what is wrong with my car?

Hi, all:
This morning, when I opened the drive side of door of my 2000 Corolla
VE, there was no "door light" on the panel, and the car could not be
started. To me, it seems that battery might be dead, and after checking
battery, the "green eye" was still visible on the battery. After
struggling for minutes, the lights on the panel suddenly came back and
car started OK, what went wrong and what was the possible cause? What
should I check first?

FYI, after car was started and it was driven OK and restarted OK at the
same day. I will have to see what is going to happen tomorrow morning.

Thanks.

I would first check your battery post terminals and make sure they are
both clean and tight including the ground and where it attaches to the
frame. If it's more than that it would take some troubleshooting when
the problem occurs again.

Joey



[email]wenmang@yahoo.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi, all:
> This morning, when I opened the drive side of door of my 2000 Corolla
> VE, there was no "door light" on the panel, and the car could not be
> started. To me, it seems that battery might be dead, and after checking
> battery, the "green eye" was still visible on the battery. After
> struggling for minutes, the lights on the panel suddenly came back and
> car started OK, what went wrong and what was the possible cause? What
> should I check first?
>
> FYI, after car was started and it was driven OK and restarted OK at the
> same day. I will have to see what is going to happen tomorrow morning.
>
> Thanks.
>[/color]

Is it the original battery? 5+ years is a long time especially with winter
coming. The green eye is not a great indicator of cold cranking power.

<wenmang@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1132967793.487867.134160@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
> Hi, all:
> This morning, when I opened the drive side of door of my 2000 Corolla
> VE, there was no "door light" on the panel, and the car could not be
> started. To me, it seems that battery might be dead, and after checking
> battery, the "green eye" was still visible on the battery. After
> struggling for minutes, the lights on the panel suddenly came back and
> car started OK, what went wrong and what was the possible cause? What
> should I check first?
>
> FYI, after car was started and it was driven OK and restarted OK at the
> same day. I will have to see what is going to happen tomorrow morning.
>
> Thanks.
>[/color]

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:16:33 -0800, wenmang wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi, all:
> This morning, when I opened the drive side of door of my 2000 Corolla
> VE, there was no "door light" on the panel, and the car could not be
> started. To me, it seems that battery might be dead, and after checking
> battery, the "green eye" was still visible on the battery. After
> struggling for minutes, the lights on the panel suddenly came back and
> car started OK, what went wrong and what was the possible cause? What
> should I check first?
>
> FYI, after car was started and it was driven OK and restarted OK at the
> same day. I will have to see what is going to happen tomorrow morning.
>
> Thanks.[/color]

Are you somewhere it was cold this morning? (15 degrees here...)

Is it the original battery?

Could be getting weak...

--
If a Vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Thanks for all replies. The battery is the orginal one and it is 6
years old and that morning was cold(~25-30 degree). I checked the
terminals and found out that there were a lot of erosion white stuff on
one of them and I had them cleaned. Could anybody tell where the ground
cable is located? I only see two cables, positive and negative, which
one is ground one?
Thanks.
WM

The negative one is ground. Check the connection at the battery and where
it connects to ground (usually on the engine of the car). It may look good,
but a gentle tug on the cable where it enters the terminal will sometimes
reveal that corrosin has eaten the cable down to a few strands.

<wenmang@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1133189753.009674.211700@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
> Thanks for all replies. The battery is the orginal one and it is 6
> years old and that morning was cold(~25-30 degree). I checked the
> terminals and found out that there were a lot of erosion white stuff on
> one of them and I had them cleaned. Could anybody tell where the ground
> cable is located? I only see two cables, positive and negative, which
> one is ground one?
> Thanks.
> WM
>[/color]