trouble starting car

Asked by cowboy13 Jun 21, 2013 at 05:05 PM about the 1997 Toyota Camry XLE V6

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 97 toyota camry, im having a hard time starting it. It doesnt do it all the time. the lights will dim, while its running it idles low and then high, i will kill it and restart it several times and the battery gets weak. I turn on headlights and it powers down and i disconected the negative cable while it was running and i could tell a slight difference in the engine. i don't know if it's my battery or altenator. can anyone help me.

2 Answers

...yes the battery should not be old...five years is too old...the reason is batteries degrade and stop taking a charge 10%/year...at five years it can only accept 50% of it's full charge potential....yours is probably old, you know you were talikin' about dimming headlights...your poor alternator is gettin' slo-roasted because it's helpin' grampa across the street....buy a new battery...a good one like interstate...$120 battery and worth every penny~

when you do, wire brush the other end of the black cable (the one that goes to chassis ground) for the full 300 CCA or so that you need to pull your startermotor around at a decent speed~

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