ct1969vette

Jumped the '69 but it will not hold the charge. The battery is only a few months old. When I turn the key, the car clicks. Is this the starter, the alternater or something else?

Thanks!

isosceles

I think sometimes plates break in them or something.

I've had batteries work fine when I start the car to pull out of the garage or leave my driveway. No slow cranking or any indication of impending failure. The next time I go to start it, either to leave for work after closing the garage door and getting in the car or stopping in a store, NOTHING.. no click or anything.

I also had a Toyota Corolla that would occasionally not start without a jump. Lights would be bright, horn would work, but it wouldn't crank. It turned out to be the nuetral safety switch. Why jumping it would make it start, I don't know, but once I bypassed it, I had no problems.


[Modified by isosceles, 3:54 PM 7/19/2003]

perk77

Even though the battery is fairly new I would still have it checked, it may not be holding a charge. If the battery is good I would have the alternator checked, maybe it's not charging. I had that same clicking sound and it turned out to be a bad battery that was not holding a charge.

Doug

Jvette73

Could be as simple as a bad connection. Check all the cable connections at the battery, starter, and frame where the ground cable connects. Remove em, clean the cable posts and connection points with a wire brush, hook em back up and see what happens. Now I dont know the condition of your alternator, but even if it was bad, it wouldnt prevent you from jump starting the car. if a battery has a full charge, the car can run for a good while with a bum alt. Most often these problems are caused by a bad cable connection or a bad cable. Corrosion can get down inside the cable insulation and ruin the cable making it useless for carrying the current needed to start the car.

dogboy

Also if it is the starter you can take it to a place like autozone and have them check it out for free. Same with battery & alternator. Only thing is you need to remove them all to bring it in.

ct1969vette

It was the battery. Tokk the battery to NAPA. They tested it and replaced free-of-charge. It's the 2nd NAPA battery this year.

Thanks for your help

dogboy

Sounds like a drain on your battery somewhere. I would get a disconnect switch until you find out if there is one. Could have been a bad battery to begin with also?