About a week ago I was working on my car and had my battery disconnected for a few hours. After reconnecting, I was unable to start the car. All I got was clicking. The lights were on, and would dim when trying to start the car. I had to jump the car to start it.

I let it sit for 20 min turned on, then turned it off. I tried turning it back on, and got the same clicking. Had to jump it again and drive it around for a half hour to recharge the battery enough so the car would start on its own.

It was fine for a few days. Then this morning, I tried starting it and got the clicking again. Could this be anything other than a bad battery? I did notice corrosion on the battery terminals recently, which I cleaned off. The car does not die when I'm driving it, so I don't think it's the alt.

How old is it?

The best battery setup will be some kind of Optima in the trunk, on top of some Dynamat or some other kind of rudimentary padding. I've had a Yellowtop for about 2 years now and it still holds a charge like when it was new. Vibration and a harsh engine bay environment will seriously shorten the life of a battery.

I just bought a Autozone Gold top with the 3 year warrenty, and bring it in for a new one every 2.5 years.

Less than 3 years old.

Check your battery wires for a bad connection. Be sure there is no corrosion on terminal. The bad connection could be at the body side of the wire (or in the wire). I would absolutely check these things first (it's free and I'm cheap :P ).

MB

Got a battery test at AutoZone, the battery was bad. Just learned that you're suppose to check water levels, especially in the summer here. Learned the hard way cause my battery was fried.

If you get an Optima Red top, you won't have to worry about water levels. It's sealed.

My Optima just crapped out on me, after about 5 1/2 years. Several attempts to resuscitate failed, so I went back to the Interstate Battery distributor near me where I got it for warranty service.

However, the pro-rata didn't make for much of a saving off the cost of a new replacement. Not wanting to lay out the cash at the moment, I got a 'reconditioned' one instead. Cost me just a little over $30 and has a 1 yr warranty. If it fails within that, it can be exchanged for another.

I was talking to Chris there (good guy), and he said that the reconditioned ones often are marked as such cos they are blems, fitment returns, or ran low once and were replaced instead of recharged. Hopefully it will stand up well for me.

juan

http://www.ibsa.com/www/distributors/us_distributors.asp

Interstate Batteries Of Southern California
444 North Waterman
San Bernardino, CA 92410
(909) 381-2082