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Clean the battery contacts Posted by Saana88 [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() In Reply to: battery....starter?, Austin Underwood, Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:56:35 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
If the previous owner didn't put the heat shield back, then they probably didn't clean the terminals or put down a thin coating of conductive grease to prevent corrosion. An extremely picky negative contact gave my convertible trouble last spring. It was clean all around except the bottom.
A crappy battery will not hold its charge as long in cold weather and not put forth as much current as is needed. If it works fine and then it doesn't, it's probably a contact issue. Your next places to look are the ignition switch, as Zig said, and then the other stuff. If you have help, hook up a voltmeter to the starter contacts and see what you are applying to the starter.
Take the battery out, clean the connectors, maybe warm it up a bit (bring the battery inside for a day or charge it) and try it again. All batteries lose effectiveness in cold weather (see the chart in the Bentley) but that's where you need to be sure you have enough reserve anyway. If you don't, it's around $50ish to get a decent new battery, and you won't have to worry about it for a while. This assumes that your existing battery either doesn't have removable caps or that the electrolyte levels and concentrations are okay.
Measure the voltage (out in the cold) across the terminals. Repeat the process once you get the car running and turn all high-energy consumers on (high beams, cabin fan on speed 4, rear defroster, etc.).
Running the car for half an hour or so will not fully recharge your battery, but it might be enough.
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