# My car wont consistantly start, and the battery won't stay charged

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [April 15, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713 "2013-04-15T21:20:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alice513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@alice513](https://community.cartalk.com/u/alice513)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713/1 "2013-04-15T21:20:34Z")

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My car began to not start almost every other time i tried to start without being jumped and now will not start at all without being jumped. the battery won’t stay charged and I bought the battery brand new 6 months ago.

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**Author:** ![Big\_Marc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Big\_Marc](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Big_Marc)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713/2 "2013-04-15T21:25:21Z")

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what is your car ? year, make, model , and milage

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**Author:** ![alice513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@alice513](https://community.cartalk.com/u/alice513)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713/3 "2013-04-15T21:32:42Z")

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1987 chevy cavalier, over 100,000 miles

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/1/d/1d47c66a543aa6c5a7873bb2320858f978ff52ed.png) [@system](https://community.cartalk.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713/4 "2013-04-15T23:30:50Z")

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when it comes to side terminal batteries that are having trouble starting/ staying charged, I always suspect corrosion at the terminals. I will clean those before looking at anything else.

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**Author:** ![alice513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@alice513](https://community.cartalk.com/u/alice513)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713/5 "2013-04-15T23:48:05Z")

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Thats what I hoped was the problem but I cleaned them when I started having problems and there isnt any corrosion.

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**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/my-car-wont-consistantly-start-and-the-battery-wont-stay-charged/78713/6 "2013-04-16T03:55:14Z")

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Check your charging system.

Use a DMM to check for parasitic draw.