96 Town & Country Electrical Problem

Hi all,

About 2 weeks ago, my wife stopped at a store for about 15 minutes and
when she came out the T&C wouldn't start (she said no lights just dead).
I had her open the hood and make sure the cables to the battery were
secure by tugging on them a little (she said they were). She went back
inside and the thing started right up. Since then she said it died once
while making a slow turn, but started right up.

I have checked the connections and all seem secure (including checking
just last night). This morning she went to the garage to start it and
nothing (she said the engine compartment light was flickering). While she
had the hood open, I could hear over the phone, a light "chrip" type sound
over the phone comming from under the hood. I had her tap the battery
connections lightly with a hammer, and still no change. She called me
back later and said it finally started (the first time she said it started
hard clicking then slow turn then start) and then 2 times after with no
problem. She said after she would shut the engine off and turn the key to
off, she hears a "click" sound from around the emergency pedal location.

I believe the battery is over 4 years old, but to me it doesn't make sense
that it could be dead 1 minute and the next have full power (as it did the
first time this happened). I suspected the battery at first, but after I
drove it for several days on my own, I didn't notice any problems.

 

Very possibly a battery going out on you, 4 yrs old, i would

 

It is possible that there is corrosion on your battery terminals and/or
battery posts. Tapping on these may sometimes temporarily fix the problem
but it will recur. You should get a battery terminal cleaner that has wire
brushes for cleaning both the posts and the inside of the terminals and,
once cleaned use antioxidant grease for battery terminals when hooking
back up.
You can test to see if indeed the connections or the battery is at fault
if you have a voltmeter or multimeter. While the van is acting up(and this
is maybe the hardest part, hold the probes to the battery posts, NOT the
terminals of the van and watch the voltage. The idea is to monitor the
battery DIRECTLY and not through the terminals. Have your wife try to
crank it. If it does not crank and the voltage remains above 11 volts, you
have a connection problem due to corrosion, faulty cable or the like. If
the battery voltage drops way down when the van does not crank, the
battery is failing internally.

 

It is possible that there is corrosion on your battery terminals and/or
battery posts. Tapping on these may sometimes temporarily fix the problem
but it will recur. You should get a battery terminal cleaner that has wire
brushes for cleaning both the posts and the inside of the terminals and,
once cleaned use antioxidant grease for battery terminals when hooking
back up.
You can test to see if indeed the connections or the battery is at fault
if you have a voltmeter or multimeter. While the van is acting up(and this
is maybe the hardest part, hold the probes to the battery posts, NOT the
terminals of the van and watch the voltage. The idea is to monitor the
battery DIRECTLY and not through the terminals. Have your wife try to
crank it. If it does not crank and the voltage remains above 11 volts, you
have a connection problem due to corrosion, faulty cable or the like. If
the battery voltage drops way down when the van does not crank, the
battery is failing internally.

 

Thanks for the info... I have a brush for the posts and cables (just been
too busy lately to really do a good job- so I left it. Anyway, I will go
get a new battery tommorrow, and also clean my cables and see where it
takes me.

 

I have the same problem a few years ago on another type of car, but i
think it is a similar problem.
Check the ground connections..battery / starter / engine to body and
so on.
The battery is not to old,you have another two or three years before
it may cause problems, depending on how you treat it of course.
The sound may be a relay trying to close when you got a bad ground
connection.

//Janne

 

The battery is four years old! I would think the first cause of action is to
have the battery tested. Why do all this other stuff without knowing the
condition of the battery???

 

the battery needs to be load tested and if it passes then i would check the
terminals
make sure they are clean! and tight

 

At 4 YO I would just go ahead and drop a new battery in it. That's about all
most of them will last today. The other thing other than maybe dirty cables
could be a solenoid acting up. Just go to Sears and get a DH Gold can't go
wrong. Stay away from Interstate they'll do exactly what you're describing
and the terminals break internally.
Larry

 

I agree with several of the others here that, with the age of the
battery, it's time to replace it - chances are that the problem will
magically disappear when you do. Most likely, one of the battery
terminals is fractured inside (between the battery's post or side
terminal and the internal plates). I have had that exact thing happen
on two batteries on my personal vehicles in the last 25 years - and one
of those was a DIE HARD (that was the one about 25 years ago). The
symptoms I had both times was normal operation with intermitent total
disconnect. After removal of the batteries, I found that the guilty
terminal could be easily twisted out of the battery, and what came out
was corroded down to an ice sickle-shaped point - IOW, it's a wonder
they could supply starting current, but they did when the connection was
made.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

Absolutley Bill, and i have seen those batteries Blow up from that

 

excide now makes the batteries for sears
you have to get a motor craft to get the real sears diehard