Vampire2o9

Hey what's up, I seem to not be in my right mind about this for some reason.

It's a 97 V6 automatic

I woke up one morning, tried to start and it had trouble starting, it wouldn't start at all. Seems like there was no juice in the battery, just several slow turnovers.
I popped the hood and noticed my positive terminal was black and had a crack through it. Looked at the hood and saw some scuffles so I assumed the rubber piece fell off and it sparked the hood causing it burn up and break. So I tighten it up, and charged the battery although it was at 50% at first and once started it jumped to 100%

So I drove out of town, had trouble restarting the car so I replaced the terminal, checked the charge on the battery, which was at 100%. Check the connections to the starter, cleaned the posts, and wires, terminal, and such. Voltage running was around 14.3. Started up fine, just a little hesitant. Drove about 45 mins home, stopped and restarted fine.

Next morning, it has trouble starting again. It will start but seems like it has low battery power. Checked the battery, 100%
Checked the voltage and alternator is pushing 14.**

I'm leaning into a bad battery or distributor cap, but can't get ignition switch outta my head. Sometimes I try to turn it and it doesn't make any noise. Starter/Alternator/terminals are new.

What do you think it is? Thanks in advance!

MAD_MIKE

Ignition switches do wear out.
When the starter does not turn over, have someone turn the ignition to III(start) while you test voltage at the small terminal on the starter. Should have battery voltage when the key is turned to III(start) and no voltage when the key is in I(OFF) or II(ON).
If no voltage, there is a fault between the battery > ignition switch > starter.
If there is battery voltage at the starter, the starter solenoid may be sticking, has an intermittent connection, or the terminal to the solenoid is dirty/loose.
If you suspect the ignition switch, while turned to III(START) giggle the tumbler. If there is movement and the starter spins you have most likely found your problem.

Vampire2o9

Hmm.. I have those battery chargers that also read voltage, battery %, and Alternator %. I'm not so sure if that will work to connect to the starter terminal and I'm not sure which is the terminal lol.

With the car off: 12.8
With the car on : 14.6

Once I drive it for a while and check it off: 10.9 and battery at 50% very slow start. Then,
I attach a charger for a minute, pull it off, and it jumps to: 12.** and battery 100%, starts up perfectly fine.

Seems to me like it just needs a kick to get the juice flowing if you know what I mean..

MAD_MIKE

If your battery is not secure and is hitting the hood the terminal is probably damaged.
Wet cell car batteries cannot take much abuse, if it is loose underhood secure it.
If the terminal is cracked then there may be a bad connection or a loose plate inside the battery.

holmesnmanny

Sounds like the alternator is bad. You need to start her up, and load up all the accessories, headlights etc and see what kind of voltage it's putting out.

Vampire2o9

That makes sense, I replaced the terminal though. The post on the battery seems fine but yeah it seems like it hit the hood since the old terminal looked burnt. I'm not exactly sure cause there's not much of an indicator that it was the hood that made it damaged. Only minor marks but I do have that cardboard/cloth like material still there. I have the battery very secure so the only way is maybe someone with a fat *** sat on my hood. Just saying. I drove the year the same way ever since.


And I just replaced my Alternator a few months back. With a good load on it, it still holds voltage. Also, my car is an automatic, I've yet to stall out while it's on, just only a slow starting process. If the battery was full, and alternator was bad, It would start up fairly quickly and easily.