finicky start... starting small

Tested battery cells today... two good, three fair and one bad. sometimes it takes forever to catch on the turn over. this is intermittent but frustrating and somewhat embarrassing... 'aw, poor sap's car wont start'.

could it still be the battery? would adding acid or water to the bad cell revive it? (i've got some lying around) or... should i move on to plugs, alternator or ingnition? i have a fairly decent grasp on how an engine runs but I'm flat broke and cant take it to a shop. seems ridiculous anyway for something so simple.

side note: threw a P0420 code recently but dont have the funds for a new exhaust just yet. i dont think this is related but maybe there's an exhaust back up that is interfering with combustion? i dunno. this is where the 'fairly' comes in. just throwing ideas out there.

 

i have always thought that i could hear a leak but i'm not positive. i suppose starting with the sensor would be starting small eh? lol

 

not sure. i know i have the newer motor... not the ones used in the previous type pickups. 16 valve. i dont have an owners manual. might wanna get one of those.

ps. thanks for the advice

 

I've seen bad and/or low batteries do weird things to electronics in cars before. Get the battery replaced & that'll reset the computer ...and go from there.
If you have a problem elsewhere - the CEL & code will be back.