my 97 sl1 has not been starting on a regular basis lately - no power at all. if i open the hood and jiggle the connections to the battery and the fuse box i get the dashboard to light up and sometimes the car will start. the battery itself checked out fine for voltage. could the connections be dirty or bad? or, could it be a fuse? how do i clean battery connections

 

got it to start by putting gas pedal to the floor and cranking key. it started, filled gas tank and it starts fine now. could this be the fuel pump. or, i was told because the car is old, if the gas tank gets too low, sediment builds up and causes the starting problems?? any answers

 

Well, here's a couple of answers for you --

If your car will crank, but not start, and the fuel gauge reads 1/4 or less, and you are parked on a slight incline, it is possible your fuel pump has lost it's prime. Turn(push) the car until it's headed downhill, wait five minutes, and try again.

If the car occasionally refuses to crank, replace the main positive battery cable, making sure all connections are clean and tight. The auto parts houses make a tool to help clean the battery connection points.

 

well, i think it is the black cable, but the connection on the battery.

there is a connection to the right of battery with wiring that goes into the black cable wire connected to the battery. the nut/bolt is rusted and worn and there is green leakage around it. i believe this has to be removed and cleaned and a new nut/bolt has to be put on. the problem is, it is stuck on there because it is so old and rusted. it is now stripped from trying to remove it. any suggestions on how to get it off.

thanks

 

just to be clear, the connection is not on the battery, but to the right of it close to the side of the car.

 

drill it out/easy out

 

ok. it is the ground connection (chassis ground?) is it possible that a bad ground connection could cause the battery not to charge because not enough charge is going to the alternator. (we had to charge the battery today for the first time, and now it is testing 12.8-13, so we are hoping it is just this bad ground connection. the connections to the battery are clean

 

Yes, a bad/poor ground will cause your charging system not to work right

 

Well this is my daughter's car and as of right now it is running fine. I am going to drive it for a few days to make sure. For us, it was a bad ground connection. The connection was really rusted and had corosion all around. we sanded and cleaned all around and did the same to the wires. Also the positive cable to the fuse box was rusted with corosion that was pretty bad. we have cleaned and fixed the connections and I am hoping at this point, that was it.

the other thing i have been told by people is to check the neutral safety switch. if the car starts in neutral, then you probably need to change the switch.

 

Thanks to everyone. The car has been running for over a week with no start problems.