had a car starter put in a month ago this past week have had to boost the car 2'x.?

Question

startr people told me that it isn't the starter or the way it was put in and the auto repair shop tells me it is nothing electricial. any ideas.

Answer 1

Hi Marge,,

I agree with the other folks,,,have the battery properly checked.

Batteries are marketted as "24month" ,,36Month,,60month,,and so on,,,reffering to their service life.

Truth is,,,generally speaking 3 years is about the maximum SOLID life of a Battery.
They're tricky things.
Any 1 year old battery is fresh enough that it can take a lot of "abuse",,,,discharges,frequent starts for
only short trips without much Run>Charge time,
extended dormant periods of not driving.

They can be recharged and be "98% Fine",,or better.
The "abuse" has little effect on them.

Time and Age are what gets to them.
It may seem fine at 2yrs~2.5~3yrs old,,,
but it's actual capacity to Recovery is Greatly diminished by Time.

An older battery gets Frail.
Leaving the lights on,,or even a bad starter putting a tuff load on a battery,,,can "push the Batt over the edge".
It just finishes the Batt's remaining life in an episode or 2.

Car Owners Very Often face the situation of,,
"I brought my car in for a Starter,,,but Battery was Fine...now a short time later they say I need a New Battery",,or even an Alternator.
That's Always Frustrating,,,and often Suspicious.

The Nature of Batteries is such that it's very possible to have it's remaining life greatly shortened,,or depleted by a faulty starter.
And Alternators get put under a strain when connected to a failing battery.

It's a Nitemare for both Customer AND Shop when that happens,,
And it's not unheard of the get that chain-reaction/cycle thing going.
Starter this week,,Battery the next,,then the Alternator.

I'm not suggesting that You should EXPECT such a chain of events,,,it's uncommon,,,,but it does happen.
And there's logical,technical reasons/explanations.
Regardless how "fishy" it can seem at times.

Your Repair Shop's comment about a Dead Battery being "nothing electrical" is a curious comment.
What is a Battery and everything about it,,if not electrical?

I'd suggest trying another repair shop.
I'm not Bashing them,,,It may have a slight,,or obscure,,or intermittent problem.
Even so,,,anyone should have been able to come up with a better answer than that,,,,in my opinion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You COULD have something Draining the Batt.

Things like Light in the trunk or engine compartment,,or even Glove box can get stuck ON sometimes and drain a battery.
Even brake lights,their switch can stick.
Those things are Not Common,,,and it seems like any such problem would be obvious,,,but it does happen often enough.

The Battery's Charging System can be tricky at times--The Alternator & Voltage Regulator.
They commonly fail due to the failure of some small electronic/semi-conductor gizmos inside them called Diodes.

Diodes are devices that function as "One-Way Check Valves".
They let the Charging Electricity go TO the Battery,,,
and also they prevent the Battery's electricty from flowing Backwards OUT of the battery to "ground".

Most Often they just burn-out,,sorta like a fuse or light bulb.
And since part of their job is to Conduct electricity TO the battery,,,such a failure simply "disconnects" the battery from the Charging Alternator.
This makes for a clear & distinct "NO CHARGING" condition,,
an obviously Bad Alternator.

Diodes also work to covert the Alternator's "Push<>Pull" Alternating Current into Direct Current,, which is a steady stream necessary to charge the battery.
Most any Test Equipment,and any mechanic can spot the results of a fault here.
The alternator SEEMS like it's charging,,,but it's Weak Output.
And the Push/Pull Alternating Current usually damages a battery.


The 3rd type of failure that's common,,,is for a Diode to "LEAK".
It still conducts electricity to the battery in the proper direction,
But it Fails to Block the current from the battery going back to ground.
The Leakage is always Small,,,too much and it will burn out completely like a fuse.
The Effect of the slight leakage & backflow is the exact same thing Electrically as having a small lightbulb turned on.
It simply gradually & steadily drains the battery everytime the car is not running.

You can jumpstart the car,,and drive it all day,,and start it several several times,,,,and it seems fine.
But let it SIT overnight ,,,and it drains the battery.

I've seen Leaking Diodes mis-diagnosed,or simply Missed,,more than any other alternator problem.
Especially back in 60's & 70's when semiconductor electronics were still mysterious to many people.

