Re: battery sparks and no-start

["David Teitelbaum <jtrealty@xxxx>" <jtrealty@xxxx>]

Being very cold will cause the engine to crank over slower. It should 
start though if the fuel and ignition systems are alright. Check for 
spark while cranking. If there is a large draw on the battery while 
cranking (bad Battery, or bad connections) the voltage at the engine 
ECU could go low enough so that there would be no spark. It may help 
to clean all of the "big" connections from the battery to the engine 
and frame. In these cold temperature NEVER let the battery go dead. 
When a battery is very low or dead the electolyte inside is water not 
acid and can freeze. If a battery is ever frozen then the plates 
inside buckle and short out to each other greatly reducing it's 
capacity. NEVER TRY TO JUMP START OR CHARGE A FROZEN BATTERY, IT COULD 
EXPLODE!!! If it is that cold and the car is not used regularly you 
should remove the battery from the car and keep it in a warm place.
David Teitelbaum
vin 10757 


--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Soma576@xxxx wrote:
> hey all,
> 
> two questions. 
> 
> 1. i put my battery back in my car yesterday and as i tried to put 
the 
> cables on it, the terminals sparked quite a bit. the ignition was 
off and i 
> have a courtesy light override, so i don't think there should be any 
draw to 
> cause sparking. any ideas? what does this mean?
> 
> 2. after doing that, i tried to start my car and it wouldn't start. 
first i 
> suspected a low battery.