Questions and Answers

Bad Battery? Q. I am a regular user of your site but have not found my answer on your site. My Corsica car battery is one month old. It does not hold charge when I park it. When I took it to battery test and AVA test they say that the battery is fine and that my car has problem or short circuit.

But the thing is that even when it shows 12.50 volts it still does not start the car. The moment I try to start the current drops to 11.5 volts. But I assume that the car should even start with 11.5 volts. It does not. I checked all fuses one by one but there was no problem. Ultimately I found out that the battery gets charged but starts to deplete current at the rate of .05 volts every 10 seconds when I switch off the ignition and within two to five minutes it drops and settles down at 11.6 volts. If left at night it drops to 8.5 volts.

I removed the battery and tested it on my van to confirm if there was anything wrong with my car. On van the battery got charged in the same manner as on car. I turned off the key after 15 minutes of charging and tested the current with voltmeter. It showed 12.50. But when I tried to start the van, it did not start. The ignition did not even attempt to start the starter, means like a dead battery. I checked the voltage again; it had already dropped to 11.4 volts. I again attempted after some rest. It still did not start the van.

I repeated the process by boosting and restarting the van. After charging I attempted to restart the van, it did not. Hence concluded that there is nothing wrong with my car but the battery is bad. The funny thing is that sometimes the voltage climbs up from say 11 volts to 11.15 volts and sometimes it drops on an unconnected battery. But when I took it for warranty replacement they say everything is fine.

I am frustrated and am have been stuck many times on the road with this new battery. Once even the car stopped on its own while idling. I am assuming that though the battery shows a temporary charge there is not enough strength/amperes in the battery to start the car. Is voltage and specific gravity only the sure test of a battery or anything else like amperage also can cause problem? Please advise me urgently as today I am stuck at home with my children who are on Christmas break.

I am anxious to see how much time you take to reply.

Regards,
Partap

A. First off, I answer the questions I receive in the order I receive them. I get a great many questions every day and it can be as long as three or four days until I answer a particular question. I do the best I can and answer all the questions I get, but to answer a question the same day I get is a rare occurrence for me.

Second of all be happy you are "stuck" with your kids. I've seen my two sons once in the last six years and I would love to be "stuck" with them over Christmas. I'm not trying to be nasty, just pointing out you should be grateful you can spend the holidays with your children.

Now as for your problem, if you put the new battery in another car and it now has the same problem as the first car, the problem is the battery. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's good. It could very well have an internal short that will show voltage but the amps are not there for car starting. If the place you bought the battery from will not warranty it for you, buy one from another place and do not return to the place you got the first one.

They may have got the money for the bad battery from you, but you can make sure it's the last money they will ever get from you.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA