Sluggish Sound when starting

[ubetcha]

When I turn the key, the car doesn't always start right up. I will see the dash lights on and a weak battery light indicator comes on, and then I'l get the pathetic sluggish sound and finally it revs up like normal. I have a 2 month old battery in it, but had it checked and it's good, as well as the starter and the alternator. This doesn't happen every time I start the car, luckily 90% of the time it starts right up. Any clues as to what might be causing this problem?

[tripletdaddy]

Did you have the starter bench tested or just in the engine? What was tested? It could be on its way out. Otherwise, you will need to go over all of your battery, starter, ground connections looking for corrosion and looseness. I have found the ignition switch wire to the starter to loosen and get dirty at the starter. It is the smallest wire and is a standard spade connector. Hopefully the basics is all you need. Let us know how it turns out.

[shorod]

Also, since the problem doesn't happen all the time, what's to say that when the battery was tested was one of the times the cranking would have been sluggish. If the connections are clean and secure and the charging system checks out, you could have an intermittent connection between a couple of cells in the battery that is causing the sluggish cranking. The "battery" indicator in the instrument cluster is generally a charging system indicator rather than a weak battery indicator. It generally comes on if the charging system is not charging sufficiently.

-Rod

[ubetcha]

Originally Posted by tripletdaddy

Did you have the starter bench tested or just in the engine? What was tested? It could be on its way out. Otherwise, you will need to go over all of your battery, starter, ground connections looking for corrosion and looseness. I have found the ignition switch wire to the starter to loosen and get dirty at the starter. It is the smallest wire and is a standard spade connector. Hopefully the basics is all you need. Let us know how it turns out.

OK....First things first... believe just the engine tested, whatever quick test they do at Checkers. This will be printed out and added to the "honeydo" list for this weekend. Thanks for the quick response. OH...after posting, noticed in another post the friendly suggestion of routine maint. to check the fuel filter...oops! Have had it a year now and haven't done that...So that will be the first and than all the wonderful hints from you and shorod!

[ubetcha]

Thanks for the quick response. Will be trying the basic fuel filter change first and than all the great suggestions between you and trippletdaddy! We will let you know the results!

[mannyjfk]

Can you tell us what is the size of the battery? I had the same issue and the problem was that the battery was only 450CCA. I got a new one that has 850CCA and is like a baby.
Hope it helps.