97 lumina - starting problem

[skasula]

Hi,

I have 97 lumina with 80K miles and have been having starting problems or won't start unless jump is really good.

Yesterday, a mile from work stopped car to pick up something. remote key worked but on trying to start the car didn't start. dash lights were acting funny everytime I tried to turn the key off and on. A nice guy tried to give me a jump start, initially it didn't work, he tested with voltmeter and said the voltage at the battery was dropping to 7volts whenever I tried starting. so we used second jumper cable and sure enough car started. Went home and foolishly stopped the car, here I borrowed my neighbour's jump starter, that didn't start the car after couple of attempts, dash lights, dome light everything would die, let it charge a few seconds and try again lights would come back on but wouldn't start so removed the jump starter and left the battery charger on all night to charge the battery and in the morning same thing, no start, after few attempts lights went off completely. As a final resort, tried jumping from my neighbour's vehicle (tundra) Guess! it starts. So I put it in the reverse back up a little bit and tried putting it in forward gear. car dies. neighbour said it is the load on changing gears and when the rpm goes down it is killing the car, so jump started again from tundra, drove to work using both legs one on brake and another on accelerator idling high at stop signs and red lights. got to work now but not sure if it will start again.

questions--

Is it the battery or someother component that has failed or failing? battery is around 3 years old.
Why didn't the car jump start with jump starter being it fully charged! even the battery charger with 50 amps setting didn't do the trick. jump start from a vehicle starts the car!! what is the difference?

another question--

I recently had intake manifold gasket leak fixed but I am still loosing coolant, once every 2 weeks I have to add coolant. A/C is not blowing cold. could these 2 be related!

thanks for any help.
SK

[jeffcoslacker]

Sounds like the battery is shorted internally if the cables are tight and everything...battery with a shorted cell will act like that (show full charge, then fall on its face) need to have it load tested after a full slow charge, my guess is under load it will fall off scale right away.

Also you can't trust the charging voltage reading with a shorted battery, don't get fooled into an alternator you may not need. If the alternator wasn't charging, it would have lit the "volts" light on the dash...

If you have a battery with caps on top, you'll notice the tell-tale sulphur odor of a shorted cell with them off...may even see a little wisp of smoke from the bad one when charging...

[skasula]

Jeff,

You were correct, it was battery problem, other day I managed to bring the car to pepboys as the battery was under warranty. They changed the battery out but managed to charge me $36+ (electrical diagnostic, battery installation, etc..whatever crap they wanted) with free battery. Car works good now. I asked them what the problem was with old battery and were dumb founded could not answer just said changing the battery took care of the problem..so lame of them.
Thanks for clarifying why it was behaving that way.

my second question regarding intake manifold gasket, why am I still loosing coolant, can you give me some guidance to troubleshooting.

thanks again
SK

[jeffcoslacker]

The two shouldn't be related. The A/C operates independantly of the cooling system, aside from radiator/condensor fan operation.

Does the A/C cool at all?

As far as the leak goes, hard to say, but I find it helpful to look behind and under things with a small mirror, you'll see places you could never see otherwise...lotta times you'll spot seepage you didn't see otherwise. Check all around the intake, timing cover (behind the power steering pump and down to the crank pulley), under the throttle body, under the water pump (if leaking it will show a trail from behind the pulley) etc...

How much coolant do you add after two weeks?

[ronald.nadeau]

Originally Posted by skasula

Jeff,


my second question regarding intake manifold gasket, why am I still loosing coolant, can you give me some guidance to troubleshooting.

thanks again
SK

Check your oil to make sure that the intake gasket is not leaking into the crankcase.

[NocturnalCreations]

if u have no visible external leaks then it might be getting in the combustion chamber somehow.

You need to pressure test the a/c system.You might just need refrigerant. If u dont have a pressure gauge, at least look at the compressor to see if the clutch is engaging with the a/c turned on.