Battery or Starter

[Dmaup]

Whats the best way to tell if the problem is my battery or starter?

I had been having issues with the battery but it had came out of it and was going for a week not being started and was starting fine.

The other day I got in it and went to start it and it turned over fine. I thought it caught and let off the key and it died so, I tried to start it again and click click click. I was like WTF! and just thought the battery was dead but when I came back an hour later I thought I would try it agian and it popped right off.

Now today when I went to start it all I got was click click click. Havent had anytime to try and jump it yet to see if thats the problem or not. Mainly I'm trying to figure out what happened the other day and if I may need a new starter.

 

[ssmoparviii]

Funny you have that problem I had the same thing happen today. I went to start the Mark and it acted like a dead battery but a few minutes later it started

 

[kustomizingkid]

Do you still have the factory battery clamps?

Sounds like you have some grounding/battery cable issues...

 

[Dmaup]

Do you still have the factory battery clamps?

Sounds like you have some grounding/battery cable issues...

Thats kinda what I was thinking. Hopefully I'll be able to get under it this weekend

 

[Speed Demon]

Start with the easy stuff, have the battery tested and check the output on the alternator. If those are good you might have a bad solenoid in the starter. Badly corroded ground straps can cause those problems also.

 

[Dmaup]

Start with the easy stuff, have the battery tested and check the output on the alternator. If those are good you might have a bad solenoid in the starter. Badly corroded ground straps can cause those problems also.

Getting the battery tested is easy enough cause I can take that out real quick but getting the car to where the alt can be tested will be a trick. Its over 30 miles away. Idk if I trust it to go that far.

 

[kustomizingkid]

My car was having a slow cranking issue.... replacing my battery cable ends cured it....

 

[Dmaup]

Ok, lol Mine dont look that bad lol

 

[mespock]

sometime it's just that the clamps are just not tight enough

Oh and KK you need to use JD's penny solution to the corrosion LOL .. Ask Mike about it.

 

[ford nut]

A Bad solenoid can give you fits.
Had mine go bad took a while to find that it was the problem.
They get baked were they are at.

 

[The Rev]

Starter solenoid, same thing happened to me. Just randomly quit. 'click click click' the guy who towed it for me tried to tell me it was my battery, which was putting out over 12v..:slam