2001 Mailibu Curiousity Killed the Battery

Hey guys,

I just had a quick question here... The wife drives a 2001 Mailibu... When she starts it, it sounds like a dead battery... The typical slow chug...... chug..... chug....

Now typically if it were a dead battery it would die after a few chugs...

However, with her holding the key and being stubborn and persistent, it eventually begins to get fast and faster and after a while of holding the key it eventually starts.

This has got me scratching my head now. I was going to purchase a new battery but now I'm not so sure that is the problem.

She's also got one of those crazy looking Optima batteries in it if that makes any difference the optima battery shouldnt make a diffrence, as long as its the 'red top.'

start with the basics. take off both battery cables and clean the terminals on the cables and battery. the side terminal batterys are especialy bad for corosion. use a small wire brush or fine grit sandpaper to make sure all the metal parts are clean and shiny. dont forget the bolt threads on both male and female parts. when u put it back together be sure the connections are tight. allso make sure the other ends of the cables are clean and tight.

if this dont help, my next guess is that the starter motor is wearing out. u can pull it out and take it to one of the parts stores to have it bench tested. while your at it, bring the battery with u and ask them to do a 'load test' on it. this dont realy sound like a battery problem but u never know, and it dont cost nothing for them to check it.