I've got a dumb battery question. My car has been running like crap for a while. It has also had the famous "clang" when you turn the key to start it. The starter doesnt engage half of the time and I have to keep turning it forever.
Sooo I put the battery on a charger for a few days.The car seems to start ok now and I ran it for a short time and seems to better. I wonder if the battery is going bad or has a dead cell. I'ts an Orbital red top but I guess it can still fail with all the under hood heat. OR I guess it could be the alternator but I've never hear of one with 80K going bad?
Your thoughts.

 

i doubt its the battery...

 

Do the lights and everything in the dash go blank when turning the key over, just wondering cause i had a problem before and i thought it was the battery but it turned out both of the battery connections which go on the posts were cracked and were not making good contact with the battery posts. Would start once in a while...just thought i'd throw that in

 

You can get batteries tested for free. It's so simple to do there's no reason not to if you even suspect a problem with the battery.

 

I know. I'm just lazy and sometimes the guys just want to sell you a new battery. The strange thing was that once it was charged the starter kicked like it was new. I've read several differing views of the reason you get the famout "clank" from the starter ranging from a bad starter to wires with too much resistance or a voltage drop between the battery and starter.

 

I guess that famous "clank" isn't very famous. I've never heard of it.

Go get your battery checked. It might be your alternator isn't charging the battery enough. Which might be why it was OK after you recharged the battery.

 

I've never heard of this clank either. (Search for 'clank starter' on this board and your post is the only match.)

You need to get your battery tested (as several people have said).

 

Well not reall "famous" but a lot of people have had this problem.
Here's the thread I was looking for.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/starter-367872/