Well, so I'm having a problem starting the car after it sits for 2 days or so. I recently put in some gauges but I don't think that caused any problem, but the problem did seem to start afterwards. Maybe coincidence? Voltage on battery before I start 12.05. Voltage on alternator while running. 14.17. Voltage on battery while running 12.16. Voltage on battery after shutting off engine 12.26 volts. Connections are clean. Battery is 3 years old. It's an 85 month battery. Checked postive side of battery to ground and have an open which is good. Negative side of battery to ground is shorted which is normal. I did check the connection to where I connected the ignition wire to the gauges at the fuse box in the right hand driver side under the hood and it's grounded. I take the wire off and it's still grounded. Is it normal for the igntion fuse/wire to be grounded? Actually every wire in that fuse box is grounded, except the air pump fuse and fog lights fuse. And they seem to have 12 volts with the car off. When the car sits for a day, voltage at battery with engine off is 12.05 volts. When starting, the starter cranks very slowly but starts up. One time it just clicked rapidly, like the battery was dead. That was when I took out the car and than let it sit for about 4 days. I charged it up for a few hours and started it up with no problems. It seems the battery is being drained, but all the readings appear normal. I have no radio or system of any kind. Any one have a similiar problem? I searched and searched, but couldn't find any problems sounding like mine. Any info or opinions would be great .

 

It may be as simple as your battery starting to go. It's hard to tell by just checking its voltage. If you say that after charging it up the car starts fine, then it may be your battery. Do you still have a warranty on it? Maybe you can have the place where you bought it from test it?

 

Yeah I'm leaning towards the battery starting to go, even though it's 3 years old. It has died a few times, cause in the winter I let the car sit. So I had to charge it back up. I rarely use the car really. But I've been taking it out on the weekends. I did test the battery with this battery tester I have from work and it read 11.84 volts and 8.30 amps. This was after sitting a day. Does that sound good? Also when I turn the key to on, the indicator sits right at the end of the red area on the car's voltmeter. I also turned the lights on with the car off, and disconnected the ground to the battery, and when I reconnected it, I didn't see any spark. Anyone have any more ideas? Thanks