I had a smog check for my 2001 Corolla today. After I drove it home, it won’t restart. Exactly the same thing happened to my wife’s Corolla a couple days ago after a smog check at the same garage! At that tiem, the dealer said that the car battery is too old and needs to be changed. And indeed her car was fixed after replacing the battery. But now the same thing happened to my car, I suspect that there is something wrong with the dealer, not the battery. Does anyone have any explaination why a smog check should cause this problem.
Justin
Smog check interval similar to battery life span is the only theory I’ve got.
I have never had any problem with this car before. And the car can start OK at the garage just after the smog check. Only after I drove home (~6 miles) did it have problem of restarting. This suggets that the battery drained during this peroid (?). This is also the case for my wife’s car. It’s hard to believe that this is a coincident.
If that was the original 2001 battery it was already past its normal life. How old were the two batteries?
You can have a battery checked at a local auto parts store for free. You can check the acid level yourself. You also can check the battery cables yourself.
Frankly with a battery over 4 years old, I would likely just replace it at the first evidence of any problem.