Over the last couple of weeks sometimes when I go to crank my car it will act like it's attempting to turn over and then act dead as in no accessories or anything work. If you try to crank it a few more times it will eventually come back to life a and crank up. Sometimes the CEL resets and the clock resets but usually the radio stays programmed. This happens intermittantly, but today I can't get it to start at all. I hooked up a voltmeter to my battery and it's showing 12.1V so I don't think it's a problem but I could be wrong. The battery is a Braille Lightweight battery I've had for about 1 year. I can charge my old stock battery and try that later in the day but just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions. I have an alarm on there and the alarm was running and had enough juice to unlock the doors. Any idears?
Thanks
jeff

 

When it starts, does it start after a long laborous whine?

could be your battery is low and your alternator going bad. I think the battery is supposed to show more than 12V when it sits.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cosworth &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When it starts, does it start after a long laborous whine?
could be your battery is low and your alternator going bad. I think the battery is supposed to show more than 12V when it sits. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You feel it struggle a bit when it tries to start and takes longer to crank but it doesn't really whine

I've been wondering if it's the alt. I have a battery tenderer Jr so I might try to charge my old battery off that and hook it up and see. I figured if it's the alternator it would have sucked the battery dry

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pyromaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You feel it struggle a bit when it tries to start and takes longer to crank but it doesn't really whine

I've been wondering if it's the alt. I have a battery tenderer Jr so I might try to charge my old battery off that and hook it up and see. I figured if it's the alternator it would have sucked the battery dry </TD></TR></TABLE>

Could be battery, sounds like a weak one. Also could be tranny/other ground.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Also could be tranny/other ground.</TD></TR></TABLE>

hmmm. if it was a bad ground, would that affect the accessories as well?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pyromaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

hmmm. if it was a bad ground, would that affect the accessories as well?</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it was a dirty ground, accessories would be sorta OK, but the high current starter motor could draw too much for it. *shrug*. Bad grounds can act funny.

 

I've got my stock battery 80% charged. I'll go hook it up in a hour and we'll see if it's batt or not. If so, bye bye Braille and hello Hawker If not then *shrug*

 

12.1 volts isn't enough...you're probably 35-40% charged. Checkout this "Table A" in the URL below for a little more info. I had similar issues with my battery earlier this year.

http://www.southwindssailing.c....html

 

when i switch on my ignition without starting the engine, my RSM shows 12.6v, that rises to 14.4 on charging, so i'm also guessing your battery is weak.

 

That chart really helped. Thanks!
I charged the Braille battery for 2 hurs and it was reading 12.5-12.6 I hooked it up in the car and car cranks fine. I disconnected the - terminal while the car was running and it kept running so I'm ruling out the alternator. Now the question is will the battery hold the charge now that I charged it? I guess I'll check it with the voltmeter over the next few hours and tommorrow morning and if it's getting weak buy a Hawker

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pyromaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I disconnected the - terminal while the car was running and it kept running so I'm ruling out the alternator. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't do that anymore. Not so good for electronics (ECU etc.)

I have a Hawker G13EP, it has worked for 6 months or so, no issues. I guess Hawker makes an actual automotive racing line of batteries too... *shrug*

 

i have the same problem, how did you fix it?