Bad Battery?

[wehats]

I was driving my 88L the other day and went to get some lunch. After leaving the restaurant, the car wouldn't start. There wasn't any clicking like it was trying to start and none of the electrical worked. Attempts to jumpstart it with another car were fruitless.

A couple hours later when I returned to drag it home, it started and ran normally.

Today, it won't start. There was a flicker of light in the dash when I tried it, but nothing else. I've had alternators go out in my last Festiva before.. but I'm hoping this is just a dead battery? Anybody have any idea how to diagnose what is the problem here?

[WmWatt]

If you have a volt meter or 12 volt test light you can connect to battery posts to see if it's dead. Some batteries have a built in indicator. Mine show green when okay, yellow when needs charging, black when dead. Sounds more like a bad connection. A volt meter or test light would help locate the problem.

[wybnrml]

Check the positive and negative battery cables. Take them off and clean them real good and make sure when you put them back on that they are tight.

[perucho]

^ +2. My car was acting like the battery was dead sometimes. I cleaned the terminals and tightened the clamps and the problem went away. Hopefully, that's all you will need to do.

[htchbck]

^ +3 I'd be willing to bet its the cables. Either they aren't tight or are corroded. If the battery is dead it usually won't just crank fine later on in the day unless its been charged. My CRX used to love to do what you are describing until I finally replaced the cables since I had to clean them 3 or 4 times a week. A quick check if its the cables is to leave the key turned on after you try to crank it and it goes dead, then go wiggle both cables and see if the dash lights come back on (wiggling them still usually won't get it to crank though, since the starter need a GOOD connection)