Big Mystery...

[BeaupreFan]

I have a 96 Jimmy that the last few weeks has been having some trouble starting in the mornings. I've found that when I hook up my battery charger/starter is starts just fine. Problem is that the battery tester says that the juice is just fine before it's even hooked to the charger. It's been getting progressivley worse here lately, to the point that if it sat for more than about 4-5 hours it wouldn't start without the charger. Yesterday, I was at a park for about an hour and it wouldn't start when I went to leave. Unfortunatley there isn't a power outlet withing a few hundred feet, so I made the five mile walk home. Tried jumping it with two differen't cars and that just didn't give it enough juice like the charger would.

This sucks! The obviious guess is that it's the battery, but it's a brand new battery and on the charger the needle is pegged in the green, so why does a plugged in charger/starter get it going when it already has juice..and why doesn't another car jumping it do the trick? Sorry for the rant, I'm just frustrated..They're going to tow my truck tonight if I don't get it outta there. AARRGGGGHH

 

[shaynehardy]

possibly a faulty battery, cables all clean and getting juice? or it could be a wire going to the starter.

 

[dirtclod]

You need to get a multimeter and check your amp draw with the ignition switch off. That will tell you if anything in the electrical circuit is pulling too much power.

 

[G-MAC]

Had a similar problem with my 95. Checked battery posts, cleaned positive up was thinking there was a fuel supply issue then rechecked posts and retightened negative side, viola`! Solved the problem. So I would crawl in, under, and around to check every connection on both pos and neg wires. If battery is up it must be a loose connection just not allowing the power to complete the circuit.