Wald GS

iTrader: (1)

Hi guys,

My car has 139,xxx miles and I've started to drive the car once a week. After coming home from work I was at a red light and all of a sudden I saw all the lights on the dashboard turn on. I let go of the brakes and the car wouldn't pull forward. I immediately turned the car off and then started it back up. As I turned the ignition over it sounded as though there wasn't enough power, but wasn't struggling. It just felt weak.

I installed a brand new duralast gold battery 2 months ago. I believe I changed the alternator at 100k miles. I haven't replaced the starter and know that a starter would have ticking noises if it wouldn't start or if it were failing. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

Thanks

joewitafro

Sounds to me the battery wasn't getting a good charge and it died at the light.

Have you cleaned and re-tightened your terminals? Also make sure the battery is good and holds a charge over night. And lastly.. You should drive the car to an auto parts store and have them test to see if you are getting good charge from your alternator and whether your battery is indeed good.

Wald GS

iTrader: (1)

Hi Joewitafro (cool name btw),

Thanks for the info. I tightened it really well when I first installed the battery so I'll make sure again. I'll also take it to autozone to have the battery and alternator checked.

One thing I've always noticed is on the right terminal, there's metal exposed on the connector so I have electrical tape wrapped around it. Do you know if it's easy to replace it?

Thanks

jadu

iTrader: (42)

^^^ The batt and alt are the first two things I would check as well. not sure about the exposed metal connector.

joewitafro

The exposed metal connector on the negative terminal is normal, but yes you could replace it if you wanted too. Wouldn't hurt to confirm the connections are solid, but if you have solid cranking...

Here's a picture of mine for reference:



It is plausible your battery is faulty. Was the car sitting for a length of time other than for the week? Lastly, when you say it felt weak, were you able to restart the car? Did it turn over the starter, and that is what sounded weak (slow crank?)