Voltage Regulator>>does just as it's name implies,,,PLUS.
It controls the charging rate to the battery in a proper range.
It ALSO turns Off & On the Alternator.
Most Voltage Regulators these days are solid state electronics.
They can fail intermittently,or work erractically.
That's Tricky in itself.
Again,,most test instruments & technicians can spot a Faulty one easily.
But,,iif it happens to be working when it's tested---it's Deceptive,,gives a False Positive.
2 minutes Later,,it may not work at all,,,and then tommorrow it seems fine again.

The Intermittent Nature of some electrical faults is where seemingly ridiculous statements come from,,such as "It's Not an Electrical Problem"....even while The Battery is Obviously going dead.
'Cuz of,,everything Checks Out OK,,,at the Time It's Checked.

Any decent Technician understands that characteristic of electrical systems,,and is capable of Cross Checking/Double Checking the various components' function to verify it is indeed good or not.

One other thing,,,,very obscure and rarely seen.
Ignition Switch itself....the Electrical Contact part,,,not the KeyLock part.
If the Voltage Regulator turns ON the Alternator,,,
Something has to Turn On the Regulator.
The Ignition Switch does that,,,it's got a dedicated set of contacts which turn on Battery Power to the Regulator so it can do it's job.
Again,,it's RARE to have problems with the ignition switch.
And even when there is a prob,,,,it does not produce a Batt Draining fault,,,it makes a NO CHARGING fault.

Last is the most obvious stuff,,Cables and Connections.
Generally speaking,,if you can jump start it,,,there's a better than 50/50 chance the cables & connectors are "good enough".
That's NOT absolute,,,but if the things were very bad at all,,,
"100 batteries" connected to it wouldnt start it.
Bad Connection,,, is a Bad Connection.

Just as a Guesstimate,,,when a car must be jumped a couple times in a week,,,,the assumption is that it's "sorta" working.
NOT totally "dead".

In some kind of Order,,,the Odds of what's wrong are:

#1 Bad Battery
Your symptoms and the recent repair history make Bad Battery #1 Suspect.(But don't just arbitrarily install a new one.!)
A New Battery Never Hurts---but you NEED to find Actual Problem.
The Batt itself could be either,,A Symptom of another problem,,
Or simply THE Problem in itself.
Get it Tested.

#2 Battery Connections/Cables/Clamps
#3 Bad Alternator
#4 Bad Voltage Regulator
**Key Swich is Possible,but so rare it's not worth mentioning
***There are wires & connectors for all the above,,but faults there too are extremely rare,,and typically quite obvious.

Good Luck with it.

Answer 2

1st check the alternator take the red off the battery put it in something rubber so it wont short out if the car stays running the alternator is fine put it all back together
check the battery can you check the fluid levels
how old is the battery they usually give up after 5 yrs
so change it
if it nothing electrical then it is the starter is bad yes they can be bad out of the box or rebuilt
but find another auto repair shop these guys should have checked what i just said no charge
good luck

Answer 3

Most probably's yes. The whole thing is floored people driving 10 year old cars don't do this for the fun of it. It's because they cant afford anything else. So knocking 2 grand off say a ten grand car still leaves you with 8 grand to find. It's a pointless gimmick that wont make any impact what so ever :)

Answer 4

Sometimes the battery can go bad and the best way to check a battery is to check each cell with a hydrometer. You can purchase them at auto zone cheap/ This way you will know how many bad cells you have and where. Normally if the bad cells are near the post of the NEG or POS it's shot.

Answer 5

1st I would pull off your battery connections (NOTE: Negative 1st then the Positive, put on Positive 1st then the negative, don't wear any metal jewelery while doing this) and ensure they are clean then reinstall and ensure they are tight. If the problem continues you need to have the battery checked. They need to check to ensure that the battery is holding it's cranking amps and to see that there is not a current drawl or parasitic drawl that is slowly draining the battery while the car is parked.

Answer 6

have your battery check .by the way ifyour car won't start it obvious that it is an electrical problem, anyways if the battery is fine then whoever put your starter in didn't do it right

Answer 7

check for loose connections on the starter an the battery. then load test your battery it may have a dead or weak cell.you are not getting full voltage for some reason .

Answer 8

Get the battery checked. You may need a new one.

Answer 9

it might be your alternator, because that thing is suppose to recharge your battery when you drive.