[Jbob]

I've got a '98 Sable that's doing something weird. When I try to start it in the morning, I get nothing when I turn the key, no solenoid chatter, no dashlights, nothing, and the clock is dead. The battery tests fine and I replaced the terminals with new. For the rest of the day, it starts fine. If I put the leads from my jumper pack on the terminals, everything instantly returns to normal and the key alarm starts dinging--this is without actually even turning the jumper battery on, so it draws no juice from the pack. It seems to be just hooking the pack up that changes something and then the car starts fine, though the clock is back to 12:00 to show that it's been without power. Any thoughts about what's going on?

 

[jag1959]

Sounds like a 'dead cell' or an internal short in the battery. When you say "the battery tests fine" was it checked with a meter or was it load tested?

 

[Jbob]

Sounds like a 'dead cell' or an internal short in the battery. When you say "the battery tests fine" was it checked with a meter or was it load tested?

No, not load tested, at least I don't think. I checked it with my multimeter and then took it to O'Reilly and let them hook it up to their machine-in-a-box and they said it tested as "good." Load testing is when you crank it with the lights on and see if they dim? I'll give that a try tonight. Thanks!

 

[Architect]

If the clock is dead, there is simply NO connection between the cables and the battery posts because jumping those connections with another battery works. They are either not clean (you could brush or sand them), they are not properly tightened or they are the wrong size (and therefore always loose).