SkiBumDreams

tried to start car it cranked very slowly then started to click. the car had not been started in 3 or 4 days and the temps here have been in the teens. jump started car without any problems and let the car run for a good long while. watched volt gauge inside car. it read high like it was charging waited til it dropped to normal operating level on gauge then turned off the car. i did check the alternator (while gauge showed charging level while car was running) at the post and a bolt on the bracket and it was showing 14.5 volts, checked at battery terminals and it was the same. battery is less than a month old interstate megatron2 and alternator is 4 months old.

24 hours later
-car slowly cranked then clicked, no start
-battery 'dead' read 10.5 volts
-looking for parasitic drain(batt cable unhooked meter between cable and batt terminal)
-heard headlight motor make very quiet noise reading was ~200mA (i think iam reading it correctly, meter was set to 200m level)
-unplugged headlight motor
-meter reads 7.6 (meter still set to 200m level)
-played with manual up down of light fiddled with pulggin it back in
-now sometimes reads ~200 sometimes 7.6
-unplugged headlight motor and left unplugged for good now
-jumped car, wouldnt jump right away had to leave cables connected for a couple minutes before car would start.
-got car started and left running
-gauge in car at charging level reading at alt 14.5v
-let it run til gauge said wasnt charging
-tested at alt and batt meter read 13.7 while car was running
-turn car off
-batt reads 12.5v
-try to immediately restart car
-slow crank for a half second then clicking (4 or 5 clicks before stopeed trying)
-batt now reads 9.9v

am i looking at a starter problem here? defective battery? i am taking the battery back tomorrow to have them check it. in my limited experience i feel as tho the battery just doesnt have the cca in it, am i completely off base? i dont think the headlight motors have anything to do with it since they were unpluged and i still had issues.
i have searched and referenced some info from these threads:

https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/gen...causes-848304/

https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/gen...estion-413346/

moparman

Bad battery would be my guess. I've never had luck with Interstate batteries.

rv93

its your battery for sure. get it load tested, then get a new one. the testing is just in case im wrong, lol

SkiBumDreams

and...... it was the battery. when they hooked up their tester while it was on the car as soon as he switched it to test from just showing the voltage there was a spark and then lotss of bad clicks coming from his test machine. replaced the battery with a double checked one and it good to go.

whitdog54

always nice when its a simple problem haha