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About a week ago my wife stopped at a store. Afterwards car would not start, no clicking, no sound, no nothing. Putting pressure on terminal restored power to everything.

A couple of days later I removed the battery and thoroughly cleaned the cable ends and terminals. After this the car has had no problem for days.

Today my wife stops at a gas station and then the completely dead, no power situation again. Tapped on the negative terminal, and all back to normal.

Could there be a loose connection inside the battery? I tried to check the cable when I cleaned the terminals but didn't find a problem.

When there is a good connection battery and everything electrical works great. When there is a loose connections (somewhere) everything is completely dead.

Thanks, Randy

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Obviously there's something going on somewhere (yah ... I'm the master of the obvious :o)

It could be one of several things going on. You were on the right track to check the battery terminals on the battery and the problem may still be there. When you cleaned the terminals, did you also apply a liberal coat of grease (like bearing grease) or dielectric grease? If not, go back and do that. This will ensure a good contact is made and also help prevent future corrosion.

It could also be that it isn't exactly the battery terminals which are at fault, but by banging around on them you reconnected whatever is the problem. It could lie in the opposite connection from the battery, that being the other ends of your connections. This usually happens where the ground meets the frame. Ensure this is clean as well.

Next check to ensure there isn't a problem with the cables. If there is corrosion within the cables, it can create this type of issue. You can tell this by there being a fat spot in the cable.

If all else fails, you may want to replace the cables and clamps themselves.

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It is possible that the battery has a defective connection internally - if all else above has been checked then replace the battery.

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  • Well it seems that this had a cable end where you place the cable and screw down a plate to hold it in place. Probably has been replaced previously. I took it apart and cleaned the inside of the connection. Unfortunately while doing this I found that we needed a new radiator, so I had the shop also replace part of the cable. So far no more problems. I think the terminal was corroded inside and so the cable wasn't making a good connection.
    – Randy
    Jan 19, 2017 at 22:49

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