Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Battery problem?

First off I drive a 97 Contour V6 automatic with power everything.

Now for the problem. About 2 weeks ago I had a problem with my car in the morning and when I went to the store down the street and shut off my car it wouldnt start when I came back out. All that happened was clicking. Battery died right? Well I call my friend up and he comes and jump starts me. Car starts fine. I back outta the spot and throw it into drive. When I hit the gas I get practically NO power at all. Then after about 5 seconds it kicks in and starts moving. While waiting for traffic to pass my car dies. I try starting it and its clicking again. I have my friend push me across the street so Im not blocking the exit or traffic or anything like that. I jump my car and bring it home. Just as I pull into my driveway my battery light turns on and I shut it off before I give it a chance to stall.

I go to work and talk to my mechanic who says to try tossing a new battery in if I wanted or bring it in. I opt to toss a battery in cause I wanted a new one soon anyway. I pick up the Optima Red top. Not the one made for our car. But I manage to get it in without a huge problem.

Car starts and runs fine. Later that night the battery dies! I get a jump from another friend and its fine for the entire night. Actually its fine until now. Now all of a sudden my battery light turns on and stays on when the RPMs are higher than 1500.

I just checked the voltage on the batter. With nothing on it reads around 13 with one notch over. When I start the car it goes up to over 14. Revving the engine and it goes off the chart. The Alternator seems like its doing its job. Really well actually. Its a rebuilt alternator as I had my mechanic do a once over and change the alternator and serpentine belt because it was making a high pitched whine noise.

The day before I changed the battery I threw on my intake. I got everything on and it was fine. Had to jury rig the O2 sensor to keep it in the slot. Other than that it fit on just fine.

Does anyone have any clue what this could be? I did a search and couldnt find anything. I hate to be one of those guys that just asks a question without looking. But after searching for an hour and a half I couldnt find anything that sounded like my problem.

Any way I could trouble shoot it to find out what the problem is? My mechanic is really busy right now and if I dropped it off with him I dont think Id have it for a week or 2. Plus I prefer doing my own work on my car when I can. Any help would be great. Its really aggrivating

i dont want to ask this to make you sound dumb but when you put the battery in did you make sure that both connections were 100% tight? mine was doing that and it turned out that the negative terminal would be tight but if you tried to twist it, it would spin a little causing the car not to get a good solid connection every start up. all i did was take off the connector, squeeze it together w/some vice grips and bolted it back on. havent had a problem since. hope this works for you!

When I tossed the battery in I made sure I got it as tight as possible. Dont worry about making me feel dumb. Ive actually done this in my old car. But instead of trying to tighten it the first time I went out and bought a battery and alternator. Found out that after that it was still being a pain in the ass so I played with the connectors and they were loose. I learned from that this time.

I did try to reconnect it and hook it back up though just in case earlier. But to no avail the battery light turned on when I revved it above 1500. Its not a steady light though. If you look at it carefully it flickers slightly. I dont know if that makes a really big difference or anything.

well you've got me there. if all the connectors are tight and the battery and alternator are good, its gotta be something electrical. maybe in the wiring harness somewhere. sorry bud i dont know what to tell you. hope it works out for you though

try cleaning the battery terminals and clamps and make sure they are tight. check for voltage drop from the battery to the clamp, then the cable, and then were it meets some other parts down the line.. bet it is weak someplace along the line and that is why its weak or no start......
also check and see how much amps are being pulled by the starter... or check to see what the voltage is to the battery when cranking, should be at least 9 volts, if you get a jump then you add 12 volts from the other car and your 3 or 4 volts and get 16 volts, then devide that by
two and you get 8 volts and that is why it is not starting or is starting it you have 6 volts and you put 12 plus volts on the jumper car that gives you 6 + 12 = 18 /2 =
9 volts and you can start the car.....

cut out the math and just do standard diagnostics. check the wires and roll w/that. sometimes you have to start out simple before you get difficult. when you get difficult, you tend to overlook the simple things that always seem to be the problem.

I was definetly gonna check the wires first. After looking it up and everything what I got was Id have to either buy a whole new alternator or buy the piece and have it sent out to be rebuilt. Either of those are tough for me. Its my only car and I cant really be without it for more than a day and I have a feeling if I sent it out to be rebuilt itd take more than a day. More like a week being that mechanics enjoy taking their sweet time. Then if I buy an alternator its 150 I dont have right at the moment. I just payed off my insurance and have to pay off my credit cards so I wouldnt be able to buy it for a lil while. I have a feeling that waiting would only end up in making a possibly small problem into something a lot bigger and even more expensive. Which isnt good at all...

God I hope its something simple.