'99 V70. No start condition MVSOLVED. New batt cables

Post by **E Showell** » 16 Feb 2015, 12:18

Haven't changed the VR, but the alternator tests good according to my mechanic.

draser · Post by **draser** » 16 Feb 2015, 12:29

Being discharged and depending on exposure it may have frozen. I believe you don't have the cell caps so you can't look in there. Charge/discharge cycles are actually good for lead acid batteries.

Post by **E Showell** » 16 Feb 2015, 12:32

Ok, so I just put my voltmeter on the battery. It is showing 0.19V, and no that is not a typo and yes, the probes were on the correct posts. Should I be having the funeral for this battery now?

Update: My batttery is an Interstate MegaTron II Group 47 battery. It has a two year replacement window and was purchased new in late May of 2013. My local mechanic will give me a free replacement so we should be good to go after that.

Post by **misha** » 16 Feb 2015, 13:58

Like i said before...you have major parasitic drain or a shorted cell in a battery.

Post by **E Showell** » 16 Feb 2015, 15:43

The warranty replacement battery arrived at 12.44V charge. I popped it in the car and drove on the highway for c. 45-50 min. at about 3,000 RPM on the tach. Outside temperature is 18F. I measured the voltage at the battery posts after the highway run and got 12.68V. Interestingly, I kept the voltmeter probes on the posts for a little bit and the voltage continued to rise, albeit at a greatly diminishing rate, the longer I held the probes in place. I don't know whether it would have climbed over 12.68, since it was getting too cold to keep standing there.

Update: I noticed the passenger side rear reading light had been left on when I went to take the car for a ride after putting in the replacement battery. My mechanic will recharge mine, while I use his "loaner" battery. That should be the end of the no start issue.

Post by **abscate** » 17 Feb 2015, 09:52

E Showell wrote:Ok, so I just put my voltmeter on the battery. It is showing 0.19V, and no that is not a typo and yes, the probes were on the correct posts. Should I be having the funeral for this battery now?

Update: My batttery is an Interstate MegaTron II Group 47 battery. It has a two year replacement window and was purchased new in late May of 2013. My local mechanic will give me a free replacement so we should be good to go after that.

It sounds like you got a shorted cell, which discharged the battery which then froze.

I hope this is near the end!!!

Post by **E Showell** » 17 Feb 2015, 10:09

Yeah -- Except for the leak under the car I notice six inches inboard of the front wheel on the driver's side when I was underneath affixing the negative battery cable. It was too cold for me to assess. I am hoping it is not a rear main seal leak and it appears to be very slow, but there was a lot of fluid clinging to the underside of the car in that spot. I did not investigate to determine whether it was ATF or engine oil and it isn't leaving a puddle on my gravel driveway, so it was difficult to assess from the residue on the ground.

Thankfully, the car is at my mechanic's today to look at an unrelated issue that I could probably fix myself, but it is just too damn cold to be doing car work right now. I am hoping it is a leaking axle seal from having had the sway bar end link failure a while back. If so, I have the seal and my mechanic will install it.

Post by **E Showell** » 18 Feb 2015, 10:07

Let's close this out on the no-start issue. Battery recharged, interior lights off, new negative cable and B+ cable and the car seems to be starting fine including in 5 degree F temps. this morning after it got down to zero F or below last night. I think the starting issue is resolved (unless it is a fluky starter) in which case I'll be suspecting that the next time it fails to start.

Now on to the transmission fluid leak -- but it has to get a bit warmer before I even seriously investigate that.

Post by **regent** » 18 Feb 2015, 10:40

Fluky starters often develop excessive draw, which can eat the battery in a very short order; you could put a DC clamp-on meter on any of the battery cables to read the cranking current, or ask advanceauto or autozone to do that for free

Post by **erikv11** » 09 Mar 2015, 22:15

So the 854 would not start for my daughter this afternoon, positive cable lug is almost hot enough to the touch to burn me. Time to replace that with a custom one, thanks all for this thread.