[MaximumSteel]

Hi,

Here's the story. My 1999 Honda Accord has 143,000km's on it and a few months ago it began having trouble starting. I would turn the key and it would struggle for a second and then stop turning over, or just make a ping noise and not turn over at all. After 4 or 5 tries it would usually get going. After about 4 weeks of this it got worse and worse to the point where it would take 10-15 tries before it would start. So I replaced the starter and this seemed to fix the problem.

I've had the new starter for about 3 weeks, and Monday morning I went out to start the car after driving it all day on Sunday and it turned over a little but didn't start, and then died. I tried again and this time it didn't turn over at all, and now when I try the key I just hear a rapid clicking noise from under the dash.

The car had new plugs/wires/distributor a year ago.

I'm thinking the problem is electrical... but I'm not sure. Any idea's?

Thanks,
Jon

[TxGreaseMonkey]

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-t...tml#post235560

[MaximumSteel]

Thanks for the idea's they were basically dead on,

I was talking to a friend about it this morning and he suggested that the battery might just be dead. I didn't think this was the case since all the lights on the dash still came on, etc... but we gave boosting it a try anyway... and it worked.

The only issue is that now I have to figure out what is draining my battery. If there is a short somewhere in the electrical, what's the best way to figure out where it might be.

[TxGreaseMonkey]

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-t...tml#post241804

[MaximumSteel]

After driving the car for about 10 minutes, I let it sit in the parking lot for about 2 1/2 hours and now it won't start again.

I'm going to check/clean the battery contacts and drive it for a little longer to see if it manages to hold a charge.

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Try putting the battery on a charger for several hours. Remove caps, top off with distilled water, hook battery charger to terminals (red to +, black to -), and plug charger into wall outlet.

[LorK]

What needs to be done in a case like this is to check the entire starting/charging circuit and this is how I did it when working in a shop.

I checked the condition of the batterys specific gravity electrolyte level. One never knows how topped up the cells are or the specific battery gravity is. I then load check the battery with a load tester for 10 seconds to make sure it does not drop below 10 volts. If it does then I replace the battery or at least put it on a charger. I load test the alternator up to or close to its rates output. I check for a battery drain when all the cars electrical systems are off. Seen a case where the BMW's Blankput radio had a short and drew close to 1 amp of current from it. Replaced the radio and fixed the issue. Car should not draw no more then I think 20 ma to keep the computer and radio memory alive. I check for voltage drop across the ground and positive wire. This verifies the internal integregy of the wires to the starter. Lastly but one I never checked and never had to was to check for total Current drawn from starter with starter engaged. If a starters berrings were failing then the stator would rub inside the housing causing more current draw then nessesary.

[Imacrown]

Sounds like it's your battery that's not holding the charge you can take it to a auto part store like autozone or advance auto parts they will check it for free. Well most of them do make sure you ask before if it is free.