I have a 91 Cougar with the 5.0 I have charged the battery pleanty of times and whenever i start it, the car wont turn over and kills my battery. so i half to jump it. I'm guessing starter? anyone think different? thanks
It will crank and start if you jump it to another battery.
It won't crank with just the battery in the car.
Is that what you are saying?
Do you have a meter?
--Yes, it will crank and start if i jump it with my truck, but when i shut the car off it wont start back up.
--Yes, it wont crank with just the battery
--Yes, i have a meter in the car and it reads normal when the car is on
I meant a volt meter tool that you can measure the voltage at the battery with.
Do you hook the ground jumper cable from the truck to the engine block? If so the ground cable on your battery may be bad.
Try putting the truck battery in the car.
If it turns over with jumper's hooked up, it's not your starter.:iagree: Battery or ground.
Do your lights and radio work at all with your battery?
yep, the lights work and everything but after i try to start the car its very dim
Sounds like you need to replace your battery cables (+ & - ) and terminals. Mine was doing the exact samething, changed those items, no more issues.
Good luck,
Jason
Hello all,
I have had a very similar problem with
Cougar X; every couple of months; I'd go out to start her up, and she'd react just like everything you described up to and including:
Now, I've checked the grounds and connections and everything was fine... the only noteworthy point of mention was the subtle, but unusual corrosion on the battery.
I
believe it was jcassity that suggested to me that my alternator was producing an output of Direct Current (12V) and AC....
I don't know if this is relevant to your situation, but my solution was simple, I replaced the battery, alternator, soleniod and ground cables... and the problem was solved. I know from after-fact that it was most likely the unsuspecting alternator... as I said, just an idea....
Have you pulled any codes???
Keep us updated!!
This isn't hard figure out, if lights are dim after trying to start it, ain't likely the cables...
To test with a volt meter, try to start the engine with the meter probes stuck into the center of the battery post(NOT ON THE TERMINALS)... IF voltage falls below 10v, replace the battery...
and to thicken the plot,, i just about pulled my hair out with my bronco doing similar . New napa battery, all was well until it sat and the battery drained.
Sometimes the bronco would not even crank after shutting from a real good road trip.
I installed yet another battery (napa brand again) and things appeard to be fine. Suddenly the same symptoms of no charge in the battery for cranking.
I could see my meter was fairly stable but low voltage was present on the battery (@10vdc).
I started pulling fuses one at at time to see if the battery voltage would start to trickle charge itself thus isolating the load on battery (ie- possible short to ground somewhere).
Solution,,,
took the napa battery back,, they sold me a Deka. trusted name for decades so i went with it.
No more problems.
Napa folks at the shop have turned in a report to the company of muliple napa brand failures so they can isolate a batch number that are out in the field.
if you have had to jump it that many times, im sure there have been sparks happen more than once.
id highly suggest replacing the battery and alternator as a matched set and retry.
T-Bird's doing the same thing, Thought i had it fixed until i went out opened the door and no lights came on...
Took a few days to drain out.
Trickle charged it back up and it did the same thing.
I've replaced the solonoid, cables, ground, battery~All fuses are fine.
Suspecting the alternator, but now i'm suspecting the Exide battery...
Looks to be a common problem, heh.
*Went out and checked the voltage at the battery alone=9.40, connected to car 9.15'ish (After sitting a few days).
Now charging, and going to unhook it and see if it holds a charge.
I have also had the same problem with my cougar in the past.
the lights worked but it didn't start, then everything dimmed after trying to start it. and it wouldn't charge good.
Found out the pos. cable was corroded inside the casing. replaced it and solenoid to be safe, problem went away.
Charged my battery up for a few hours, steady starting read out of 12.40, 30mins later slowly trickled down to 12.18 and still dropping...
BTW, sorry~Don't mean to hijack your thread.
Just wasn't expecting the battery to be the cause of this since its new, sheds some new light for me :hick:, might want to check yours also.
*AC --> Alternating Current
He also recommended replacing the battery and alternator as a matched set.
Short of searching through various threads, I guess my memory served me well. Thanks jcassity!
BlkCatXR7,
if all the grounds are solid, I might consider the wisdom of replacing the battery and alternator simultaneously.
If the car will start when boosted, then it's obviously not your starter motor.
...or replace the voltage regulator on the alternator and battery.
the voltage reg is pricey and falls short of the cost for a whole new alternator.