I recently had a dead battery and then a slow crank event, so I’m looking for troubleshooting suggestions and next steps. I think the battery is probably going bad, but I want to make sure the alternator seems OK. I got this car last fall with 27,000 miles, 33,000 on it now. The original battery is stamped 6/11/17, so it’s just over four years old. Cables were cleaned a couple months ago.
The car needed a jump after sitting at the airport for a week. I charged the battery at least partially the next day. It was fine for ten days. Then it cranked really slowly but started. Testing with a cheap digital voltmeter, after about an hour of idling and driving following the slow crank, gave the following results:
Battery: 12.76
Running, no accessories: 14.03 to 14.06
Running, with A/C and engine fan, lights, radio: 13.96 to 13.97
(Readings at the OBD port with the Torque app were 12.7, 14.1, and 13.9 to 14.0)
1) Does it look like the alternator is charging enough?
2) Would the on-car charging system test at a parts store tell me anything more about the alternator than my voltmeter did?
I just finished charging the battery, so I will probably have it load tested before doing anything else. Here are this morning’s numbers, after a full charge and two short trips:
Battery: 12.57
Running: 14.05-14.07
Running with accessories: 13.96-13.98
The long backstory:
The car wouldn’t start after a week parked at the airport. I might have left the light switch on, but I’m not really sure. Lights came on, and it tried but wouldn’t crank enough to start. A jump pack started it.
The next day, I put on my CTEK MXS 5.0 charger. Charging was interrupted twice, once because my wife had to go somewhere after four hours and then because of rain. The charger completed the Absorption cycle and was on Recondition both times. I couldn't charge again because it rained off and on for the next week.
Ten days later, my wife was out and called to say the car almost didn’t start again. She idled for about 30 minutes to charge the battery and then was able to stop and restart two or three times in 30 minutes of driving. When she got home, I did the voltmeter testing above and ran a full recondition cycle with the charger, about 8 hours.
The car needed a jump after sitting at the airport for a week. I charged the battery at least partially the next day. It was fine for ten days. Then it cranked really slowly but started. Testing with a cheap digital voltmeter, after about an hour of idling and driving following the slow crank, gave the following results:
Battery: 12.76
Running, no accessories: 14.03 to 14.06
Running, with A/C and engine fan, lights, radio: 13.96 to 13.97
(Readings at the OBD port with the Torque app were 12.7, 14.1, and 13.9 to 14.0)
1) Does it look like the alternator is charging enough?
2) Would the on-car charging system test at a parts store tell me anything more about the alternator than my voltmeter did?
I just finished charging the battery, so I will probably have it load tested before doing anything else. Here are this morning’s numbers, after a full charge and two short trips:
Battery: 12.57
Running: 14.05-14.07
Running with accessories: 13.96-13.98
The long backstory:
The car wouldn’t start after a week parked at the airport. I might have left the light switch on, but I’m not really sure. Lights came on, and it tried but wouldn’t crank enough to start. A jump pack started it.
The next day, I put on my CTEK MXS 5.0 charger. Charging was interrupted twice, once because my wife had to go somewhere after four hours and then because of rain. The charger completed the Absorption cycle and was on Recondition both times. I couldn't charge again because it rained off and on for the next week.
Ten days later, my wife was out and called to say the car almost didn’t start again. She idled for about 30 minutes to charge the battery and then was able to stop and restart two or three times in 30 minutes of driving. When she got home, I did the voltmeter testing above and ran a full recondition cycle with the charger, about 8 hours.