Through no intervention on my part... (gee guys seem to think girls are car killers for some reason....)
80K miles, regular oil changes, full tank of gas, checked the oil and it's still there. Battery has juice.
Went to start it this morning after it set since Sunday, starter turns (get that nice groaning pre-engine roar sound) and then it clicketyclickety's like it's jumping teeth on something, kind of like how it sounds when the kids are poking a stick down into the central A/C unit fan in the back yard. Now I'm not real familiar with cars but I can repair just about anything as long as I've got a manual and tools and parts, so whatever this is I intend to tackle it myself. But I'm not exactly sure what that clickety indicates is wrong. I'll take a stab in the dark and guess flywheel? It won't actually engage.
There's been no indication anything was 'going out' and no operation problems.
Hubby's deployed or I'd just stick him out there under the hood for the day and supply him with iced tea and moderate kibitzing. Somehow I've got to move it out of the gently inclined driveway (easy part) and park it across the street, pull his car out of the garage (yuck!) and put old red up the driveway into the garage till I can deal with her. She's a bit heavy for me to push alone.*sigh* I think moving it will be the most difficult thing to manage if it isn't too tough a repair. I'm stuck home till I swap the vehicles around.(ok, venting a bit here.) Anyway, can anyone give a little insight based on the info I've given about the clickety sound? I'm assuming that if it's the flywheel, I just go buy a flywheel and stick it on, but is there anything else I should mess with at the same time? (I'm about to go take a peek at it with manual in hand.) Thanks for any help guys. This kind of caught me blind.
I would pull the starter out for a look. See if the teeth on the drive (bendix) gear are in good shape and open up the solenoid and check it out. Could be worn contacts inside that are not making solid contact and as the voltage drops during cranking, the starter is dropping out:
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also be something simple like dirty connections at the battery,pull the cables and clean the posts and inside of the cable clamps. Often that may be all that is wrong.
Well, hubby emailed me, brought to my attention the battery is 5 years old, suggested a swap with his car to check and to get me to town to replace it if that's the problem. It was the problem. Go figure. Simple, and easy. I've swapped, mine's taller though so the clamp hung loose, quick bungee-cord strategy fix. I'm headed out to get a new one now. Thanks for the suggestions Roger!
My spidey-sense is tingling on this one, when you mentioned that Hubby does the car work, and did the diagnosis by remote control... (And he beat me to it, darn...) :-P
I'm not trying to be sexist, but some ladies grow up around cars and know this stuff and some don't, so I'm going to bring up a few things you need to know. And feel free to yell at me if you already did. (Natalie: Cover me, I'm going into dangerous territory here.) ;-)
When you pick up a new battery, get a few other things you need whenever you work on batteries - for starters, a little safety gear. You do NOT want to find out what battery acid does to body parts.
Minimum: Pick up a set of chemical-splash style safety goggles (they have little round 'mushroom' vents, and not the little holes on the sides), a box of disposable nitrile rubber gloves or a pair of the thick 'Paint Stripping' rubber gloves, a big 5 - 10 Lb box (or several
1 Lb small ones) of baking soda if it splashes on the car, and a quart bottle of eyewash/neutralizer if it gets on your skin.
Buy a copy of the Chilton or Haynes repair manual for your car - think of it as a 'Car Repair Cookbook'. They aren't expensive, they're mostly correct ;-) and they have a lot of the safety procedure minutiae. (The Toyota Factory Manuals are a lot more detailed and accurate, but they're also VERY expensive.)
And have the garden hose handy while you work on the car, so you can dilute whatever acid you can't neutralize - If (god forbid) you blow the top off the battery (hey, it is rare but it happens - you're wearing the goggles for a reason!) it spits acid everywhere, and you want to get it off NOW. Dust everything under the hood that may have gotten acid on it with dry baking soda (or spread on a water/soda paste with a paintbrush), wait a minute, hose it off, and repeat a few times until the soda stops fizzing.
(Don't panic about the battery's "Bomb Potential" - the hydrogen gas that can build up in the air-space of the battery doesn't have too much energy behind it - just enough "POP!" to flip the top cover off the battery, splash a little acid around, and make a big mess for you to clean up. I've only seen one blown up battery, and that was one that wasn't fastened down tight, bounced up against the hood while driving and the terminals sparked to the hood. Major mess...) Oh, when you're done stick the chemical goggles in the bag with your jumper cables, so you have them to wear whenever you jump-start a car.
Tools - for side post batteries get the right little ratchet dogbone wrench (so you don't round off the bolt heads) and a toothbrush-style stainless-steel wire brush to clean the posts and terminals. If the bolt heads are already wrecked, you can buy replacement bolts.
