I have a 2007 Freestar with 75K - just been in for its service. Battery is rated for 540 - has never been changed. Last w/end took my daughter and a friend to get ice cream. Girls wanted to know what the time was so turned key in ignition to get clock and left the radio on while we finished ice cream. Car would not start - turned over feebly and then the needle on the speedometer started tick tick ticking, radio came on and cd changer went through full cycle. A kind gentleman tried to give me a jump start but no luck. Thank goodness for AAA - they came out with a superduty charger and got me going. The AAA man tested my battery and said it was giving out more power than it was rated for, also tested to see if anything was draining battery (no) and tested alternator (fine). Car started fine the next day and the next, but come Monday morning same thing happened again. Hubby took it to VIP Auto who tested it and said it measured 554 CCA, so plenty of life left. Took it in to be serviced on Wed and they told me I needed a new battery - battery fails with 251 cold cranks. Hubby is a handy guy and can change battery for less than the $144 quoted. However, when I went to pick car up - after shop had closed - would not start. Eventually, after holding key forward and keeping accelerator pressed to the floor it fires. Happened again this morning. My question is: do I really need a new battery or is something else going on? Headlights and interior lights all work fine even when car won’t start. Any thoughts?
I think you need a battery. My dad once had a similar situation. His car barely cranked but did start. He took it to Sears and they tested the battery and pronounced it o.k. When he tried to start the car to leave, it wouldn’t turn over. Sears checked again and found that he did need a battery.
The speedometer ticking and the cd going through its cycle indicates a power problem and I think that it is your battery.
I’ll be trying a new battery tomrrow, so hopefully it will solve the problem.
Thx
Sounds like its likely the battery to me, too.
As another example, my 98 Camry refused to start last Friday. It jumped fine, I took it straight to Autozone. They tested the battery and alternator and both tested fine. I started the car up, then had them test again… the alternator came out performing very well again, but the battery tested miserably bad. Prior to this, the battery had never seemed weak…