hey all,

my car will start with a jump, and all electrical works great while the car is running, if i turn off the car starter solinoid will click, but not start, car is in park... the battery terminal connector on the positive side looks a little shot out but it is still intact.

at first it would crank a bit as the starter would slow down during cranking to a halt.

It did the same thing a few days ago which made me assume the battery i bought in the car was toast, I put in my healthy w116 battery to see if she would crank, she did and drove fine for a day. Im becoming ever more suspicious of that shotty battery terminal connection...

have a multimeter, where should i start troubleshooting this?

ok update, i checked my battery voltage and it was teetering between 12.5 and .6 so this tells me my battery is live and charged. does this also tell me that while i was driving tonight (about 4 hours straight while using my lights, heater, and radio) that my alternator was indeed charging my battery? (because my battery reports that it is charged?) can anyone verify this?

I can get a jump in the morning from my currently sleeping roomate, i will check to see if the voltage goes up to indicate the health of the alternator.

If my logic is correct (which it is 51% that i hit on a soft 17) I assume the problem lies in my starter solenoid, body to ground, or the shoddy battery terminal connecter that i mentioned earlier.. that is the cheapest and next thing i will rule out as soon as i wake up.

-starter solenoid could be sticking
-I grounded the negative post to the body and still not a crank
-positive battery terminal is best explained as needing to be replaced

i will rule out the ground, alternator, and terminal tomorrow. and hopefully be cranking back down the road!

You describe classic bad battery indications. A fully charged battery should read over 13 volts when the car is running and should never be at 0.6 volts. The fact that it "charges" when running then loses the charge means the battery is probably sulphated and can no longer hold a charge.

Put a new battery in it before you start to spend big bucks changing stuff that doesn't need changing, then need a battery anyway.

Get the battery load tested. Then buy a new battery when it fails the test.

Any good auto parts store should be able to test it for you.

John

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Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
2002 F250 powerstroke with Plantdrive WVO conversion
1983 300SD 190K miles ,sold
2006 E320 CDI

yep, load test. they have small handheld ones now. takes like 2-3 minutes

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

Everybody seems to have failed to notice you put in a second battery...
Put the battery on the charger overnight. In the morning you should find it at 13+v a 12v battery at 12v is low...
Run the car and see what the voltage is at the battery. I think you've got classic bad alternator symptoms.
A battery clamp that looks even slightly wonky should be replaced. It takes a lot of current to start your car, and even more when its cold out...

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Sadly Benz-less

yes when i refered to .6 I meant 12.5- 12.6 ill get it load tested but this is a healthy battery, and after being unable to start on its own, and relying on jumps all night, and using all my electrical, i would suspect for that to have drained my battery if my alternator wasnt charging properly..

ground is good, still glows fine, just no starter

I'm not clear on what happened with the W116 battery. Was it fine with that battery, consistently, and consistently bad with the other battery? If so, then your original battery is shot.

If the condition deteriorated with the W116 battery, then it could be a bad battery terminal. The ID of the terminals on your cables are probably corroded. It is not making a good connection to the battery post. Get some sandpaper and clean them up... both pos and neg. Do the same to the battery posts.

If you had a bad starter, solenoid, ground, etc... the jump would not make it start.
If you had a bad alternator, the battery would not be at 12.5V after 4 hours of use with the lights on. If it worked for a few starts with the W116 battery and then stopped working, it is because changing the battery molested the terminal corrosion enough for a few starts, after which the heat generated caused the resistance to rise again and the corrosion to "heal over" to the point where it won't start.

You should tend to the battery terminals anyway. Critically important for starting, especially under adverse conditions.

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1987 W201 190D

lol molested hahaha so first battery dies, i swap in the one from my w116, starts for a bit on its own then requires jumping.

I took my w116 battery to baxters today they told me i have 220 cold cranking amps out of th 880 that i should have, with volts at 12.2 and the battery health as 0. Should remedie with a new battery? yea?

replaced the battery terminal, and jumped her, let run for an hour. checked the battery at a lube shop with a friend, alternator is a little weak but its still charging. car starts now. thanks everybody!