My car battery won't charge

I got 7 years out of an Optima Yellow Top deep cycle, and it had a pretty rough life.

Did give me plenty of warning before it finally went last October, though...I just was an idiot and expected it'd go a bit longer, of course.

Have some cheap Duralast wet cell in there now becuase I needed a battery then and there, I think whenever I start driving more often that's getting swapped out for a Powermaster AGM :) Them's some nice batteries...
 
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but here's a very simple way to check for parasitic draws on a battery, and to try and track them down:

Disconnect one battery terminal, positive or negative, it doesn't matter. ONLY disconnect one terminal. Leave the other one alone.

Wire up a 12 volt lightbulb between the disconnected terminal and the battery post it's supposed to connect to. A taillight bulb would be fine. If the bulb glows, you have something drawing current from the battery. Start pulling fuses until you find the culprit.
 
A doctorate dissertation concerning the quantum physics surrounding the various types of chargers, and a master's thesis on the physical/chemical makeup of the conventional lead-acid storage battery won't get his 'effing car started!!!......

You're obviously not following the thread very well...... the detailed discussion of the smart Chargers was AFTER, I was told to look for horses. My point was that the charger showing only 2 amps, as stated by the OP, can mean several things..... pay attention.
 
One good thing about the car is
it has side post battery connections.

I have never ever cleaned the battery connnections

Never had to - they never get corroded/dirty - never a problem.

Kinda strange actually.

I have trouble with mine......on the original battery the postive terminal corroded on the inside, where I couldn't see it. Even after I cleaned it up the battery was toast, and wouldn't provide enough current to turn the truck over. I replaced it with a Walmart battery, making sure to use dielectric grease on the connections..... the grease allows the connection to loosen..... I can't win. The only thing I can think of it to use blue locktite...... it should keep moisture out, like the grease, and also keep the bolt torqued. Hopefully.
 
If your gonna use a light bulb for a draw test remember that radio's use power to keep station preset and time set,on some newer cars the computer will draw power...having the door open to pull fuses will cause a draw...same with the hood..and glove box..depends on where the fuse box is.Make sure you take the normal draw into account before you start pullin fuse's.Can sometimes make findin the draw harder.That's why i use a muli meter to test for draw...much better at showing what's taking power.
 
I never use any grease or anything

it just stays clean and allways works

knock on sheetmetal :yes:
 
I..making sure to use dielectric grease on the connections..... the grease allows the connection to loosen..... I can't win. The only thing I can think of it to use blue locktite...... it should keep moisture out, like the grease, and also keep the bolt torqued. Hopefully.

Also worthy of mention is that dielectric grease and Locktite are both insulators.

I'd just clean it all up and put nothing into the connections. Spray some of that battery terminal goop all around the outside of the connection after it's put together, if you want to.
 
If your having trouble with sideterminal conectors trim the rubber/plastic away from the center of the conector.The weather seal (the red and black covers on your battery ends)is most times swollen keeping the terminal ring inside the conector away from the battery post.You don't have much of a bolt going into the sidepost...these covers on the cable end make it worse some times.
 
If the battery won't take a charge, it's either the charger, or the battery, sounds like both. If it charges, but won't start the car, it's likely corrosion on the terminals. (it's good to clean the terminals and connections every now and then anyway.) If it dies after a few days then there's probably a short somewhere. Which can be hard to find in these early 70s cars because that's just when they started filling them with all kinds of silly electrical circuits nobody wanted, like that seat belt buzzer thing. Check the light in the glove box, that was shorting the battery in my '72 Impala for a while. (it could also be, although it's less likely, the alternator itself or the voltage regulator) By the way, is there any truth to the old story that if you leave a battery directly on a cement floor it will drain the charge? Never made any sense to me, but I always left a good battery up on a block of wood just in case.

There was truth about car batteries being drained down on cement when they were the tar type. Modern auto batteires won't drain on cement, unless the battery (case) is extremely dirty or wet. A dirty battery on top can drain it's self, you can test this with a common volt meter. You don't see this much now- as most auto batteries are sealed, and rarely leak acid.
 
If your having trouble with sideterminal conectors trim the rubber/plastic away from the center of the conector.The weather seal (the red and black covers on your battery ends)is most times swollen keeping the terminal ring inside the conector away from the battery post.You don't have much of a bolt going into the sidepost...these covers on the cable end make it worse some times.

Ford are top mount.
 
Also worthy of mention is that dielectric grease and Locktite are both insulators.

I'd just clean it all up and put nothing into the connections. Spray some of that battery terminal goop all around the outside of the connection after it's put together, if you want to.

I'd avoid the grease, as it attracts dirt and moisture-old technology A anti corrision spray is much better, such as NOCO, this is used quite heavily in the heavy duty trucking industry, and motorhomes as well, as both rely heavily on their batteries. Heavy truck batteries for example are really exposed to the elements, and a quick look at their batteries will show the are heavily coated with this red spray-works great.
 
i wouldnt ever buy another discount battery. wally worlds batteries are good for maybe a year or two..

You might be surprised how many battery brands are nearly identical and how few battery manufacturing plants there actually are. I did some work in a Johnson Controls facility around here. They make many brands that look to be identical. I can recognize them by the covers. Many different brands on them.

It is an awful, nasty process.
 
Also worthy of mention is that dielectric grease and Locktite are both insulators.

Yes, but the idea is that they take up the space that is not in metal to metal contact. It keeps moisture out.

I'd just clean it all up and put nothing into the connections. Spray some of that battery terminal goop all around the outside of the connection after it's put together, if you want to.

Well, nothing on the connection is what I had when the positive side got so corroded inside. There where hardly any threads left on the stud....... yet looked fine from the outside. I don't see how the spray will do much for a side post....... to many layers of material including rubber. I suppose I can re-evaluate this, Though...... been having trouble with it again....... it comes loose and the truck dies and/or won't start. Maybe this weekend when it's not cold and rainy!
 
Yes, but the idea is that they take up the space that is not in metal to metal contact. It keeps moisture out.

Sure, but since the stuff isn't solid I think it makes it hard to retain the clamping force of the joint.

Probably viewed as overkill by most, but I actually use a torque wrench on the side terminal posts on my vehicles.

The spray is merely an attempt to seal up the gaps between and around the plastic parts of those side terminal connections to keep stuff from getting in. If they're corroding from the inside out, then probably is leaking from around the battery post and, IMO, nothing is going to stop that for very long. Maybe the battery can be exchanged/prorated if it's leaking?
 
......The spray is merely an attempt to seal up the gaps between and around the plastic parts of those side terminal connections to keep stuff from getting in.

Understood...... I'm thinking what you're used to seeing may be different what what I have on my truck. The rubber cover would prevent the spray form getting to where it needs to be, and the rubber cover is designed such that it has to be installed when the connection is made...... it cant be installed after.

If they're corroding from the inside out, then probably is leaking from around the battery post and, IMO, nothing is going to stop that for very long. Maybe the battery can be exchanged/prorated if it's leaking?

The original corroded.... this one has not. I've been using the dielectric grease as a preventative measure with this battery. I considered the possibility that the battery could be leaking acid, but it looks like a solid chunk of lead that the terminal screws into, to me. Granted, what I can see is quite small, and I've never seen how a battery is constructed. You may be right that I had a defective battery to start with.
 
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