98 Avalon bad alternator or ????

[i_amuse_her]

Hi. Here's the problem: the car is dead, no lights, won't turnover, can't get it out of gear. Pop the hood and attach a jumper cable at the battery to the ground lead ONLY. Immediately I hear clicking like a solenoid from the general vicinity of the alternator. (I notice there is a also a box near there with many wires going in and out.) The electrical comes back on line and the car runs until the problem repeats.

Care to venture a guess as to exactly what may be causing these peculiar symptoms?

Thanks.

[Mike Murrell]

Some would say the starter solenoid is bad. It may be, but recently, I got fooled by a very similar situation.

Was working on a 2000 4 cyl Accord. Car would not start. Got the solenoid click. Checked open circuit voltage with a voltage ohm meter. Read 12.81 which is excellent. Assumed bad solenoid. Pulled starter. Took to elect. shop for analysis. No problem said tech. Told me to bring him the battery. Load tested battery. Wahlah....weak battery.

Pull your battery and take to any place that can LOAD TEST the battery.

If it passes the load test, you may have a bad starter solenoid.

In my opinion, an OCV test is only valid if it indicates a problem. A good reading(anything > 12.60) is not necessarily indicative of a healthy battery.

[toyomoho]

If you attached the negative jumper cable only and something happened might be corrosion between the cable terminal and battery terminal. Try cleaning the battery terminals.

If you have a voltmeter can check the battery voltage engine on and off. Engine off should be around 12.6v, with engine running around 13.5V - 14.5V