Ok, so I'm driving my car, I pull over to gas station to get gas and shut the car off. Refuel, get in the car, doesn't have enough juice to start itself. Get some jumper cables, attach to a friends running car, same issue even with letting it sit charge and him revving. Get it towed to the dealer, they run a system check, and the alternator is fine but the battery bad.

I replace the battery with a 12V Duralast Gold 75 FT-DLG with 600 cold cranking amps and 755 regular cranking amps. Battery shows 12.7 at terminals with car off but has the same issue as before, seems like not enough juice to start it. It'll crank a few times really weakly and then just stop and click click. Still will not jump start off my V8 either.

I called the saturn dealer I towed it to they said "the battery you got must not be right, it needs the proper CCAs and voltage output" which as far as I know, it does...The battery is the exact form as the stock one, just different brand name.

Any thoughts?
TIA!

pic of said car, 2.0L I4

 

Sounds crazy, only thoughts i have are as follows.

Was the new battery charged good enough, a battery can show correct voltage, but under a load not have deep enough charge to turn over the engine. Get the battery charged or swap for another one that has been charged. Autozone can put the battery on a machine and tell you if it has enough juice.

Second - is it possibly the starter is going bad or has corroded wire connection.

Third - gid the car ever start with the new battery, if so what was the voltage with the car running, should be 12.7 to 14V, if not you have a charging circuit issue.

Good Luck

 

well I tried starting it right away after just putting the battery in, not enough juice. I trickle charged it for 6 hours and then tried, again same problem. I'll bring it to get tested in a bit. I thought starter, but I'll try the test first. The car's a 2004 so I didn't think grounds or connections would be corroded already seeming the car has been garaged since day 1.
The car never started with this new battery, it'll only chug chug real slow and then do nothing when trying to start. When I can get it started I'll test the terminals while idling to assure the charging circuit is not the issue. Thanks for the help.

 

when you tryed to start the car with the new battery in it and it did not start what was the voltage??? if it was not low then you have an issue with a ground or a power wire. if it did run the battery low after you tried to start it etiher you have bad luck and you got a bad battery or you have a short in one of your wires.

 

+1 if it's not a short/terminals or a bad battery you might want to replace the voltage regulator...RC

 

When the new battery was installed, they may not have cleaned the cable connections. GM cars have side mount terminals that corrode badly over time regardless of where the car is stored.

Remove the negative first, then the positive using a 5/16 socket. Inspect the side of the cable terminal that faces the battery. Remove the plastic cover and use a wire brush to clean the terminal.

The best way to check the starter circuit is to do a circuit resistance test with a voltmeter to check voltage drop. I used to do a 2 hour lecture and demonstration on this procedure. But corroded cable connections are the problem most of the time.

To check the alternator, simple check, just start the car and check voltage at the battery. It should be at least 13.5v at idle. Battery should be at least 12.5v, engine off.

 

you are going to have check for significant continuity to the starter. This may not show until you pull the trigger. Do a voltage drop test from the battery to the starter terminal while cranking. If that is good, check engine and chassis grounds. If those check out, get a starter. You should have atleast 10 volts at the battery while cranking, or their is an issue with the battery, as a side note. I do not think that is the issue, though.

 

My guess: bad wiring, either to starter or ground.

 

OK got the car started after a bunch of cranks jumped to my V8 battery. I let the car idle for ~20 mins and now it starts no problem every time. Can anyone explain why it wouldn't just start before and I needed an initial jump form another battery?

 

You don't say how old the car is or the environment it has to live in, but the symptom sounds similar to my wife's '96 Accord (the consumer of all old gas from the bike, the mower etc). I traced the battery cables their entire length and found green corrosion where they connected to various components of the ignition system.

Said cable set is $150/dealer so I set about scrubbing all contacts and connections with battery terminal cleaner and scotch brite. Especially the connectors for the relays inside the fuse cases. Then I applied dielectric grease before reconnecting the harness.

Problem gone. Grease was $2, wife's gratitude was priceless.

Sometimes it's easier to eliminate the obvious fault before doing a complicated diagnosis, but I'm just lazy and at times rather dim.

Oh yeah, the reason for the fault disappearing for you could be arcing from a high amp start causing the impedance from corrosion to ebb for a short while.

 

Check battery cables for corrision. Not only at battery, but at solenoid, starter, and the ground connection for corrision.

 

The internal contacts of the solenoid itself can burn up and then create a big carbon resistor.
Try shorting across the solenoid itself with a fat wrench or screwdriver.
I had a 911 do this a few years back.
Chased my tail for a week trying to isolate the fault.
The same thing can happen to our bikes.
Starter issues always warrant a direct test (short between the two big terminals).
Do this 1st to avoid the tail-chasing loop.

 

"The car's a 2004 so I didn't think grounds or connections would be corroded already seeming the car has been garaged since day 1."

Post #1 looks like the car lives in a nice residential environment

 

well I took it upon myself to trace the battery cable all thw ay to the engine bay and wire brush off all the terminals/bolts/nuts/grounds I could find that attach to it. I did the same thing for the grounds in the engine bay, they're looking mighty fine. If I have any other problems I'll be sure to check the starter more significantly