I have this odd power issue, if I run the radio (radio does not draw a lot of power, only powering two 6in speakers) for like 5 or 6 minutes before I try to start it, I turn the key and only get a click, the click sounds like when i am trying to start with out pressing down clutch. After I wait and try and wait and try suddenly after say 3 minutes of just a click, it will SLOWLY start to turn over, but takes a lot of cranking. I know that the battery is newer. And water levels look good also the alternator is newer, don

An easy way to find out if your alternater is bad is to get an electrical multimeter and read the voltage at the battery with it running you should be getting more than 12 volts back to the battery roughly somewhere in the neighborhood of 14vdc. if your running it before you run the vehicle though chances are its your battery.

I'll give that a shot when i get a second. it is just really odd, because after it won't start the next like 20 starts it works perfectly.

OK, so i used a multimeter on the battery, and when running i get about 14 dc volts, hum. does that mean that the battery is bad? it is only like 1 year old, but i guess it is possible.

Turn off the engine and watch your voltage. It will slowly fall and after about 10 minutes it should be at its floating voltage. Typically this floating voltage is from 12.6 to 13.2v...

Now have a friend turn on the radio and watch the voltage. It should NOT drop below 12.0 no matter what. If it does, load test the battery if you have the tester. If you dont have the tester, have it load tested. I think you may just have a weak battery.

Also, are all the connections secure to the top of hte battery?

Me and a bud tried to simulate the no start click thing, but we couldn't. it started every time, even when radio and lights were on for like 15 minutes (Not very impressive, but a first for this runner) so apparently it only happens if the car is cold. I don't have a way to load test it, so i'll see if i can take it somewhere. When sitting it is right at 12v, and just after the car is turned off it slowly drops from 14ish to 12ish.

After we couldn't get the car to not start we decided to go to the Linex spray on bedliner shop and get a quote for a floor coverage,..... hahahahhahahehehehehahahahaha yeah right. the guy told me it would cost 1,200 for the entire floor from the firewall to the tailgate. hahaha ha ha ha.

check your ground on your battery

Check your battery cables and terminals. Just an old terminal can trash your electrical system and make you think you have a bad battery or alternator.

Even if you do not have a pile of whitish crusties piled on your terminals, pull and clean them anyway. Check you cables all the way to the ends. If they look burnt, feel limp, or you just suspect them because of age; trash them and get new ones. Cheap insurance.

A little battery goop and those red and green felt discs actually do work. You say your batt is only a year old, those felt discs can absorb any of the acid that may leach out. Don't bother with them on old batts, too much leakage will just corrode anyway.

Got the battery load tested and it turns out it passed with flying colors, like 750 cca. So i was a little sad, because that means that the problem is still there. The alternator is just as old as the battery, so i am thinking that maybe the previous owner had these same problems, and figured it was either the battery or the alternator. I'll check the cables when i get home, it is pretty sad, lots of stuff spliced on to the cables, maybe i'll post a picture.

I had close to the same problem the other day. Next time it happens feel the battery terminals. If you have a hot one then it's got a bad connection at the battery. Sand the terminals good and that should fix it.

OK, here is what happened, sorry the camera thing didn't work out, it would have been quite interesting for you people. i decided to start dismantling this huge mass of cables taped together and then ran to the battery, and what do you know a lot of it was completely pointless, and some was even dangerous. like who even had fog lights at some point, wired them up to the battery so it was just positive side to positive terminal negative side to negative terminal, then switch in negative side to turn on or off, only problem is that the cable is like 16 or 18 gauge cable... Crappie. and they removed the lights, and switch, but kept the wire connected to the battery. and some other stuff, kind of like that. but i am not quite sure what it all originally went too. i think they tried to wire up some kind of electric A/C or something, but later took it out, i don't know. anyway, i removed all of the un needed crap and replaced a few old but quite important things, and then got some new little clips to put it on the terminal and now ever since i did that it has worked just perfect. But this experience makes me scared to see what else was done to this runner