Too often this past week when I turned the ignition key, I heard only a click. All the dash lights are bright. I have an aftermarket alarm/kill switch system to which the keyless entry no longer works (several yrs now.) I fidgeted with the manual alarm button to see if that made a difference - no. After a few attempts, the car starts like normal. The problem does not occurr all the time… seems to be when the car is cold or has been sitting overnight/several hrs. I turned on the headlights to see if a difference in brightness occurrs - no notable difference. I looked at the terminals to make certain the battery cables were tight… yes, seemingly tight at both ends with only a small amt of corrosion at the posts. The battery is around 2yrs old. Any suggestions?
DOH! - might help if I mentioned it is a 98 Honda Accord.
Sounds like a connection somewhere. You cannot usually tell where a voltage drop is occuring just by looking at the connections. There are a few ways to narrow down the bad connection. If you have access and can get to your starter, you can try to jump across the selenoid with a short screwdriver and if it starts good from there, then you problem might be with a battery cable, or ignition switch. Be really careful if you’ve never done that before, or if you are not sure what two terminals to jump across, don’t try. Otherwise you will get what looks like a 4th of july fireworks display.
Testing the selenoid is beyond my comfort level… I have not tiried it before and, I’ll admit, I am deathly afraid of getting shocked. What I did do was pour a baking soada/water mix on the terminals and enjoyed the science project. Then removed the cables and cleaned each (& the terminals) w/a round wire brush. Also checked the fluid level - it appeared a little low, so added distilled water and placed it on a charger. Several hours later, it started right up and I let the engine run for 10 min or so. The only notable event in starting it that day was it sounded as though the starter didn’t disengage when it was supposed to and there was a fast/high whine for 5-10 seconds.
The “click” occurred once (one click then started) since then. I plan to follow the cables and remove and clean each (both the + & - cable split and connect to two places.)
Tried using a batter tester, but the bulb was dry rotted and would not hold fluid… a friend had a spectrometer (??) and we tested the acid after adding distilled water and prior to charging - it indicated the cells were moderate to upper-level needs charging depending on the cell tested.