# 2000 Chevy S10 battery issues



## farmerjohn1324 (Jul 28, 2015)

2000 Chevy S10. My battery had died (verified with multimeter) and had lots of corrosion on positive terminal. It would rapidly click when attempting to start.

I replaced the battery. The car started right up. During the first day of driving it again, it wouldn't start after being off in a parking lot for several minutes. Just one "click", not rapid clicking like before. I opened the hood and everything is still connected.

Then I tried to start it again and it started. 

So it's good that it's driving, but I'm hoping it doesn't happen again. I've since turned it off and on without issues.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Checking a battery with a multimeter tells you very little. The right way to check a battery is with a load tester, which you can buy if you chose to, I imagine in the $40-50 range these days, but virtually any auto parts stores have one that you can use for free to check your battery. So I wouldn't put any weight on the multimeter reading, but the corrosion is definitely telling, especially given that it started, then just one click, then it started again. This needs to be addressed because it will fail to start again and meanwhile the charging system is most likely not working properly either. You need to remove, clean, inspect, and reinstall the battery terminals. All of that white and green crud and rust needs to be cleaned off. Check the condition of the bolts as well, because the threads can get corroded such that they seem to be tightening to the battery when in fact they are not.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Make sure your battery terminals are clean.


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## pumpkin11 (Oct 31, 2020)

Disconnect your battery,

You need to clean your battery terminals on the ends of your wires/cables,

Use a mixture of baking soda and water, scrub them with an old toothbrush, or a wire brush if needed,

Also check the connection where your negative wire connects to your engine and frame, make sure they are tight and clean


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## John Smith_inFL (Jun 15, 2018)

*every vehicle should have these.








*


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## Half-fast eddie (Sep 19, 2020)

When you get it running, put the meter onnthe battery again. Should show about 14.6 volts. If not, alternator might be bad.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

And in the "did you know" category: There is actually one fault that an alternator might have that* will not *light the battery light.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

What's that fault?


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## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

Personal experience with 2000 S10 2.2L: Starter solenoid failure will exhibit the same symptoms you have described.

RR


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

It sounds like either you have a power drain when it's supposed to be off, or the alternator is not producing enough amps. 

Just saw Rough Rooster's post - could be that too.

To expound on colbyt's post, alternators can fail to produce adequate current, while still showing the correct voltage. I suggest stopping in at one of the major chain auto parts stores and asking them to test the charging system and battery. They have load testers that can draw enough current to test the output amps of the alternator.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

Rough Rooster said:


> Personal experience with 2000 S10 2.2L: Starter solenoid failure will exhibit the same symptoms you have described.
> 
> RR


I agree with rooster. Typically a singular slightly louder click is the starter solenoid engaging but the starter isn't spinning. It is a brushed motor and after 20 years they are probably almost worn out.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

I don't disagree with the possibility of an alternator or starter, and couldn't if I wanted to because it's anybody's guess at this point, but since corrosion at the battery was mentioned in the opening post I would definitely start there before trying to chase anything else. And not just wiping it off but cleaning the connections thoroughly as I and others mentioned. I think most of us have spent way too much time over the years chasing something "major" when in fact the root problem was pretty minor, even as minor as something like battery corrosion, which boils down to routine maintenance.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

DexterII said:


> I don't disagree with the possibility of an alternator or starter, and couldn't if I wanted to because it's anybody's guess at this point, but since corrosion at the battery was mentioned in the opening post I would definitely start there before trying to chase anything else. And not just wiping it off but cleaning the connections thoroughly as I and others mentioned. I think most of us have spent way too much time over the years chasing something "major" when in fact the root problem was pretty minor, even as minor as something like battery corrosion, which boils down to routine maintenance.


In my 13 years of professionally fixing cars, I could probably count on 1 hand the times corrosion on a battery terminal has been the problem.

There are some good points here and some bad ones.

Load testing a battery is a good point.

Measuring alternator voltage is a bad point, as said alternators can have many different failures, be it amperage output, voltage regulator, diode failure. Voltage testing really only tells you if the voltage regulator is working properly, I have also had internally shorted batteries skew voltage readings. Also at least in the Honda world, pretty much everything past 2010-2012 have had PCM controller alternator output, so if the battery sensor is measuring the battery as charged it will electronically reduce alternator output voltage to reduce engine load, I've seen multiple cars come in from independent shops who have replaced an alternator because it was charging at 12.6v because they didn't know that can be normal for these vehicles. Obviously not the case on a 2000 s10, but just pointing out why some oldschool methods can be ineffective.

Alternator failure 9 times out of 10 will also cause issues while driving, low voltage will cause the battery light to illuminate, low amperage will cause stalling, I've only encountered high voltage once that I can remember and it presented itself by randomly turning the airbag light on and off while driving but not actually setting a fault code. Diode failure will typically cause pulsing of the lighting interior or exterior as the easiest visual clue.

With a parasitic draw, it is very unlikely that the vehicle would start at all after not starting.

With a corrosion issue the problem is everything in a vehicle that does some sort of electronic function is whats called a load, or a consumer of voltage. Corrosion also acts as a load in the circuit, so some of the available voltage in the circuit ends up getting consumed before it reaches it's component or if it's on the ground side not all of the voltage gets consumed by the primary load as it shared throughout the circuit by all loads, this reduction in consumption can prevent that component from working correctly. Either of these situations still manifest similar to a weak battery in which the available voltage is reduced and typically follow the same visual clues such as flickering lights or rapidly clicking relays/solenoids.

