Trouble starting car in morning

[bvance554]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
Can you leave the battery on an automatic charger overnight? If it starts great after that then you know the battery is losing its gusto. Hopefully it is one with a 2 year free replacement.


This doesn't tell you if you have a parasitic drain as mentioned above. I'd put an amp meter in series with the negative terminal and see how many amps it is drawing before I went and bought a new battery. If its drawing over much over .05 amps you have a drain somewhere.

 

[javacontour]

Lot of part swappers in this thread, but few diagnosticians.

Like I said in the first response in the thread, try something that will cost 5-10 minutes time, disconnect the negative battery cable when you park for the night and reconnect in the AM for your first start.

If it starts with it's normal vigor and gusto, then perhaps you have a parasitic load and need to find out what it is.

If it doesn't, then that leans towards a marginal battery that is losing it's gusto overnight.

But if you just swap a battery AND it's a parasitic load, in 6 months to a year, you'll back at this point again.

 

[Leo99]

Here is what I just did.

wife just got home after a 1 hour drive. Checked battery voltage and it's 12.8V.

Hooked up voltmeter and started engine. Voltage dropped to about 8V then bounced around at between 6V and 8V at idle. Voltage goes up to about 12V to 13V when I rev the engine. Is this a sign of bad alternator?

Going to check for parasite now.

 

[cjcride]

Could be a loose alternator belt.
That's an old alternator it could be time to get a refurbished one.

 

[Leo99]

Just checked the voltage while starting it again and it's holding steady at 13.6V.

The alternator (drive) belt is fairly new.

 

[javacontour]

That sure sounds bad. Voltage should be over 12v when the engine is running.

As others have suggested, it could be a slipping belt, or a bad alternator/voltage regulator.

This page seems to have a good run down of charging system troubleshooting: http://www.aa1car.com/library/charging_checks.htm

Originally Posted By: Leo99
Here is what I just did.

wife just got home after a 1 hour drive. Checked battery voltage and it's 12.8V.

Hooked up voltmeter and started engine. Voltage dropped to about 8V then bounced around at between 6V and 8V at idle. Voltage goes up to about 12V to 13V when I rev the engine. Is this a sign of bad alternator?

Going to check for parasite now.

 

[Leo99]

The parasitic test shows 0.27 on the 20M scale. I assume that's 0.27mA so that's good.

 

[Brybo86]

With engine running and voltmeter connected turn on and up everything u can.
Rear defrost, radio, highbeams , cigarette lighters, ac, fan, interior lights , etc and see if voltage drops

What were your symptoms when the starter died?

I agree with the advice to turn the key to ON and wait 10 seconds a few times before starting to see if there is an issue with fuel pressure.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
With engine running and voltmeter connected turn on and up everything u can.
Rear defrost, radio, highbeams , cigarette lighters, ac, fan, interior lights , etc and see if voltage drops

What were your symptoms when the starter died?

I agree with the advice to turn the key to ON and wait 10 seconds a few times before starting to see if there is an issue with fuel pressure.


My wife complained the car didn't turn over as usual every time she started it so I changed out the starter and she said that fixed it.

Did that test late last night with the lights, AC, wipers, fan on high and the voltage didn't drop so I'm pretty sure the alternator is fine.

I put a new battery in. My wife thinks it's the fuel pressure. Since it only exhibits the symptoms after sitting overnight, I can only check it once a day.

 

[Brybo86]

How does it perform under WOT? Fine or Bogs down?

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
How does it perform under WOT? Fine or Bogs down?



We don't do WOT. I'm afraid the tranny will blow. My wife drives fast once she gets up to speed but she accelerates slow as can be. But overall, it runs fine.