Battery problems?

[Rajiv]

I have been having intermitant starting problems for past several months. in the morning car will have problem starting and takes several attempts before engine fires up. I can hear starter motor cranking up. when car is running, battery tester ( cheap one that plugs into cigaret lighter adapter ) will read between 14 and 13.8 volts. in the morning, battery reads around 11.5 volts or so. Battery is 2yr old Interstate that was bought new ( one of the first things I replaced when I bought the car ). so either battery is pooched or something is causing drain.

How would I go about testing it?

--Rajiv

[jlrSAAB]

bad battery.

[jlrSAAB]

what I mean is for a good battery, the single cell range measured is 2.1V per six cells must measure at least 12.6 V in discharge status.

11.5V measured in the morning maybe a cell is defective by internal battery short circuit and drain the charge of the battery during the night alone.

I have changed a battery, in my Opel car, before a year for the same reason.

reason: bad batteries.

[Rajiv]

Understood. I will take the battery to the place I bought it from to have it checked.

[Shazam]

I had a similar problem, but when I took the battery to get checked, they always said it was good. I figured (guessed) it was because by driving to the place, my battery would always be charged up and have a good reading. But once the car sat for over an hour, I'd have to get a jump most of the time or it would be a really hard start. Replaced the battery, problem fixed.

Depending on what battery you have, they often come with a warranty. Most have at least a year, while a decent one will usually have 2, and the higher end ones have 3 or higher. See if you've still got your receipt and you could save a decent chunk of money... hopefully.