No Start - SOLVED (battery)

Starting my very first thread with a no start condition. (is there cake or some kind of celebration for a guys first thread?)
Symptoms:
Prior to failing to start I noticed she was slower to crank, but just barely noticeable. First noticed 2 days ago.
Conditions:
Weather has been in the teens at night, but nothing bitter cold. Truck is outside and not in a garage.
After fail start this morning battery read 12.1v, then after 2-3 additional attempts went down to 11.3.
Jump started it with our Civic. Before starting while hooked up volts were 14.4. Would not instantly start, but after roughly 4 minutes she cranked slightly slow and fired up. Unhook cables, volts charging at 14.7.
Additional details:
I have not done any worl under the hood for a long time. And even longer on any electrical. Have not added any electrical components.
The cables and grounds were completely gone through and cleaned/coated, and there is zero visual corrosion at the terminals, and no swelling or green crusties near the cable ends. Not ruling that out though.
Battery is a NAPA Legend tagged 7 of 22. First winter after the new battery it was strong starts in cold, and only the slight slower crank when bitter cold/zero or single digits.

I know this is usually a simple trouble shoot, but in case things go sideways it's nice knowing I've got backup brain power with you all.

Taking battery in to check CCA to start with. I'll get some pics when the sun comes up.

 

Hopefully it's not your starter going out

 

My daughter's battery in the tree read 12v on the DMM, but wouldn't start. Sure enough a new batt and a pos term and it fired right up. I'm betting(hoping) they find its bad.

 

I've had a NAPER legend go almost 9 years in the Civic! But who knows with the way parts are shit now... maybe they have cut some corners on them.

 

I’ll bet you lunch it’s the battery or battery-related based on the symptoms.

 

Yup. Battery is my bet.

 

I won't take that bet haha, but if you are ever up here lunch is on me
You know, you dread a starter issue. And I don't think it's related but I didn't mention the starter sounding like it was slow to Disengage for a month or so. Not super bad, only a fraction of a second did it sound like it was being spun by the engine... but you know how dialed in to the sounds you get, and how you can pick up in something ever so slightly different. In 30 min or so I will have an answer on the battery.

 

Totally get it. Maybe ground on starter could use a good cleaning and dielectric.

But that said if you do need to do the starter, bonus, you can clean that up, and wrap all the wires up with Honda rodent tape.

 

Don't like this and will be fixing... but no green. I made it worse flexing it around, before it was barely noticeable


Inner terminals look great

 

12.32v / 90 CCA!!!!!

 

It's your fuel map. It's got a nasty hole. That's why you're unloading in third. I'll lengthen the injector pulse a millisecond. Just tune the NOS timer, you'll run nines.

 

So you started an entire thread to end up just needing a battery...?

 

I mean, I had this stupid thing where I was getting the click – no – start recently. Traced it back to the months prior, the Stinger battery terminal I'd installed, my main line off the positive side was not super-super tight (the L-shaped metal piece). It wasn’t loose, like, I had to twist with some force for it to budge, but it shouldn’t even budge, it should be tight-tight. I’d wiggled it in the past, and it seemed fine. I’d been seeing 1 out of 8-10 starts I’d get the click. After man-handle-worthy tightening it down two months ago, I’ve started 60-70 times with no probs.

Moral of the story: It doesn’t take much aberration at the battery terminal to degrade high-impact draw.

Secondarily, cable degradation/corrosion lends to power issues that will eat thru batteries, pop fuses, melt wires and terminals, etc.

 

Our trucks don’t like to be neglected in the cold weather. Time to invest in a trickle charger.

 

I panicked, give the FNG a break!

 

If I had a garage...
I can just see me wrapping an extension cord around inside the flaps of our snow blower because I forgot it was there. Definitely when we move, and she's resting in a pole barn/ garage.

 

That's what I thought when I read the OP, but didn't wanna be a dick.

Dick...

 

Your still a dick

 

You're*

 

Full warranty replacement. Got a few extras since I was there. Pads and a new terminal cleaner.


Relearning idle. While she was ripping @ 2k rpm and i was wrapping up she had a momentary stumble and quickly recovered... wtf.


It's 22deg, that cable repair is waiting until it's warmer. Nope probably not going to do it.

 

Idle:
Fully warmed up, in drive foot on brake for 5 min, idle drops to 1100.
This is how I do it, and then the 200 or so more falls off with a few drive cycles leaving me around 900. Still high but that's her groove.

 

Proving my point

 

Then there are two options:

1. Buy a quick charge battery charger if leaving the truck sitting only happens on occasion.
2. Disconnect the battery negative terminal if it’s going to sit unused for more than a weekend.

I often choose #2 myself.

 

This is the first time I've had battery fail in less than 5-6 years.
I drive it to and from work all week, and she usually sits all weekend with maybe one outing.
Yeah I may have to do that in the future when I'm retired and not using it as much. Good tips thx.
If we get the acreage we want when we move I'll be tooling around the property feeding deer and harvesting fire wood hopefully.

Edit: do you intervine and relearn the idle or just send it? You prob put on more miles/frequent than I do

 

I just send it. Never had an issue with the truck relearning.

 

The driver is a whole nother story….Tom and Harry said to Dick

 

And my lunch?

 

Peasants chili