Generic car starter question
 

ANOTHER CAR - general question
Went to start car, got that rapid BRRRTTTT of a chattering starter solenoid, which I have always found to be a low battery. Put on charger - a Schumacher automatic one that charges, then maintains - after it went all green - fully charged, tried again - same thing!!!
I have a portable jumper/airpump gizmo - fully charged - tried that, same result.
I have had a battery with a bad (shorted) cell, that can even drag down an attempt by jumping with another car - but would the charger go green with a bad battery??
Can a bad starter do this? I've had starters go, never chatter, just one thunk and nothing.
Battery a couple years old.
Ideas?

Battery cables are tight and no corrosion. Car had been starting fine - quick crank and fired right up. Problem first arose when I left ignition turned on with engine off - drained the battery and next time wouldn't start - used the portable battery/air compressor and it started. Next time battery was dead again, I figured I hadn't driven enough, so put battery charger on it, now here I am.
Went through entire curse vocabulary.
Battery is almost exactly 2 years old - I don't drive the car much.

I just had this happen on my Ford Fusion that I only drive in the winter. Also with a Schumacher maintainer. The voltage on the battery read only around 10 volts even though the maintainer went green. In my case the battery was very old so I bought a new one. No more issues.

Thanks. I have read that there are a lot of ****************ty Chinese batteries out there that just don't last - I didn't get the cheapest one, but could have bad battery. The green light threw me. Battery probably had a 2 year warranty...:D

The battery is the easiest place to start. You can take it to any store and have it checked.

Three yrs ago I bought a WD car that I found would lose a charge after 3-4 days. The battery would charge back up and be good again for a while. The battery was 1.5 yrs old. I was certain I had a parasitic drain. Contacted JFP asking how to track down a drain. He sent instructions but also suggested starting at the beginning by checking the battery first. I was convinced a 1.5 yr old battery couldn't be the issue but I had it checked. It was bad. Replaced it and never had an issue thereafter. JFP saved me a lot of wasted time chasing my tail.

+1

Buy a fresh Interstate battery and be done with it.

Just sayin'.............

TO

Always check the fluid level in the battery at least once a year even on "maintenence free" batteries. If low top off with distilled water.