I have a Red Optima battery....could a fully charged battery not have enough amps to turn over cold engine?
Battery 101 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter keithianminton
- Start date
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Yes, it can? If your suggesting you battery is reading full voltage after charging but is sluggish starting your engine, You should do a voltage drop test. Pull the coil wire and read voltage at the battery terminals while cranking. I believe 9.6 volts is the lowest it should go.
- Thread starter
- #4
Yes very sluggish start with full charge.
See post 2.
forum.ih8mud.com
2F motor won’t budge but not frozen when hand cranked,
Hi, I was looking to see if anybody knew why a 1980 fj40 2f motor won’t start, even with fully charged new battery and new starter. Just purchased from owner who said it started right up for them. Has new plugs wires and distributor cap From previous owner. It hand cranks over and motor...
forum.ih8mud.com
Basics apply as well.
Missing ground strap, dirty terminals, dragging starter motor.
Missing ground strap, dirty terminals, dragging starter motor.
cold is a relative term,
0F it should do it with no issue
-30F barely, but it should still turn it over just slower
X2 to above, bad connections, grounds
age of battery?
- Thread starter
- #8
Not sure how I’d the battery is but the starter looks pretty old. The battery looks on the newer side. What starter would you recommend?...gear reduction or OEM?
- Thread starter
- #9
That battery is old. . .What is the voltage?
The Optima is from 2015, most likely time for a new battery. Neither of my red Optimas lasted 5+ years, I'd say you got your moneys worth with that one. If you still have issues a gear reduction starter is a great upgrade.
In looking at your photos I noticed a couple of things. First battery posts are different sizes with the positive post being slightly larger than the negative post. I noticed that your clamp on the negative post is "Red" and most likely sized for the positive post. Your positive clamp is not painted and most likely sized for the negative terminal and looks deformed. There is also rust on the positive terminal clamp.
What I would do is remove the clamps. Clean the outside of the posts and the inside of the clamps. Reassemble with the "Red" clamp on the positive terminal and unpainted on the negative terminal. Clean any connections before re-attaching them and ensure the battery was at full charge before trying to start. Load testing the battery would also tell you if it was defective.
Even if the battery tests low but not shorted out it may be saveable. There are chargers/battery tenders like CTEK that can revive sulfated batteries. 5 years is old for some batteries but I have a Red Top that is over 10 years old and still doing fine.
What I would do is remove the clamps. Clean the outside of the posts and the inside of the clamps. Reassemble with the "Red" clamp on the positive terminal and unpainted on the negative terminal. Clean any connections before re-attaching them and ensure the battery was at full charge before trying to start. Load testing the battery would also tell you if it was defective.
Even if the battery tests low but not shorted out it may be saveable. There are chargers/battery tenders like CTEK that can revive sulfated batteries. 5 years is old for some batteries but I have a Red Top that is over 10 years old and still doing fine.
jim land
SILVER Star
My red and yellow optima still work fine after 20 years of use .
Have your battery tested
Have your battery tested
Jeeez! I never noticed that before, You made me go out in the dark to measure mine.
Cromagnon
SILVER Star
Back on 3 Dec I posted this to one of your other threads. Did you forget this or just choose to ignore it? "Both of the small red wires require fusible links at the battery, not somewhere else downstream (upstream if you follow hole theory) in the circuit. Also there is some BS Black tape on the smaller of the two large red wires covering up a "boo boo" in the insulation. Cut it out and re-terminate it using ring terminals. The long term solution would be to get an appropriate custom battery cable so you don't keep revisiting this problem as the connections age."
You really need to understand the system you are working on and use a holistic approach towards remediating any deficiencies. You can replace the battery as it is pushing 6 years old, I have two that are older. A different tack would be to start with the connectors, wires and fusible links first. With the connectors that you have you are loosing a significant amount of energy right at the beginning. Your choice but it seems you are shopping for answers.
You really need to understand the system you are working on and use a holistic approach towards remediating any deficiencies. You can replace the battery as it is pushing 6 years old, I have two that are older. A different tack would be to start with the connectors, wires and fusible links first. With the connectors that you have you are loosing a significant amount of energy right at the beginning. Your choice but it seems you are shopping for answers.
- Thread starter
- #16
That is an old picture to show battery it self...this how I received the Fj a few months ago. Since then I have replaced the main positive to starter and negative to ground. Both have new battery terminals. I will go out today to have battery tested. Thank you! After all that I am still having problem....and no I did not ignore.
- Thread starter
- #17
Ok so I changed out the battery for a new 1/21 dated red optima and still the same problem. The starter just keeps running when I turn the key the starter just keeps going and does not turn over... would this be a potential starter issue or coil? I have put in new plugs and wires. Frustrating
- Thread starter
- #19
Wire from battery to started then wire to the coil. On thing it could be is my electronic choke is wide open...if I am correct the flaps on the choke should be closed when starting cold...trying to figure out how to check this out. Any ideas...I have a Weber carb.
pb4ugo
SILVER Star
This makes no sense.
When the starter just "keeps running" is it cranking/turning over the engine or does the starter just spin/make noise and the engine doesn't crank? Does the starter stop when you let off the key?
