[wiki]

I've got a 2010 base with about 80000 miles. Has been a great car. A few months ago, it wouldn't start, although my son had just driven it somewhere. I went there and started it with a battery pack. At home I trickle charged it and it was fine for 2 months. Then it wouldn't start again, again not after sitting for a while, but just an hour or so after being driven. There were also never really any other signs of a weak battery. The battery was 7 or 8 years old, so I replaced it with a new one. Car was fine for another months. Then again, it wouldn't start, just a couple of hours after it was driven without problem. I measured the battery and it is fine. However, the car acts as if the battery were low. The dash takes a while to light up, when I crank it clicks and won't but the dash will go dark or flicker and then take a while to recover. I checked and cleaned to battery connectors and they are fine and tight. Not sure what else to check. If it just weren't doing anything, I'd say maybe the starter is bad, but this acting as if the battery were low when it isn't . . .

 

[rhysoul]

I've got a 2010 base with about 80000 miles. Has been a great car. A few months ago, it wouldn't start, although my son had just driven it somewhere. I went there and started it with a battery pack. At home I trickle charged it and it was fine for 2 months. Then it wouldn't start again, again not after sitting for a while, but just an hour or so after being driven. There were also never really any other signs of a weak battery. The battery was 7 or 8 years old, so I replaced it with a new one. Car was fine for another months. Then again, it wouldn't start, just a couple of hours after it was driven without problem. I measured the battery and it is fine. However, the car acts as if the battery were low. The dash takes a while to light up, when I crank it clicks and won't but the dash will go dark or flicker and then take a while to recover. I checked and cleaned to battery connectors and they are fine and tight. Not sure what else to check. If it just weren't doing anything, I'd say maybe the starter is bad, but this acting as if the battery were low when it isn't . . .

Did you check the negative battery cable where it mounts to the fender. They can get corroded. Also people have had issues with corrosion on the connection at the starter.

 

[wiki]

Did you check the negative battery cable where it mounts to the fender. They can get corroded. Also people have had issues with corrosion on the connection at the starter.

Thanks. I've checked the negative connection mounting to the fender, and also by simply taking voltage from positive to random metal parts and that's not the problem. I haven't checked the connections to the starter, yet.

 

[bwdz75]

So you have a voltmeter, that's a good start. You mention lights on dash take a while so it appears to be a bad cable or connection somewhere. One good test is when it clicks is to hit all your power window buttons at once, if the windows go up and down quickly chances are your battery is good and you should just be looking at the starter if they move slow but your battery voltage is good then you have a voltage drop somewhere.

 

[wiki]

I've tested voltage from positive to all kinds of metal, and it's consistently over 12V, so the negative to metal connection is not the problem. I've clamped two jumpstarters (one plug in, one battery) in parallel to the positive and metal, and the car is still acting as if the battery were low, so it can't just be the connection to the starter. It's doing stuff like flickering the dash, struggling with opening the automatic locks and so on (so yes, it more than struggles with the windows). I guess the connection between positive and wherever the next connection point is bad. I also looked at the fuses (but did not pull all), and didn't see anything out of order.

 

[Flatsole]

I've tested voltage from positive to all kinds of metal, and it's consistently over 12V, so the negative to metal connection is not the problem. I've clamped two jumpstarters (one plug in, one battery) in parallel to the positive and metal, and the car is still acting as if the battery were low, so it can't just be the connection to the starter. It's doing stuff like flickering the dash, struggling with opening the automatic locks and so on (so yes, it more than struggles with the windows). I guess the connection between positive and wherever the next connection point is bad. I also looked at the fuses (but did not pull all), and didn't see anything out of order.

Static measurements of voltage does not prove it's not a bad ground or a bad connection, if there is no current or load present. All that tells you is you have a complete circuit, it tells you nothing about resistance in your connections.

You have to look at voltage drop under load to find your bad connection, whether it is on the ground side or the positive cable to the starter, or even internal to the starter.

 

[wiki]

Static measurements of voltage does not prove it's not a bad ground or a bad connection, if there is no current or load present. All that tells you is you have a complete circuit, it tells you nothing about resistance in your connections.

You have to look at voltage drop under load to find your bad connection, whether it is on the ground side or the positive cable to the starter, or even internal to the starter.

Good point, thanks.

 

[AndreHasSoul]

I've got a 2010 base with about 80000 miles. Has been a great car. A few months ago, it wouldn't start, although my son had just driven it somewhere. I went there and started it with a battery pack. At home I trickle charged it and it was fine for 2 months. Then it wouldn't start again, again not after sitting for a while, but just an hour or so after being driven. There were also never really any other signs of a weak battery. The battery was 7 or 8 years old, so I replaced it with a new one. Car was fine for another months. Then again, it wouldn't start, just a couple of hours after it was driven without problem. I measured the battery and it is fine. However, the car acts as if the battery were low. The dash takes a while to light up, when I crank it clicks and won't but the dash will go dark or flicker and then take a while to recover. I checked and cleaned to battery connectors and they are fine and tight. Not sure what else to check. If it just weren't doing anything, I'd say maybe the starter is bad, but this acting as if the battery were low when it isn't . . .

