jdjones2010

My battery is fine & so is the alternator but something is pulling my battery down every couple of days. Also every now & then it will drag when I start it. Can a Bad starter drain the battery? Thanks for any Help.

jdjones2010

Guys, I did some more searching on some of the older threads & it definitely sounds like the culprit is the starter!

ivangene

ok

Barn996

Maybe a bad ground or corrosion of the ground connection from the battery to the chassis. Just reread an article in Excellence Oct. 2010 , lots of helpful ideas. GL

samk

Check the starter current, It should be around 750 Amps.

logray

It's not hard to remove the starter and you can bring it to a local parts store such as Napa. They will bench test it for free and give you a computer printout of how well it performs (or doesn't).

Macster

Well, it is a rare starter failure that can pull down a battery. The starter is not powered except when the key is turned to the start position which energizes a solenoid which not only engages the starter motor pinion gear with the ring gear on the flywheel but concurrently with this action closes an electrical contact which turns on the starter motor. When the engine starts and the key moves to the run position from teh start postion the solenoid is turned off and the pinion gear retracted and of course the power to the starter motor is cut.

My WAG is the car's battery is the problem. A slow crank symptom is typically a weak battery. Note the battery may test ok after the engine is started and run some but if the engine is shut off and the battery tested hours later the battery can be quite down on power.

Sincerely,

Macster.

logray

Have a look at this as well regarding corroded main cables.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic...ltage-problems

Lv03911

I agree with Macster. Get your battery to point where it fully charged. Remove one of the cables for A couple of days and the reconnect them and see it it starts normally or not. if its dragging look at your battery.
Sometimes batteries develop internal shorts that discharge them.
If it starts ok then you appear to have something discharging the battery, but it is probably not the starter.

jdjones2010

Thanks Guys, A lot of very helpful suggestions. One of the mechanics doesn't think its the starter either, I'm taking it to them monday & getting it checked out (will let you know what the conclusion is). Does anybody know about what I should expect labor wise (its a 2000 model with 68k miles) if I do have to remove the starter & if it is bad, is it better to buy a new one or repair the old one. The guy at the starter/alternator shop said he could repair it for about $100-$200 (does that sound about right). Thanks Again.