Can't sell it, IT WON"T START!!!

[Hardway]

I second DJ's comments. I had a '98 Honda Accord that started and ran just fine until one day it would not. The battery was putting out 12.6V and the car would start with the charger on it but would not without it. Battery was 3 years old and had lived through 2 very hot TX summer's. It was a good battery with a good warranty so I got $50 back to put towards a new one. Car started fine until the day I sold it. AMPS are the muscle of a battery and electrical current in general.

[Zed Head]

There are some diagnostics you could do to separate battery from connections. Put a voltmeter on the battery posts, not the ends of the cables but the posts themselves, then turn the key to Start. If it's a bad connection, you'll get the click and the lights dimming but very little voltage drop because very little current is flowing. If you get a big voltage drop directly from the posts, then you have a bad battery or a very high load (low resistance or partial short) somewhere else. Could be the starter, for example.

You can also measure resistance from the post to the connector (wire end) and from one connector to another. It should be essentially zero. Any resistance will heat up when current flows, expand and get more resistive.

A couple of really simple things you can do before you spend more money.

[mjr45]

Zed, I'm not getting anything with the key in the start or on position, no lights, no solenoid click. I also tried using a jumper wire from the + post to the exiciter post for the solenoid/starter and got absolutely nothing, not even a spark, but the battery reads 12+volts.

[Zed Head]

You said in Post #14 that you charged the battery, the lights came on, and the starter was clicking like mad.

You can still do the voltage drop test at the battery posts. If you aren't even getting a glimmer from a light, then the voltage should drop to about zero when you turn the key, if you have a bad battery that won't push amps.

[mjr45]

Zed thanks for the advice because now I feel like a complete idiot. I checked the cables by looking at voltage between + and - cables and it was 5. something, took the cables off and really cleaned them and the posts which didn't show any corrosion put them back on and viola' started right up and all is good, now I've just got to fix the left turn signal which I'm pretty sure is in the column switch, not an electrical issue. Thanks again. One of these days I'll learn to start with the simple stuff first and not chase zebra's and then look at the simple things.

Edited July 19, 2013 by mjr45

[Captain Obvious]

Corroded battery cable(s). Clean the connections between the lugs and the posts?

Haha!!! Nailed it!! First reply!!

[siteunseen]

Squirt that turn signal switch with some electrical cleaning spray, it worked for me. The car hadn't made a turn in quite a few years.

[mjr45]

Yep Captain, you got me.

[Captain Obvious]

Yep Captain, you got me.

Haha! It's fresh in my mind because I too underestimated the value in clean battery terminals myself in the recent past.

The tricky part for me was that the oxide that had built up on the posts and lugs was a very hard, dark grey non-conductive coating. I had "cleaned" the terminals on several occasions, but was still having issues. The corrosion was "lead colored" and very difficult to see.

It wasn't the soft fluffy white stuff you usually find.

[mjr45]

It was the same on mine, no "corrosion" to speak of, no white powdery stuff, they looked clean, but after taking some 40 grit paper them it was covered with this lead colored powder. Oh well live and learn, now to fix that damn turn signal for about the 4th time.