2003 STS - No start

1886 Views 22 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Submariner409, Dec 25, 2012

MattHatlee

Discussion Starter · Dec 23, 2012

Okay, so last Tuesday I went out to start my car at about 10 AM. It was considerably cold (about 31°F) and when i turned the key my car wouldn't start.... All I got was multiple rapid clicks and the headlights were flickering along with the clicks. The clicks were in about a 8-10 click sequence. And it would last maybe 3 seconds. Even if I turned the key in the off position. So I went and jumped it from the under the hood positive terminal thing. And it started right up. After that it ran fine. Until today. (5 days later) I went out with my girlfriend to grab some food about 4 miles from her house....When I came back, the car wouldn't start. It did the same exact thing. It would click rapidly and the lights would flicker with the clicks...... The weird thing is that every electrical thing worked. (Windows, radio, dic, inside lights, headlights, etc). After turning all electrical thing off, I tried starting it again and it still just clicked. I checked the battery voltage on the DIC and it read "9.4 ok"...now that seemed extremely low to me, because I thought it was supposed to be at about 12.4. Anyway. We called my girlfriends mom, and she came and I jumped my car and again it started right up. Now here is my question. If the battery was bad, wouldn't the car not even have the ability to power any of the lights or radio? And wouldn't the car not even click? So what could it be if its not the battery. And how can I find the source of the problem?

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Oh today when it didn't start it was also 28°F. I don't know if that has any relevance

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Submariner409

· #11 · Dec 23, 2012

Re: 2003 Seville Sts No start

Use this - lead acid battery technology says that once the battery gets down to 12.0 - 11.8 volts there's some voltage there but not enough amperage available to start the engine.

............ it has to do with the sulfuric acid in the electrolyte turning to lead sulfate on the plates as the battery (chemically) produces electricity, and if the sulfate is not dissolved back into soultion by long charge times it hardens, gradually killing the battery. Thus the modern use of aftermarket battery maintainers in our high-demand cars.

If the battery is more than 5 years old, it's living on borrowed time, particularly in cold climates.

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Submariner409

· #20 · Dec 24, 2012 (Edited)

stoveguyy said:
Well u do need a side post battery for ur test. The battery has hot on left and neg on right side and there are some batteries out there with reversed terminals so it might not fit in ur car. U need a fairly beefy battery. 600-800 cca or so? But almost any GM battery will work. I had a 78 series but swapped it out to my grand prix which uses a 74 series. The 74 is 1/2" narrower. Less less guts.

Wrong. His car has the battery under the rear seat and the battery has a special cell top vent system which uses a tubing manifold and vent through a rubber grommet in the floor pan. It's a Group 79 side post battery of about 800 CCA.

His GM service manual says " ...... at least 770 CCA......." - AC Delco batteries are just fine, but in a pinch a battery from one of the 3 or 4 large manufacturers in the U.S will be OK.

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Submariner409

· #23 · Dec 25, 2012

Testing, testing............... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, out !

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