Hello,
My 92 Accord currently will not start. When I try to start it turns over, but very very slowly (sounds like it's having a hard time). For a while now generally when I start it usually would have to turn over a few times to get it to start, but it has always been like that when the weather is cold. Right now it's about 30 degrees out and it won't start at all... I had the distributer replaced about a year and a half ago, but at that time it would not turn over at all. So far I have checked the voltage on the battery with a multimeter and it came out to 10.22, but this is also after I tried to start it several times since at first the weather was pretty cold. The check engine light has not come on at all like it did for the distributer problem I had before. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice? I looked through some of the faq's and couldn't find anything about a slow turnover in the general start up problems. Could this just be due to the battery?

 

Weak battery? If the load of the starter causes the voltage to drop too far, the spark will be weaker, etc. That goes for battery cable connections, so check all that stuff.

 

Ok, I'll have to try and check that stuff out...I've also kinda been wondering what the minimum power in the battery needs to be to actually start it up, or would I need to just jump it at this point even if I find out the possible issue?

 

10.2 volts is not enough to crank the engine.

I would jump the car off, then use the meter to check voltage at battery terminal connections then at the battery terminal posts 'proper'; Looking for around 14V after start up; that will show Alt output okay
If there is a difference in voltage between terminal/post measurements you need to clean and resecure battery connections.
Then next step is to get the battery LOAD TESTED, and I think you'll find out the battery decided to "take a ride in a handbasket". The 10V reading tells me that because each cell is 2 volts, and you have a dead/shorted cell with 10V

 

Thanks for the help. I'll try and get a jump after I get out of work and test it again.

 

Simply measuring voltage alone isn't a good test for a battery. It's 10v but we don't know if it's a good battery that's been run down by trying to start, vs. a battery with 1 dead cell. Autozone or someplace like that can test it with a load.

 

I had the battery tested at a parts store and they could not get it to charge. I bought a new one (a little more better of one) and put it in. The end of the negative battery cable broke off when I tried to put in back on...had to buy a universal one to replace it at the parts store. The car seems to be working fine again. I did the voltage test on the battery while it was running and it tested out at 14.69 (hopefully that's not considered overcharging).

Thanks for the help.