# Strange starting habit

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** chevrolet, lumina\
**Created:** [October 1, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764 "2012-10-01T23:51:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BikesR2tired](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@BikesR2tired](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BikesR2tired)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764/1 "2012-10-01T23:51:08Z")

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My wife’s '93 Chevy Lumina has a strange habit of not starting unless I charge the battery overnight. The lights don’t dim when I turn the key which would normally tell me that the battery and connections are fine, but the solenoid won’t energize. If I trickle charge the battery overnight it will start fine. Now this generally happens after the car has been sitting for an extended period of time. Computer maybe?? Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![SteveF](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevef/32/2_2.png) [@SteveF](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveF)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764/2 "2012-10-02T01:15:07Z")

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“… the battery and connections are fine”

No, I don’t think so. Start by removing the battery cables and cleaning the battery posts. Do the same with the ground connection. This no-cost bit of maintenance just might do it for you.

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**Author:** ![BikesR2tired](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@BikesR2tired](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BikesR2tired)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764/3 "2012-10-02T15:39:39Z")

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Thanks for the reply. I would normally agree with your fix except for the fact that if poor connections or a weak battery was the problem the lights would go out or at least dim severly when I turn the key and they don’t do that. Also trickle charging the battery wouldn’t cure a poor connection problem.

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**Author:** ![RemcoW](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/remcow/32/2471_2.png) [@RemcoW](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RemcoW)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764/4 "2012-10-02T15:57:29Z")

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Clearly you know enough to know what a bad connection would do.  
Get a multimeter and see what you measure on the starter’s fat lead and the thin lead while starting.

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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:** [October 2, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/strange-starting-habit/74764/5 "2012-10-02T19:54:56Z")

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try putting the shifter in “N” or “R” or one of the drive ranges and see what happens