Car Won’t Start & Just Clicks (Troubleshooting Dead Battery)

You have a dead car battery!

Auto mechanics hear these questions all the time:

  • Why do car batteries die so often in Arizona?
  • Is my car battery dead?
  • Why won’t my car start?
  • Who can replace my dead battery?

First, let’s talk about Arizona HEAT before looking for alternator repair shops near me

Arizona Summers are notorious for drying up battery water and exposing the lead cores.

Listen:

Car batteries are made up of multiple cells that consist of lead submerged in an acid liquid which creates the charge.

Why does my battery keep dying?

When it’s HOT your car battery is not only feeling the heat from the sun…

Phoenix Auto Repair Shop

…but there’s also engine heat cooking the water out of your battery!

There used to be caps on batteries that could be removed so water could be added to car batteries, but nowadays most cars have NO maintenance or sealed batteries.

Unfortunately, when these batteries start drying up there’s no way to refill them…so they die!

Hmm. Imagine if you owned a Tesla in Phoenix?

Now Let’s Cover Keeping Your Car Battery Clean

Keeping your battery clean from dirt and acid buildup (around the posts)  is the best way to extend your batteries life…

… and if you can add water, only add distilled water.

Warning only clean your battery if you are experienced and have proper safety equipment. BATTERIES can EXPLODE!

 6 Causes for a DEAD car battery:

  1. The car alternator is bad
  2. The car stereo is draining the battery
  3. Dome light stays on when doors are closed
  4. Electronic devices left plugged into an accessory plug
  5. Corroded battery cables and terminals
  6. The car was left sitting for months without running the engine

There’s not an indicator for low battery water but you might be interested in reading this DIY post about Why is My Check Engine Light Flashing.

How to clean battery terminals video

References
Hi guys doing my name is Mike what I have here is battery corrosion this has nothing to do with the make of the vehicle it’s basically any car that has a battery with battery corrosion I’m going to show you how to get rid of the corrosion clean it up nicely because this corrosion what it’s doing is it’s actually eating your power wire and your terminal so I never had corrosion up until this little red wire went on that is a wire to my amp I only have a 250 watt amp but I have no capacitor so therefore I get corrosion it’s really bad so I’m going to show you how to use it clean it up so everybody should have some pretty basic tools to be able to do this Shinae socket pretty much almost every car I worked on it’s pretty close to the same size this is an 8 millimeter and just because of the corrosion I needed to use a little ratchet just to loosen up a little bit you don’t need to take it all the way up probably should forewarn you that this is a good time for you to save all your radio stations just get that nice and loose and then just be able to take that off and just kind of hit that off right now do not want to blow on that corrosion get in your eyes is not not a good thing corrosion is very dangerous what you’re gonna need it’s like I said everybody pretty much has it we’re gonna use baking soda some water some paper towels just to clean it all up but now we have to get the all the corrosion off I don’t try and just put some baking soda down on there I had paper towels ready but I lost them and just just ran alongside the battery it’s obviously water in this ray if steps is possible more work and sometimes longer no trees were harmed in the making of this video just kidding babe and then you pour it right back into what just you know the only tool you’ll need is a say it’s a battery terminal cleaner so this you’re going to clean the actual part here okay and then now we have the same tool I just got this at the part store just take it but right on there just cleaning off there’s two different protectors that you can get you can get parry protector it’s a goop in a package or you can buy the canned let’s pray I tend to use the cans branstad of the gel just because there’s so much in here and this is just easier to take have a bunch of and reuse it nice and red we’re down there let’s get it snug enough boy where you can’t turn this anymore crank down since I’m already here with stuff just gave a little that’s right if sometimes the the terminal will get corroded so bad because it’s been there for so long and there’s nothing that anybody did about it because they know how to fix it they sell these shims that you can buy a little like middle caps you can just beat down on there so that there’s more room for ya terminal to grip on anyway you noticed that it doesn’t matter how tight you make this this still spins you may need to buy a new shim before you spend the $80 on a brand new battery so remember that shims that you can buy and I don’t I don’t need them for this car so unfortunate I can’t sure if I come across that I make a video and that is how you clean corrosion off the battery terminal doesn’t matter what kind of card is very minimal tools most of the that’s the equipment you have in your pantry and everybody has water right alright thanks for watching guys and make sure you subscribe to my channel so you can see when I post my next video I’m gonna be doing some more repairs on my vehicle and future vehicles in the future obviously and other vehicles in the future make sure you thumbs this up so that everybody can see this just like you have all right guys happy fixing your car…

 

DIY Tip:

This dummies guide gives step by step instructions for jump starting (with jumper cables) a car with a dead battery.

Don’t get stranded at work because your car stereo is draining the charge from your battery!

Leave a Reply