Often issues will pop up that will cause your automobile’s engine to start or not start at random and it could be something happening with the battery.
Sometimes something will crop up with a car that causes its engine to start at times and not start on other occasions. This is a critical situation because the vehicle may not start at the worst times and leave you stranded in an inconvenient or even dangerous situation. Experience shows that this could be anything from a failing battery to a corroded battery post.
An automobile’s battery has one major function and that is to start your car’s engine running from a turned-off condition. Often a battery will have enough power to start a car’s engine, but something simple could be blocking the power flow.
The battery has to have enough power to turn the starter fast enough to fire the engine. The power a battery is sending to the starter could drop for a variety of reasons.
Most of the troubleshooting on a car battery can be completed very quickly. Once the battery is visible, a twist on the battery cables near the posts will determine if the terminals are loose because they will move from side to side on the posts.
If they are loose, simply tighten the nuts that close the open ends of the terminals around the posts. Over time terminals may have been removed and reattached so often that it will no longer close tightly around the battery terminal post and should be replaced.
If there is a buildup of crusty white, yellowish or greenish material on the battery posts and terminals, then this is corrosion. This corrosion needs to be removed. Put on protective goggles and gloves before removing this substance.
There are several ways to remove this substance. Much of the corrosion can be simply scraped off with a wire brush. Once enough is removed to allow access to the nut that will loosen the terminal connector, then use the proper wrench size to remove the connector.
The battery post will probably be dull gray and should be cleaned. A battery terminal cleaner can be purchased for under $5 in many auto parts stores and it has wire bristles inside a circular opening that will fit over the battery post.
Turning the post cleaner back and forth will remove the corrosion and give the post a shiny metal contact surface that will conduct the maximum amount of electricity. The next thing to do is scrape around the inside contact area of the terminal connector with a file so that the conductive metal surface of the terminal is in direct contact with the clean battery post.
Reconnect the terminal to the battery post and tighten. Get in your vehicle and try to start the engine. If your car starts, the problem may have been solved by cleaning the battery posts and scraping the inside of the terminals.
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