Sponsored

Car not starting

kanga80

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Threads
25
Messages
78
Reaction score
8
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle(s)
2016 Mustang GT
So I am not very mechanical or knowledgeable about cars. This morning when going to work I hop in my car, push the clutch, and push my start button. The car then proceeds to make a rapid clicking and doesn't start. I tried a couple times and same result. The odd thing is that the infotainment center powered right up. It did show a screen showing that it was about to power down to conserve battery. Anybody know what this issue is? Battery or Alternator is what google says.
Sponsored

 

Chhris

Active Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
34
Reaction score
33
Location
Orlando, Fl
First Name
Chris
Vehicle(s)
2017 Grabber Blue Mustang
So I am not very mechanical or knowledgeable about cars. This morning when going to work I hop in my car, push the clutch, and push my start button. The car then proceeds to make a rapid clicking and doesn't start. I tried a couple times and same result. The odd thing is that the infotainment center powered right up. It did show a screen showing that it was about to power down to conserve battery. Anybody know what this issue is? Battery or Alternator is what google says.
Could be many things, but battery is probably the one, starter could be the other one, but from the screen message is probably your battery, mustangs batteries and known for being bad lol
 

K4fxd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2020
Threads
102
Messages
10,367
Reaction score
8,504
Location
NKY
First Name
Dan
Vehicle(s)
2017 gt, 2002 FXDWG, 2008 C6,
Time for a battery
 

cerbomark

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2021
Threads
38
Messages
1,662
Reaction score
2,269
Location
TN
Vehicle(s)
21 Mach1 700, 6 Spd.#5558
Battery and then have alternator checked .
 

K4fxd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2020
Threads
102
Messages
10,367
Reaction score
8,504
Location
NKY
First Name
Dan
Vehicle(s)
2017 gt, 2002 FXDWG, 2008 C6,
Battery and then have alternator checked .
Start car and go to your display and look at the voltage, if 13 or over alt is fine.

Also remember these cars have smart charging so sometimes it will show 12.6 or so.
 

Sponsored

OP
OP

kanga80

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Threads
25
Messages
78
Reaction score
8
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle(s)
2016 Mustang GT
Start car and go to your display and look at the voltage, if 13 or over alt is fine.

Also remember these cars have smart charging so sometimes it will show 12.6 or so.
If I remember correctly the last time I drove it about a week ago, the voltage was above or at 13.
 

K4fxd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2020
Threads
102
Messages
10,367
Reaction score
8,504
Location
NKY
First Name
Dan
Vehicle(s)
2017 gt, 2002 FXDWG, 2008 C6,
These batteries seem to crap out around 3 years. Also the so called smart charging never charges more than 80% of battery capacity. IIRC flooded batteries need to be charged to 110% to de-sulfate.
 
OP
OP

kanga80

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Threads
25
Messages
78
Reaction score
8
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle(s)
2016 Mustang GT
These batteries seem to crap out around 3 years. Also the so called smart charging never charges more than 80% of battery capacity. IIRC flooded batteries need to be charged to 110% to de-sulfate.
I havent had any problem since I got it in February of 2016. But it has been raining a significant amount in FL recently.
 

melwff

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Threads
6
Messages
883
Reaction score
299
Location
Danbury,CT
Vehicle(s)
2021 Mach 1 M2486
Consider a smart trickle charger, greatly extends battery life.
 

K4fxd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2020
Threads
102
Messages
10,367
Reaction score
8,504
Location
NKY
First Name
Dan
Vehicle(s)
2017 gt, 2002 FXDWG, 2008 C6,
My 17 lasted till last month, I put an AGM it and set the charging map for AGM and have it charge to 100%
 

Sponsored

sk47

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2020
Threads
27
Messages
4,968
Reaction score
2,334
Location
North Eastern TN
First Name
Jeff
Vehicle(s)
Chevy Silverado & Nissan Sentra SE
Hello; Had to get a new battery today. I had car trouble last winter and got a new battery last December. Got the car repaired and had no problems until a week or two ago. Turned out to be a bad cell in the new battery.
Here is what I did to determine the likely issue. First I checked the voltage at idle with a volt/ohm meter set on DC voltage. Had over 14 volts so alternator seemed good.
Checked the static voltage at the battery terminals with the ignition off. and no power using items in use. Had over 12 volts. Two days later the static voltage was below 11 volts. Had to determine if I had a power drain or a bad battery.

Yesterday I disconnected the neg cable and then the pos cable from the battery. Put a slow charge on the battery until it was 100% on my charger. Static charge was 12.7 volts. I let the car sit nearly a day with the cables off. Checked the voltage and it had gone down to 11.3 volts with no power drain at all. So I went to the battery shop to have it tested.
(NOTE- some vehicles have memories that need to be saved and just undoing a battery can screw things up. There are ways to save the memories. Usually a device which plugs into a power outlet. Some have a 9 volt battery which will save the memory for you. So check this out first.)

The guy first used a handheld tester. Then he pulled the battery and used an acid tester. A tester with little floating balls in it. My new battery of eight months had a weak cell. He replaced the battery.

My car is 20 years old so does not have the power consuming electronics of newer vehicles. A car that sits for long can run down a battery. Driving a few miles apparently is not enough any more. The battery guy told me I might have to drive over two hundred miles to charge a battery that way. So some sort of charger may be a good plan. Be careful. Use what is called a float charger. These are trickle chargers with built in ways to turn itself off when the battery is charged. A regular charger, even a trickle type, will keep charging and can damage a battery if left too long.

Good luck
 
 




Top