Don't know too much about how this works, so bear with me while I describe the problem: my 1997 Saturn SL-1 had a dead battery the other night. The tow truck driver said there was too much corrosion on the battery terminals to give it a jump. Because I was under the gun to get somewhere, I had the battery replaced. After they replaced it, the repair people also did their "starter - generator - battery system" diagnostic test, and said everything was OK.
The problem I was having with starting, which existed before the battery went dead: the car always started fine when it was cold. However, on days when I would do a lot of errands, and therefore be starting the car "warm", it often had trouble turning over. I'm not sure (it's only been 2 days so I've only had a few times of starting it warm), but it seems like this problem still exists.
Questions: was this "turning over" problem what eventually killed the battery? if the "turning over" problem keeps happening, is the starter the likely problem? anybody know a good website to refer me to that explains this part of the electrical system without getting too technical? i'm not doing any repair myself, but i do want to know the basics of how it works. all help appreciated.