batteries, Altenators and Starters. The issues you mention would have other more severe symptoms (well except for the tach).
i wish Mike hadn’t retired, otherwise i’d tell you to call him; my mom’s en route to Mesa, AZ or i’d have you pester her about it, too. it screams battery or alternator to me, but then when i had my shitty Saturn, i had issues with both within a very short period of time.
Could be the battery, it’s time to replace that regardless.
Usually, though, whem my car does that it’s cause it’s time for an oil change.
my car did the same exact thing right before the starter died. the turnover got more and more sluggish until it wouldnt turnover at all (over the course of driving it around for a week). the battery ended up being fucked as well. that just happened when the weather started getting warm.
except my car isnt high tech enough to have an RPM meter :mad:
Well, the thing is, after it hasn’t been sitting for a while it cranks just fine. I’ve got a new battery here, so I’m going to drop that in…
One addedd comment.
Batteries and alternators tend to be tied hand in hand, if the battery is getting old it can put a lot of wear n the altenator as well. I would get both tested.
Murray’s, Autozone, and probably Pep Boys will do free testing of both of these items. so if your new battery does not cure it, pull the altenator and get a ride up to the closest shop and have the part tested.
Also note that when my altenator started failing it tested good at Murrays, and threw no real codes out either. Just follow the charging system.
I went and got a new battery on the way home, and it started perfectly the first time. So, I’m thinking it’s that… If not, I’m fortunate that the alternator is right on the top of the engine. It was really acting the way I’d expect a battery to if it wasn’t holding a charge, so that’s why I gave the battery a go.
$76 or so for a Deka and ten minutes of work (I’m paranoid around any live electrical) and it seems good thus far. I’ll know tomorrow morning after it has sat all night, but for now it seems good.