Assault, Battery on a Good Starter
Question: My 1987 Honda Accord with 30,000 miles on it began to experience difficulty starting. The dealer said the battery was fine but the car needed a new starter. After it was replaced, the symptoms reappeared. Now, they tell me the battery was bad and claimed the bad starter drained the battery. I feel I have been taken but need your advice as to whether a bad starter can drain a battery. A. P.
Answer: You were probably the victim of an incompetent diagnosis, but it would be difficult to prove unless you have the original starter that was removed from the vehicle. A bad starter could have drained the battery so low that it ruined it.
But more likely the starter was fine and the battery was weak to begin with. A battery that is only partly charged is sometimes strong enough to engage the starter solenoid switch and crank the starter motor, but slowly.
Often enough, a starter on its last legs generates the same symptom. The first thing to check out in this case would be the battery, which is usually straightforward. The older open cell batteries could be first checked with a voltmeter; then each cell could be checked with a hydrometer.
Newer sealed batteries can be checked only with a voltmeter. If the battery produces 12.6 volts, it is assumed to be good. Sometimes, if the battery has just one weak cell, it can show 12.6 volts and not be capable of cranking the starter for more than a few turns of the engine.
Of course, these are the same symptoms that a bad starter shows. In addition, it is not uncommon for a 3-year-old battery to fail, but it is not likely that a starter motor would fail after just 30,000 miles.
Q: You recently wrote about the most frequently stolen cars in America, and my car was on the list. I would like to hear your assessment of the Club locking device that attaches to the steering wheel. M. C.
A: The Club is a well-made device that may deter some youngsters from stealing your car but presents little difficulty to a professional thief. Although the Club is difficult to break, the steering wheel can be easily broken or sawed in half and the Club slipped off.
Q: With all the fuel injection systems now available in new cars, is there any maintenance that can be done to prevent them from becoming gummed up? There seem to be a lot of products on the market for cleaning injection systems. Is the regular use of these products recommended? G. T. L.
A: The manufacturers of these products would have you pouring them down your gasoline tank every time you fill up, but that would be a waste of money.
Some systems, particularly some of the early General Motors and Audi injectors, were susceptible to clogging. At least some of the problem stemmed from the lack of detergents in gasoline.
If you purchase a name-brand gasoline, you will probably be getting a detergent package that will help prevent major foul-ups. If your car has had a past problem, you might consider an occasion use of an injector cleaner. I suggest you try to look for a cleaner marketed by a major name-brand gasoline refiner like Shell, Texaco or Chevron.
