Strong battery, but wont turn over to start **RESOLVED**

[after oil]

greetings
gremlins!!! my battery in Turtle reads 12.4 volts or higher even when charged. the alternator is charging at 14+
the motor turns as if there is a weak battery, but wont turn hard enough to fire

ive been dealing with intermittent starting problems. Something like 1 in 10 times there would just be no power when i turn the key, and clock and stereo reset. for a while now. it would usually start again with some fiddling.
i thoroughly cleaned the negative terminal and clamp, that seemed to do the trick... for a little while
then i did the postive, seemed okay for a little while
then i took apart all the plugs in the battery compartment, all the fusible links, the black box. removed, cleaned, replaced the corroded or burnt pieces with parts from my parts van.. used lots of vaseline. today i cleaned the terminal at the starter.
(thank you Glen at Coombs Country Autos for your phone help and calling back to follow up)

that worked for a little while.

the period of time from starting fine to not starting at all has been diminishing. it used to start from a boost. today it wouldnt start with a boost from The Space Antelope (my other L300) When boosting the positive cable clamp got very hot.

some other maybe clues/thoughts:
something is getting hot. the melt was old, i saw it a year ago, but this problem is a few months in the making.
the clock and stereo reset themselves, so all power is cut

thanks for your time and consideration

**RESOLVED** it was determined i had a broken plate in the battery, that sometimes made contact. replaced the batter, no more trouble

[mararmeisto]

You get a hot cable when you boost? You gotta ground somewhere, from the sounds of it. That would also explain the clock resetting and the radio settings disappearing.

Correct voltage reading on a battery is not always indicative of a "good" battery. Current is what starts the vehicle, not voltage.

[Luna-Sea]

Hey,
You try taking off the leads and charging up the battery overnight with a decent charger?

That will eliminate whether or not the battery is giving you the other CCA we love.(cold cranking amps)

If you can buy/borrow/steal/trade/build a load tester or have your battery tested for you
It will tell you if it has the onions to wake up turtle or not.

That a place to begin troubleshooting anyways.
Then you can know whether or not to go looking for a short or whatnot.

Or you could try swapping batteries quick with one that you know works.(easy)
And don't forget to wear some cool shades when jumping eh!

Let us know...
Good Luck

[legionnair]

First put you multi meter on the terminals check static voltage 12.6-12.4v then turn on all your accessories ie lights, fans, and watch your voltage do that for 30 seconds then turn everything off and watch to see if the battery recovers back to original voltage. Then use a multi meter while starting if it drops below 9.6v while cranking its toast. To check if you have a bad ground use your jump leads as a sub ground clamp to the engine block then to the battery neg terminal.

When the problem occurs can you here the starter engage?

Just for future reference vasaline is OK to use in a pinch but a proper silicone based diaeletric grease and just a thin film is better.

More info please?

Dustin

[after oil]

when charging i remove the neg terminal from the battery, but leave the pos because its a PITA to remove

When the problem occurs can you here the starter engage?
More info please?

Dustin

the starter turns the motor over, but weakly

ill try the other tips after breakfast

[jessef]

If Turtle didn't have the radio/electrical gremlins I have would said that the starter is on it's way out but it sounds like the battery.

Have you tried taking it out and replacing it with a good battery to test after you redid all the connections?

[after oil]

after charging battery is at 13.5
one hour after charger is removed, battery still disconnected from Neg, battery is at 12.6
connect battery at 12.6 and i can see it drop .01 every couple of seconds.
turn on fan, lights, radio, voltage drops a bunch, even to 4 when the glow plugs are on, returns to 11+
when attempting starting voltage drops to about 7

so if the battery has failed.... do i then ask why? perhaps whatever has caused that has been resolved while cleaning up the terminals, plugs, links etc.... ??

[jessef]

The voltage regulator on on our Paj took out two batteries before I figured it out. Could be something else or a drain.

But to check the starter I would hook up a different battery and test to see if you get the same results.

[after oil]

thanks for phoning jfarsang... im gonna run in to town and grab a new battery... ill follow up later, thanks folks

[after oil]

i got an Optima Red Top AGM 8002 with 800CCA for $175 at lordco. slipped right in and Turtle fired right up. we'll see if this works for a while. it was suggested to me by a friend i ran into that perhaps one of the plates in the old battery was broken, and would sometimes contact, which might explain why it would work fine after 'fiddling',

[yojimbo]

You should probably check to see if there is an unreasonably large drain on the battery while everything is off, as I'm not sure you've checked that. It may have exacerbated an already unwell battery.

[after oil]

the old battery held a charge of 12+v overnight. but how would i check if there is an unusually large drain?

[legionnair]

Glad you figured ouy it was the battery, I am sorry I did not post earlier was a busy day. I agree with the failing plates shorting together on a bump. Also rule of thumb expect a quality battery to last 5-7 years then die. Cheap crappy tire battery is luck of the draw.

Dustin

[tonydca]

the old battery held a charge of 12+v overnight. but how would i check if there is an unusually large drain?

If you have a multimeter, you could try a couple of things:

- With the ignition off and the key removed (i.e. in its 'overnight' sleeping beauty mode) remove the main connection to the (+) side of the battery and measure the resistance between the now-detached (+) connector cable and the (-) side of the battery. Should be pretty close to infinity (open circuit). Otherwise, a bit of math (Battery Voltage in Volts / Resistance in Ohms) will tell you the current drain in Amps.

- If you do have a noticeable resistance to ground, check major wires (starter leads, alternator leads, etc.) for obvious signs of wear. Also, leaving the multimeter in place, start pulling fuses one at a time until you see the resistance shoot up. This'll tell you which sub-system might be part of the problem.

From what I've read elsewhere, the diodes within a failing alternator would be a prime suspect.

Happy hunting!

[after oil]

im going for a drive today, if Turtle starts this morning, and ill check for that drain tomorrow. All the wires in the battery compartment, connections etc have been checked and cleaned or replaced