Whenever I try to start my car it will give a.

Tiny
SCOTTY87
  • MEMBER
  • 1993 FORD ORION
  • 83,984 MILES
Whenever I try to start my car it will give a brief crank then make a ticking sound and the radio will reset after a few attempts the battery will not have enough power to even make the ticking noise jump started it and drove round to give the battery a charge and one day later its completly flat this has happened with 3 batteries in a row so cant be a bad battery
Thursday, November 29th, 2012 AT 10:09 AM

4 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 34,489 POSTS
Check the charging system. Use a digital voltmeter to measure the battery voltage while the engine is running. It must be between 13.75 and 14.75 volts. If it is low, suspect the generator.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2012 AT 10:43 AM
Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,761 POSTS
I wouldn't assume the battery is good. Before you get you testing the charging system, you first need to charge and test the battery itself to determine if it's even capable of holding a charge. Once you have a known good battery, then you should proceed to testing the charging system. If you get to that point and the charging system tests good, then you would move on to testing for a parasitic draw on the system.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2012 AT 10:53 AM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 34,489 POSTS
You're right, but he's tried three batteries. Too bad we don't know if those were new or used batteries.
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Friday, November 30th, 2012 AT 2:33 AM
Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,761 POSTS
That's my point, and we don't know if any of them were tested.
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Friday, November 30th, 2012 AT 2:40 AM

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