Ok got my car home yesterday after being in the body shop for 3 wks since they were re-skinning the right hand side passenger door due to someone backing up into it. They told me the battery was no good and probably went bad since it sat there in the shop for 3 wks (yes was suppose to be a one wk job) since the temperature was at or below freezing all this wk and very cold wk before as they leave the cars outside, etc. Anyway I drove the car home since i live only 2 miles away and left it running in the garage figuring my alternator would charge it back up but the car suddenly died after 5 minutes. So I took the battery apart, went to Kragen and they tested it for 30 mintues, said it is a good battery and is holding the charge. I took the battery home and put it back in the altima and nothing, just a clicking noise, with the dome light coming on very lightly. Then I jumped the battery with some cables and it started right up. Headlights were nice and bright when i turned them on. I took the cables off and car was running for 1 minute when i decided to turn on the defrost and it died just like that. Tried to restart without cables and just kept making a clicking sound and the lights in the car were extremely dim and the headlights did not even come on. To me it seems like this would be the battery, since it started with the jumber cables but Kragen tells me it was a good battery (only had it just under 3 years and is a 96 month battery). I know batteries could go bad sooner, possibly due to being out in the cold, etc The cables seem good, I cleaned any and all corression off the terminals. So basically the car won't start (without jumpers) and is making a clicking sound (probably the solenoid) when I try starting it. Can this be an electrical issue, alternator not charging the batter, bad cables, or ?? Please advise. Thanks.
Dec 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM