havin a very hard time starting up

HazMat404

Founding Member
May 24, 2002
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well my car basically doesnt want to turn over. i can start her up (takes plenty of time and barely turns over) then go drive to a store thats like 10 min away, i go into the store for about 5-10 minutes and try to start my car up again and she will start clicking like she has a dead battery. ive had the battery tested, my amp/sub has been disconnected for a month now (due to this reason), the alternator looks like it is charging decently. my pops and i have tested with a voltmeter (i also have the tweecer r/t) to test the voltage of the alt putting out. a shade over 14 on average.

battery is less than a year old and has been tested. alt is less a year old and was tested. does this sound like a ground draining the battery?? i mean, sometimes i can use my car and she starts right up and other times she barely cranks over then the time after that she is fine. she rarely starts fine tho and i dread when she doesnt want to start up (i try to park on some sort of hill so i can push it by myself :( ). possible starter problem?? power drain?? or what else do you think it could be. i hate driving far away by myself for fear of her not startin gup
 
Well the simple stuff (free as well) is a good place to start. Start with the connections at the battery, ground to the fender/engine, connections at the starter, main wiring harness, ignition module, etc.

If any of them are not shiny metal, then you need to resurface them until they are. This of course may not be your problem, but like I said, it's free.

I thought the alternator put out 18V or something like that, and the voltage regulator drops it to 14.4V for the charging period, and 13.6V for normal cruise.

But at least it's putting out 14.4V. That is a good sign. But voltage is not a sign of it working 100%. You need to check the current as well. Go back to autozone and have it tested (again, free).

Those are the obvious eliminations.

I think there is a way to check if current is being drained from the battery, but I can't remember how. Maybe someone here can chime in.

Good luck.
Scott