hello,

my 1997 hona civic dx has me perplexed. I boughta new battery for it last year and has worked fine, however, the car would not start the other day, acting as tho the battery was dead. I jump started the car and it ran fine. I went home and shut the vehicle off and it would not restart. I have had the battery tested and it is putting out the proper amount of juice (400?) any ideas? THANKS!!

 

Alternator?

 

400 on load tester is okay, not so great. Battery can fail at any age or newness(?).

You need to make sure all of contacts from battery (+) to starter motor are clean and free of corrosion. This includes engine ground.

Worn contacts on the starter solenoid may be robbing the juice to crank the engine.

 

Hello,
Do the free and easy things frist, Clean the battery posts and the battery cables. When you say it has juice (400) is that cold cranking amps? Sometimes a battery will have a short or bad cell and not let it charge. Most auto parts stores will test the battery for free. There are 2 kinds of tests, one a quick test with the battery in the car and another with the battery out and in a machine that will charge it then and preform a load test after charging it about 20 to 30 minutes. I have had a battery pass the quick test and fail the load test. Most auto parts stores will also test the alt. for free too. The car will run on the alt. if the battery is bad but when you turn the car off the car needs the battery to restart it. Sorry for the long post, just trying to help. Please keep us posted on your progress.We all like to know how the problem was solved. Thanks, 2010civiclx

 

You need a voltmeter, then you can test a bunch of stuff yourself.

Check the charging system by getting the car started and measure voltage at the battery-- put meter probes on the battery posts, not the car terminals. Have engine idling and everything else switched off. Should be more than 13.5 volts (and less than 16).

If that's OK, stop engine and watch the voltage. It will drop some but should not go below 12.5, that means battery is defective. Have someone try to start with the key. If battery drops below 9 volts, bad battery.

If battery stays up over 12 but starter doesn't turn, could be bad power or ground connection or bad starter. Measure right at the starter, big wire to starter frame ground. If you have click but no start and the voltage stays up, bad starter. If voltage at starter drops below 9 (though you know it is still 12 at the battery), test the connections by measuring voltage drop across each wire or connection while trying to start.

 

Thanks to all that have written in! Looks like i have my work cut out for me tomorrow, ill shall post results upon attaining them, thanks again!!!