Car wont start = Bad Earth - Problem Solved!

[Sp33dY]

Went to start my car in the work carpark at lunchtime, and it wont start

Am thinking it's battery related, but at the same time not sure.

Every now and then the clock has been losing time, and the stereo often loses its settings overnight. Its NEVER failed to start however, and lights have never dimmed or seemed dull.

There is a lot of calcification on the positive battery terminal (noticed after making a few quick checks). I got rid of that with the aid of some hot water but that didnt really help as the battery may still be dead? HOwever, the cd player works, and i have interior lights, so the battery might NOT be dead?

When i attempt to turn the iginition to ON, it simply 'tick tick tcik' like a switch / relay noise -- but nothing happens further. Dead batter, right?

HELP! Ive got 3h till i finish work --- looks like i'll have to call RACV because everyone else at my work finishes in an hours time

[GenevaDirt]

Battery it sounds like....the radio and such could still work but not enough power to turn the car over. With the interior lights on...try to start it and see if the lights dim....if so...either the connection to the battery or battery itself...imo

[Sp33dY]

Problem fixed .... dodgy earth . The technical decription the roadside assist man gave me was "That negative terminal is ratCRAP". LMAO

As a temp fixed, he put a screw down the side of the dodgy terminal to form a temp contact point.

Easy fix? New Earth Cable!
EDITED FOR LANGUAGE BY ADMIN

[Damkid]

what i would do first off is try wiggling the battery terminals, the corrsion maybe enough that there's not enough conact to run the starter, this problem has happened to me in a few different cars

with the car running the way to tell if it's the battery or alternator is get a volt meter and touch it to the battery, when the car is running it should read between 12 -14 volts, meaning the alternator is good and the battery won't hold the charge and vise versa

[Axlander9289]

Oh Earth=Ground. That took me a minute. I hear your toilets flush backwards too.