Before



Bought 99 disco 1.5 months ago. Never any starting issues. No non turnovers. Any of that.

Battery shows 6/25 installed.



Middle



Had valve covers done 2 weeks ago. The previous owner installed a cb and he told me if turned in it will drain car battery because no switch he installed. So the mechanic was messing around with it I guess and left it on. After 2 days of sitting I came out and battery was dead. 5 volts.



Now



I charged battery fully. Took outside. It started first try. All good. My positive terminal is loose. So I tried to install a shim. Shim was too big and had to gently wack it out of the terminal and battery. Didn’t pound with a hammer. But end of a screw driver.



Now 2



Battery still has like 12.7 volts. I go to start and it’s a click. I see lights. Then when the click happens all the lights disappear and doors don’t work. And then I have to take off positive terminal and reapply to battery. And then I see dash lights again. And a click. And repeat.



Checked fuses. All seem good.



I can’t imagine it would be a start motor or alternator.



Best steps?



Jumpstart to see?



Multi meter the relay?



Just get a new battery? Maybe I damaged the previous one with the gentlest “hitting”.



And advice welcome.



Thanks

 

Side note. Sorry for my long post but :

maybe I loosened an already lost positive terminal and without the shim not it’s not getting a good connection? So install a new terminal perhaps?

and again I’ve had cars that just click but then after that click the dash lights don’t go out etc and the. I have to take off the positive terminal and reapply to get lights again. So that may rule out solenoid and alternator etc?

thnx

 

Nm , seems to be because I loosened the positive terminal even more with the shim. I tried tightening it with vise crips and it starts a bunch of times. Then I touch it with my pinky and it won’t start.

off to the store I go.

anyway can’t figure out how to delete this thread. But check your lose terminals

 

It's always a good measure to remove ground cable from alternator bracket and clean corrosion. It won't look corroided...but it's a common source of failure.

 

I agree probably poor main contacts, not necessarily right at the battery, possibly at the other end of the cables? But discharging even a new battery that flat will degrade its capacity.