slidr
06-09-2006, 02:42 PM
Last night my battery took a dump on me. The instrument cluster lights would barely come on at first, and the car wouldn't crank.
Checked under the hood to make sure the terminals were tight, and they were. There was also no corrosion on them.
Went back into the car and turned the key to on, and the same thing. The SRS light on the cluster barely came on and everything else was off.
Waited like ten minutes and then turned the key to on once more. All of the lights on the cluster came on, but the car would still not crank (could faintly hear the clicking).
Turned the key to on once more 30 seconds later and the SRS light barely managed to come on and everything else was out.
Seemed the longer I had the car off, the more power the battery could muster up.
So, I called it quits and barely managed to arm the alarm (it would lock but the LED would not flash and the exterior lights would barely flash when I armed it).
Came back today with a new battery and swapped the old one out. There was no corrosion on the terminals/cables and the car started up just fine with the new battery in.
Took my old battery home (it's still under warranty and they will give me some of my money back if it is in fact dead) and decided to test it with a multimeter. It registered 12.7 volts.
How could this be? Can a battery still have that much voltage left but not be able to crank?
Checked under the hood to make sure the terminals were tight, and they were. There was also no corrosion on them.
Went back into the car and turned the key to on, and the same thing. The SRS light on the cluster barely came on and everything else was off.
Waited like ten minutes and then turned the key to on once more. All of the lights on the cluster came on, but the car would still not crank (could faintly hear the clicking).
Turned the key to on once more 30 seconds later and the SRS light barely managed to come on and everything else was out.
Seemed the longer I had the car off, the more power the battery could muster up.
So, I called it quits and barely managed to arm the alarm (it would lock but the LED would not flash and the exterior lights would barely flash when I armed it).
Came back today with a new battery and swapped the old one out. There was no corrosion on the terminals/cables and the car started up just fine with the new battery in.
Took my old battery home (it's still under warranty and they will give me some of my money back if it is in fact dead) and decided to test it with a multimeter. It registered 12.7 volts.
How could this be? Can a battery still have that much voltage left but not be able to crank?