I'd like to state that this isn't for an EG but my Pontiac Sunbird but it's a pretty GENERAL thing that could go wrong with any inline 4. Mods please feel free to move this if it needs to be.

Anyways, the past three mornings my car has needed to be jumped w/ a battery and never hesitated to start. Well this morning was different....I tried the regular battery to battery jump but that failed and then I proceeded to try w/ my moms car. Well the closest I got was the car started and then died twice.

I get home later tonight with a new battery and try....definately cranks but won't go anywhere near starting. I have a feeling that when I pull the plugs tomorrow i'll find two that are fouled since it just won't crank and smells like my old pos snowmobile. I just don't know why yesterday it worked and today it doesn't. But will this solve my problem, replacing the plugs if necessary?

Just looking for some input since I can't check them right now (no tools) and it's below zero

 

thats a good start, check the wires for cracks as well. doesnt make sense about the battery though... did you try the alternator check by removing the neg post while the car is running?

 

wouldnt hurt to try it ....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by saveacivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats a good start, check the wires for cracks as well. doesnt make sense about the battery though... did you try the alternator check by removing the neg post while the car is running? </TD></TR></TABLE>

What will removing the negative do and what should I look for. I'll try this once I get the car TOO run lol. I'm sure it's just fouled plugs, but having more options so when you pull them and everythings ok, I'll atleast have something else to try....saves time and headaches IMO

 

sounds like a bad alternator, and you prolly fouled the plugs trying to start. Even with a bad alternator you shoulda been able to start with the new battery, and atleast run a bit before it drained the battery. Check the plugs like you said, if they are fouled, clean em up, or change em, if it starts then dies after a bit, I would suspect your alternator as being the problem.

 

That was another thing that poped into my head as I was talking to my auto teacher this morning. He would have the same problem due to him not running an alternator (really old car) and as soon as he sensed lack of power he would shut everything off and speed for home lol.

So far I'll just pull the plugs, clean/replace them, hopefully run the car, see if it runs strong and then go from there.

Another thing is this only started happening as soon as we dropped into the Teens and lower temperatures, before there was no problem at all and my freind whom I bought the car from also had the same problem with this battery (wouldn't start in cold weather). I think the battery was shot because the Cold Cranking Amps for the battery were both fine and reccomended for this car.

 

up for the night