Just wondering if this has happened to anyone here before:

I was running some errands a few weeks ago, going from store to store real quick. Drove to each one fine and was about to do my last one. Went in the car, put the keys in and everything was fine. Turn to start the car and it started up very briefly and then died. At that point i had zero voltage going through the car. With a dying battery, you'll get at least some electricity going through the car and things like dome and dash lights will work. For me, it was nothing, anything electrical was dead. Checked all the fuse and everything was fine. Disconnected the battery (positive and negative), waited a bit, then reconnect and it was like nothing ever happened. Car started up fine and all is well.

My question is, what just happened? Did i just suffer a short of some kind? It was also raining outside so maybe that contributed to whatever happened? Got home and used a multi-meter to check the battery and it was fine. All electrical connection was ok with nothing loose. No frayed wires or anything like that.

Any ideas or thoughts would be grateful so i know how to fix or prevent this from happening again.

Thanks.

 

water vapor phenomena near battery or short/ frayed wire near alternator. hard to troubleshoot an issue that you can't recreate.

 

dirty battery terminals. Clean em up and you should be fine.

 

it was totally not the terminal. i clean mine fairly daily and there weren't any corrosion or acid on it. I've had issues with it in the past and have made it my priority to always keep them clean.