Bought the sambi on Dec 28th, the insurance company, Desjardine, didn't get me insured until yesterday. So, my 36 safety inspection expired. The truck had been sitting in my friends driveway while I chased the insurance company around. I go to start it last night, it took a few cranks but it started up fine and seemed to be running good. It was cold out, so I had the heat on and of course the lights. I'm driving it around and I stalled it once on a hill, went to go restart and it almost didn't start. I figured it had to turn off all the electrical items to give the little battery a break, and it started up. I parked it outside for the night, and I go to start it this morning and she won't start. I turn the key and nothing, almost like the battery is drained or draining. The starter motor turned over the first few times, but with each turn of the key I could hear the starter motor struggling. With the final turn of the key all I could hear was a low hum, or something. Lights and everything work, but i don't know, it's only -11c outside. I'm at my whits end. Do I need a full sized battery, is the alternator shot, is -11c too cold? perhaps I didn't drive it around long enough last night to give the battery a good charge and all these colds starts drained what little juice was in there. the battery is new, so unless it's faulty or something, it should hold a charge.
It takes about 10 minutes of driving (I've heard 15 minutes from others) to recover the battery energy needed for 1 cold start..short trips are battery killers...try charging it fully before looking for a new battery
when I leave work I'll be heading over with another car to try and boost it. there should be no issue boosting from a full sized battery, correct? thanks
Double check the battery connections and follow the cables to the other end (ground and starter) Even a little corrosion can cause a weak start. Robert
Connections were good. I bought another battery, thru it in there, started up just fine. Now I have another issue. Took it to get safetied and Etested, fails both. apparently the horn doesn't work, so I failed the safety. And the etesting came back pretty bad. I haven't seen the results, but the fella said it came in high on the curb side idle test.
