For the last 2 months or so it's been taking longer and longer for the engine to turn over. I have to leave it in park for a little while for the engine to idle stedily. If I put it in reverse to soon it will stop. But now it wont start even with a jump. But with a jump the stereo plays and the fuel gauge works. Otherwise it just clicks. Please help! thanks!
-Oh and I had a new alternator put in a year ago
stop. But
I'd check the battery and all connections (including grounds).
cables and battery look good. If I keep the key half turned, wanit a minute, then try im it gets closer to starting. Now it just makes a buzz. But with a Jump it almost starts. HELP. Thanks!
Sounds like a bad shorted battery. Disconnect your car battery and use jumpers directly to the cables, eliminating your battery in the system. If it starts, do NOT disconnect the jumper until you turn off the engine.
If it starts, go buy a new battery. If it don't start, look for a bad connection or defective starter/solenoid.
James
Just to clarify what James wrote - A car battery serves to limit temporary surges that can occur when an alternator goes from high load to low load. Without the battery in circuit, as in a disconnected battery and a jump start from a remote battery, if the cables are disconnected while the engine is running, there is no ballasting action. In this case the alternator can put out bursts of high voltage enough to fry all the vehicle electronics.
In a similar case, a completely discharged battery has a high internal impedance and may not properly ballast the alternator until 5 minutes or so of charging. As a precaution, if the dome light is not even a glimmer, I leave the jumper cables on for 5 minutes before starting the engine just to make sure that the battery impedance has normalized. A battery with any decent amount of charge has a low impedance (which is good and allows a high current to flow in and out).
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