Issue with car starting/turning over. Dead battery like symptoms but fully charged?

[RPFLimited]

A while ago I had issues that were similar to a dead battery, but my battery was only 26 months old.

So I replaced it, and now Ive suddenly been having issues with my truck turning over. It's very sporadic.

Basically, car will turn over if cold, however if it is hot, the car will click and struggle like it has a totally dead battery out of nowhere. If I hold the key sometimes, it;ll start to struggle hard, eventually turning over and eventually starting.

Or I can jump start it and it'll start up. But the dome lights are fully lit, etc.

Also - when I go to start and it has the clicking/turn over issue... everything resets. My fuel gauge my radio my instrument cluster and hell, even my lights.

What on earth is going ON!? Bad starter?

 

[Flag Gibby]

Yes, it sounds exactly like a bad starter to me.

 

[Bobmbx]

Could be corroded/dirty/loose cable terminals at the starter.

 

[RPFLimited]

Okay - issue still persists but it's a bit different.

I replaced the starter and everything went fine until one moment, it started clicking and completely drained... but if I hold the key down, it essentially starts turning over. Then it'll just turn over for a little bit, not starting. I'll turn it off for a few seconds, go again and bam, it'll start after a few seconds.

Any idea? Bad ground? Battery is relatively new (less than 10 months) but Im getting 11.4 or so amps when I use my jump starter on "read" mode before I start. Should I replace teh battery? Possible my alternator is bad?

 

[boominXplorer]

Bad cables will cause that condition. My old mountaineer did the same thing and I replaced JUST the battery ground and the truck fired right up faster than it had ever.

 

[Flag Gibby]

What boomin said makes perfect sense, when you jump you are grounding the system through the other vehicle you are connected to. So check your grounds, one of the primary grounds has got to be bad since the starter is new.

 

[RPFLimited]

This is going to sound crazy but I guess I Had a bad cell or two, because the voltage was bad. Went to Costco, replaced the battery with a new series, and bam, Im getting 13 amps and this thing is firing up faster than ever.

 

[Flag Gibby]

It's possible that if the starter was bad and a had an internal short going on it could have damaged the battery. Oh well, glad you got it sorted out.

 

[boominXplorer]

I see you think you might have fixed it but if the problem comes back in a month or 2 it's the cables. When you replaced the battery you moved the cables around a bit and could of helped gain a path of continuity. With your headlights on look at your volts gauge and turn your heater fan to high speed and see if the needle drops a bit. If the lights dim at all your cables are weak.

 

[seth21]

I agree with possible bad cables. I had this happen on an F150 and was stumped pretty good for an afternoon.

A good way I found to test was to measure voltage at the starter solenoid. It should be around 12 volts and stay this way. After i tried to crank, voltage at the solenoid would drop down to zero and then slowly build back up to 12 volts. Thats when I figured it was a wiring issue. Think of a water line with a small constriction; it will eventually get back to the right water level but can't support a large flow . . . just like how a corroded or small wire could get the voltage eventually but not support large amp draw.

 

[Flag Gibby]

I agree with possible bad cables. I had this happen on an F150 and was stumped pretty good for an afternoon.

A good way I found to test was to measure voltage at the starter solenoid. It should be around 12 volts and stay this way. After i tried to crank, voltage at the solenoid would drop down to zero and then slowly build back up to 12 volts. Thats when I figured it was a wiring issue. Think of a water line with a small constriction; it will eventually get back to the right water level but can't support a large flow . . . just like how a corroded or small wire could get the voltage eventually but not support large amp draw.

That's why you measure CCA and not voltage because having a dead cell/cells in a battery can do a similar thing, show good voltage until a load is applied and then it drops out and then comes back up. However, if you measured CCA you would immediately know that you are missing a significant amount of amperage in the battery and if you were not then you could measure the voltage at the solenoid and know that the change in voltage would be a direct representation of an increase in resistance from somewhere ie the cable (remember V=Ir)