what is wrong with my car?

Question

Hi, all:This morning, when I opened the drive side of door of my 2000 CorollaVE, there was no "door light" on the panel, and the car could not bestarted. To me, it seems that battery might be dead, and after checkingbattery, the "green eye" was still visible on the battery. Afterstruggling for minutes, the lights on the panel suddenly came back andcar started OK, what went wrong and what was the possible cause? Whatshould I check first?FYI, after car was started and it was driven OK and restarted OK at thesame day. I will have to see what is going to happen tomorrow morning.Thanks.

Joey · Accepted Answer

I would first check your battery post terminals and make sure they are both clean and tight including the ground and where it attaches to the frame. If it's more than that it would take some troubleshooting when the problem occurs again.

Joey

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Wolfgang · Answer

Is it the original battery?  5+ years is a long time especially with winter coming.  The green eye is not a great indicator of cold cranking power.

Hachiroku · Answer

Are you somewhere it was cold this morning? (15 degrees here...)Is it the original battery?Could be getting weak...

wenmang · Answer

Thanks for all replies. The battery is the orginal one and it is 6years old and that morning was cold(~25-30 degree). I checked theterminals and found out that there were a lot of erosion white stuff onone of them and I had them cleaned. Could anybody tell where the groundcable is located? I only see two cables, positive and negative, whichone is ground one?Thanks.WM

offen rong · Answer

The negative one is ground.  Check the connection at the battery and where it connects to ground (usually on the engine of the car).  It may look good, but a gentle tug on the cable where it enters the terminal will sometimes reveal that corrosin has eaten the cable down to a few strands.

what is wrong with my car?

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