what is wrong with my car?

Hi, all: This morning, when I opened the drive side of door of my 2000 Corolla VE, there was no "door light" on the panel, and the car could not be started. To me, it seems that battery might be dead, and after checking battery, the "green eye" was still visible on the battery. After struggling for minutes, the lights on the panel suddenly came back and car started OK, what went wrong and what was the possible cause? What should I check first?

FYI, after car was started and it was driven OK and restarted OK at the same day. I will have to see what is going to happen tomorrow morning.

Thanks.

Reply to
wenmang
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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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Reply to
Joey

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.

Reply to
Wolfgang

Are you somewhere it was cold this morning? (15 degrees here...)

Is it the original battery?

Could be getting weak...

Reply to
Hachiroku

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

Reply to
wenmang

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.

Reply to
offen rong

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