Some sort of electrical problem

[LiquidOC]

My car will not start. I recently (Saturday night, actually), put in a new battery and it wouldn't start after I hooked up the new battery. Before this, it required a jump for me to start it and get it home. When I get a jump, it starts up and runs fine, with a little bit of belt squeal (I think it might actually be my alternator.) I checked for electrical leaks the way that one of the tech articles here describes, and I am only getting a 25 ma draw when the negative battery terminal is disconnected. Did I maybe buy a bad battery? After I ran my car for a little bit last night (from getting a jump) I measured the voltage of it after I shut off my car. It's at 8 volts (DC) I'm going to try and get a jump and measure the voltage of it then. Anyone who has any suggestions on what this could possibly be, please help!

Note: When I try to start it, all my dash lights come on (like normal) and when I turn the key the whole way, all of them go off, and I hear a click (only one) and then a small whirr sound, like the starter's trying to turn, but can't. Before my car died, it gave me no symptoms like it did when my alternator went out before (IE: the SRS light coming on, windshield wipers going extremely slow.) However, after I put in the new battery (It was raining) The windshield wipers were still on when I turned the key, and they went slow like the battery was almost dead already. So, could I possibly have an electrical leak with on 25 ma Draw on the battery when the car's completely off and with everything shut other than the hood? Or did I just buy a bad battery?

THANKS!

 

[Gigaah]

check voltage across the battery terminals only, then from the connectors If your connectors aren't good and tight on the battery I've seen similar simptoms.

 

[luv2rallye]

You should have at least 12 volts on the battery terminals with the car off and 14 volts with the engine running. If the 25 mA is measured with an ammeter in series with the battery and everything is off, that is normal (it's mostly the radio's memory draw). Sounds like you've got a battery with 2 cells bad (to get only 8v).

 

[LiquidOC]

Now the car turns on by itself (without a jump) I don't know wtf I did to make it do that though. When the car is just sitting (Turned off) I get 10V, and with it running, I get 12V across the battery terminals.

 

[Gigaah]

You should get 12 and 13.5-14.5 respectively. Perhaps you have a bad battery and alternator. Double check the security of the battery terminals, loosen them twist them around a bit then tighten them back down really good.

 

[FireyIce01]

Get it started and drive it to your local auto zone/kragen/whathaveyou where you bought your battery and have them test both the battery and the alternator... they usually have the tools and should do it for free... I know kragen and auto zone do... that will tell you what's bad... it sounds to me like a bad cell in the battery, you should have a minimum of like 11.5 volts (if your battery is low) and about 13-14.5 at idle...

 

[LiquidOC]

Problem solved: Got the battery tested at autozone (the new one) I needed new battery terminals, and the battery had a dead cell or something else wrong with it. Took it back to walmart and yelled at them for a bit after I got a new battery under the warranty. Replaced it in the walmart parking lot and probably scared off a few customers with my bov