I've got a 2010 base with about 80000 miles. Has been a great car. A few months ago, it wouldn't start, although my son had just driven it somewhere. I went there and started it with a battery pack. At home I trickle charged it and it was fine for 2 months. Then it wouldn't start again, again not after sitting for a while, but just an hour or so after being driven. There were also never really any other signs of a weak battery. The battery was 7 or 8 years old, so I replaced it with a new one. Car was fine for another months. Then again, it wouldn't start, just a couple of hours after it was driven without problem. I measured the battery and it is fine. However, the car acts as if the battery were low. The dash takes a while to light up, when I crank it clicks and won't but the dash will go dark or flicker and then take a while to recover. I checked and cleaned to battery connectors and they are fine and tight. Not sure what else to check. If it just weren't doing anything, I'd say maybe the starter is bad, but this acting as if the battery were low when it isn't . . .

Have you tried plugging in an OBD scanner? My 2013 was doing strange things like that (previous owner tried replacing battery). It turned out it was throwing a code which was intermittent enough to not light the check-engine light, but upon scanning, it was the crankcase sensor. once I replaced that, the issue cleared up. Worth a look.

You could also just have a flaky fuse.

 

[wiki]

Have you tried plugging in an OBD scanner? My 2013 was doing strange things like that (previous owner tried replacing battery). It turned out it was throwing a code which was intermittent enough to not light the check-engine light, but upon scanning, it was the crankcase sensor. once I replaced that, the issue cleared up. Worth a look.

You could also just have a flaky fuse.

Thanks, I'll check that. Hadn't scanned because of no check engine light, but I didn't know that it could have a code and not turn on the light. I'll work on the grounding first, and see if that helps (seems to be a common issue, as I find in many threads on that topic now).

 

[56chuzz]

Have that new battery load tested. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's a good one. I worked in two large auto parts stores for 6 years every once in a while, a new battery would test bad. There's no guarantees that every new battery is good.

 

[wiki]

Thank you all. It indeed was the grounding cable connection to the fender. The bolt was so rusted that it snapped right off and I failed to extract it. So I drilled it out and tapped a new thread. Voila, the car starts again. What a poor design . . .

 

[rhysoul]

I gave my grounds a quick spray of fluid film but you can use a dab of grease…or anything to help keep them from rusting again.

 

[56chuzz]

That fluid film is some good stuff!

 

[wiki]

Yes, I used the advice from another thread to strip the paint from where the connector rests on the fender and then sprayed it with dielectric grease for corrosion protection before putting it back together. On second thought, I'll also put some anti seize on the threads for corrosion protection. Could it be that this particular bolt rusts so badly because it is exposed to the elements via the wheel well?

 

[fontime]

I've got a 2010 base with about 80000 miles. Has been a great car. A few months ago, it wouldn't start, although my son had just driven it somewhere. I went there and started it with a battery pack. At home I trickle charged it and it was fine for 2 months. Then it wouldn't start again, again not after sitting for a while, but just an hour or so after being driven. There were also never really any other signs of a weak battery. The battery was 7 or 8 years old, so I replaced it with a new one. Car was fine for another months. Then again, it wouldn't start, just a couple of hours after it was driven without problem. I measured the battery and it is fine. However, the car acts as if the battery were low. The dash takes a while to light up, when I crank it clicks and won't but the dash will go dark or flicker and then take a while to recover. I checked and cleaned to battery connectors and they are fine and tight. Not sure what else to check. If it just weren't doing anything, I'd say maybe the starter is bad, but this acting as if the battery were low when it isn't . . .

I bought a new 2015 Soul (Base Model) and the next morning after a small snow storm (Temp was 0 degrees fahrenheit)
The car would not start, called Kia and they towed it to the dealer and it started right up, they tested everything
nothing wrong. About a month later ,same thing happened. After a whole year of this and I think 5 times back at the same dealer it happened again and the dealer said he couldn't get the car in for about a week. I took it to another dealer(Much smaller dealership) and explained to the service manager what the problem was. He looked up the past warranty appointments and he said the starter needs replacement. 45 minutes later I was on the road and I traded the 2015 with 80K miles in on a new 2020 Soul. I never had one issue with the 2015 after the starter was replaced. During the winter it gets down to -10 degrees and the car was parked outside. No problem the car always started.