As for my suggestion of starter replacement, there is one oldschool trick that might work. If it doesn't start again, try tapping the starter with a hammer or similar(not sure if it is easily accessable on a s10), sometimes it will cause the starter to work again temporarily by shifting/freeing up the worn internal components.


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

LawrenceS said:


> I agree with rooster. Typically a singular slightly louder click is the starter solenoid engaging but the starter isn't spinning. It is a brushed motor and after 20 years they are probably almost worn out.


If it's the solenoid not making contact, the dash lights won't dim when you try to crank it. Usually, it's the same if the starter is not engaging. If the dash lights dim really bad when trying to crank it, that's usually an indication that the battery is bad or not being charged.

That reminds me of another piece of advice I like to pass along - if you haven't already, don't junk the old battery until you know whether the alternator was charging it. The battery may not have been bad, just not getting recharged.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

HotRodx10 said:


> If it's the solenoid not making contact, the dash lights won't dim when you try to crank it. Usually, it's the same if the starter is not engaging. If the dash lights dim really bad when trying to crank it, that's usually an indication that the battery is bad or not being charged.
> 
> That reminds me of another piece of advice I like to pass along - if you haven't already, don't junk the old battery until you know whether the alternator was charging it. The battery may not have been bad, just not getting recharged.


A single click no crank 99% of the time means the solenoid is working but there is an open circuit or excessive resistance between the brushes and the commutator so the starter doesn't spin.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Interesting and amazing since I have seen this at least 3 times just as a DIY mech. The funniest instance was when I drove a linen service truck as my college summer job. Coming down a bridge the truck just flamed out. I mean everything, engine ,lights, etc. These were old very basic trucks with manual transmissions and only vac assist brakes. I coasted down and pulled off the road and called the plant. The grizzled old head mech came out and worked on it for about an hour and was stumped. Finally someone from a local gas station came or was called... the kid wiggled the battery cable and the lights flickered. Pulled the terminal, cleaned it with the wire brush tool, and vroom. That lesson helped me personally when I saw this a couple more times later. So I always check the battery terminals first. It's easy and doesn't take much time.

But of course you are correct, it could be lots of other stuff, too. I have also seen the bad solenoids and bad starters before. Also failed alternators. Should be fairly simple to diagnose with a multimeter and visual inspection.



LawrenceS said:


> In my 13 years of professionally fixing cars, I could probably count on 1 hand the times corrosion on a battery terminal has been the problem.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

LawrenceS said:


> Also at least in the Honda world, pretty much everything past 2010-2012 have had PCM controller alternator output, so if the battery sensor is measuring the battery as charged it will electronically reduce alternator output voltage to reduce engine load


Question: If the engine is running but the battery is disconnected, would that not trick the PCM into thinking the battery was not charged and thereby force the alternator to output full voltage which can then be measured?


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

Drachenfire said:


> Question: If the engine is running but the battery is disconnected, would that not trick the PCM into thinking the battery was not charged and thereby force the alternator to output full voltage which can then be measured?


It seems to have the opposite effect on a couple of my vehicles. I have a 2002 Kia and a 2008 Toyota, and both of them die if the battery is disconnected, even with an alternator that otherwise works perfectly. Both run very poorly with a bad battery, also.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

raylo32 said:


> Interesting and amazing since I have seen this at least 3 times just as a DIY mech. The funniest instance was when I drove a linen service truck as my college summer job. Coming down a bridge the truck just flamed out. I mean everything, engine ,lights, etc. These were old very basic trucks with manual transmissions and only vac assist brakes. I coasted down and pulled off the road and called the plant. The grizzled old head mech came out and worked on it for about an hour and was stumped. Finally someone from a local gas station came or was called... the kid wiggled the battery cable and the lights flickered. Pulled the terminal, cleaned it with the wire brush tool, and vroom. That lesson helped me personally when I saw this a couple more times later. So I always check the battery terminals first. It's easy and doesn't take much time.
> 
> But of course you are correct, it could be lots of other stuff, too. I have also seen the bad solenoids and bad starters before. Also failed alternators. Should be fairly simple to diagnose with a multimeter and visual inspection.


Corroded terminals may have been a bigger issue in years past, like I said I've been doing this 13 years but my experience is pretty much limited to 2000 and newer vehicles. In the case of your linen truck it sounds like the corrosion caused as loose connection, being that he just replaced the battery I am assuming the connection is tight and typically corroded terminals develop corrosion outward from the terminal not where there has been a tight metal to metal contact. I have seen terminals corrode through and require replacement, but in my experience with loose/poor connection after attempting to crank it everything shuts off and stays off until the key is cycled to off. Most people will probably just go from start to crank multiple times.



Drachenfire said:


> Question: If the engine is running but the battery is disconnected, would that not trick the PCM into thinking the battery was not charged and thereby force the alternator to output full voltage which can then be measured?


I honestly don't know as I have never tried that, all of our alternator testing is done with a Miditronics Gr-8 so I've never tried to manually diagnose voltage regulator failure with a DMM.



HotRodx10 said:


> It seems to have the opposite effect on a couple of my vehicles. I have a 2002 Kia and a 2008 Toyota, and both of them die if the battery is disconnected, even with an alternator that otherwise works perfectly. Both run very poorly with a bad battery, also.


Some vehicle's will run with the battery disconnected some won't, depends on idle alternator amperage output and systems demand, like sometimes we leave a car running to change the battery to prevent resetting readiness monitors or having to unlock the audio unit and reset the clocks, most of them will idle fine with no extra loads, but if the blower/defrost is on and the a/c clutch kicks on I've had them stall out on me. Also battery sensor technology is still newer in the last decade or so, so an 02 and an 08 probably won't have it.


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