For top post batteries you need a double-ended terminal brush, post spreader tool (funny looking pliers) and sometimes a post lifter tool (looks like a C-Clamp) gets off the stubborn ones.
Supplies: A can each of spray-on acid neutralizer/cleaner (if you don't want to bother making a baking soda/water paste), and spray-on post coating compound. The little felt washers do help keep the top-post connections clean, but they are way expensive when you pay a buck for a foil packet of two - I bought a can of 100 for about $8 (lifetime supply) which cuts the price to reasonable. I also like to use a dollop of Thomas & Betts Kop-R-Kote compound between the post and the terminal, but it's hard to find - pro electrician stuff.
And always follow the rules and disconnect the battery (-) ground post cable first, and connect it last. When car batteries short out, they have enough power to weld wrenches and get wires seriously hot - and if your hand is on that wrench at the time you /will/ get burned.
I do this stuff for a living, and I still disconnect the car battery when working on the primary circuits. "Oops!" Happens, Aftermath Varies...
Well I didn't have all that safety gear, just my shades and a hat, and a layer of grime. I've had battery acid on me in the past and I've had some other nasty chemical and other burns too, working in college chemistry lab and with what other concoctions a teenaged nerd can manage to come up with.
*GRIN* I've got a good first aid kit (and what's funny, I rarely use it for myself, it's always hubby or the kids lately.) I'm always prepared for the worst. My dad also worked with installing batteries many many years ago so there's some common sense instilled, like don't short the blasted thing out, always do the negative first when removing and last when installing, etc. And even with the battery disconnected there's fuses to disconnect to keep from getting the bejezus zapped out of ya...
Anyhoo, yes, I've got a well worn Haynes manual. It just doesn't come with a 'sound bites file' for some reason and I've never had a battery go dead, so this clicking wasn't familiar. This is in essence my first vehicle ever, and there was always someone else around to 'diagnose' most problems even if I did assist in fixing things or do it myself.
Hubby's not actually allowed to touch the Toyota... there's a funny story on that... he left me without blinkers one day, and then greased up my steering wheel and shift knob with armor all another time... this was before the life insurance policy (GRIN!) I do the maintenance on it. But, it hasn't needed much more than oil changes since I banned him from it. I was all set to get really grimy today and was kind of bummed out yet relieved there wasn't more to do than swap some batteries around carefully. That craftsman tool set has seen more bicycle repair jobs than any vehicular action... it's depressing!
I did spark some, kid started closing the garage door suddenly, startled me and I dropped the wrench as I was tightening the negative cable on the new battery, and it fell across and shot some pretty sparks before it bounced back off. Gah! Everything was great till then. Got the felt washers, save me pouring Coke on the terminals in a few years if they corrode. Got a nice little wire brush to clean them with if they ever need it. We tend to keep the engine bay nearly clean enough to eat off of though. Neither of us like a dirty engine. And the petroleum jelly stuff to smear on the terminals, nifty... already grimy, let's add clean goo to the dirty goo and just revel in it.
BTW I don't own jumper cables, just a good pair of walking shoes and a strong reserve. I'm pretty sure my truck can do the whole 'push start' thing in a pinch.
That's all good advice though Bruce, thanks for the detail. You are right- I didn't grow up around cars, but hubby and I've had 12 years to re-educate me (first 'repair' I did after meeting him was add a quart of engine oil to the power steering pump on a ford van which had a bad oil leak... it drove fine, just kept indicating it needed oil though which puzzled me since I had just added some and it seemed over-full as it was. LMAO!) I'm a quick study at least. At a waddling 6 months pregnant I installed fender flairs on the
4Runner, drilling through sheet metal, even straightening a bent bumper corner to get them to fit right. I've changed all the oil in our vehicles save about 5 times in the last 8 years, as well as replacing a window broken out by thieves and foretelling the demise of our beloved geo (prism, essentially a Toyota!)
AutoZone tested my charging system when I bought the battery, and that's all good... so now I've only got a few minor things to do before my 'mechanic' returns home. Distributor cap and plug wires, new plugs, an oil change, keep an eye on the 02 sensors and the exhaust system (getting rusty, when I checked underneath back in Feb to try and grease points which don't seem to exist on my truck... no fittings!) Hopefully the more costly things will wait until she's paid off in a couple of months. Still need to put new rotors on his car, which I am contemplating doing myself. The only thing holding me back is the thought of a vehicle on jackstands and three little rugrats bouncing around trying to help. ;) At least they'll be able to tell when a battery goes dead.
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