Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackBumblebee
I keep it in a garage with a battery tender on. Odds are my battery is dead dead again so I’ll have to replace that a third time. I pray and hope replacing the starter will solve this whole thing. Fingers crossed my extended warranty will cover this starter replacement. Thank you
-Nate
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Glad to help where possible. Here are a few thoughts and note I have a good basic understanding of electricity but I am not an electrical engineer so my logic could be off.
- The slow crank on a hot start is the result of too much resistance in the circuit between the battery and the starter for the battery to overcome.
- What are the drivers for this extra resistance? - here are a few:
- The windings in the starter have become hot because the starter location
has poor ventilation/cooling. This is called heat soak. Note that if you hot
crank a starter long enough or often enough there can be damage to the
windings which is why a starter replacement can become necessary.
- The engine to body ground is poor or inadequate and this creates added
resistance that the battery can not overcome when combined with the
heat soak. That's why the engine starts fine on a cold start and that is
why my solution of adding another ground cable has helped me and
many others.
- The battery is too weak under the cranking load to overcome the circuit
resistance caused by the heat soak and/or poor ground. This is why a
new battery will work for a while but as soon as the cranking amps start
to drop off you'll get the slow crank.
Something beyond the thoughts offered above may be at play if you keep ending up with dead batteries. Do you have any type of aftermarket amps/stereo equipment, radar detector - etc. hardwired that could be causing a parasitic drain?
Before you take the car to the dealership remove the extra ground cable. Even though it can't hurt anything you don't want to give the dealership any excuse to deny service because they believe you have tried to fix this yourself.
Here is my best take for you:
Get the dealership to replace the starter and the starter relay. Make sure you have a strong battery and no parasitic losses somewhere. Then once you get the car back add back the ground cable. I believe this is the best path for you to get this problem behind you.
Good luck and keep us posted.