So, I'm in my car right now and the thing won't start. When I first got into the car, I had electricty. But when I tried to start it, it just went zap and all the electricty went out. No crank, nothing. Now I have no lights, no power to anything. Any ideas? Its cold up here in Toronto, a bit of snow flurries.
Yet another can't start car thread
- Thread starter dablackgoku1234
- Start date
Easiest and first thing to check are the positive and negative ground cables at the battery. Don't think it's the main relay as you had power and now nothing has power all of a sudden. Check all the fuses as well.
Jeff
ditto on the battery connections. If you have some tools with you, might be worth taking them off and cleaning them. A few months ago one of my daughters got stuck with the same symptoms. It was a loose positive battery terminal. The mechanic who replaced the starter on her car just shoved the terminal on without bothering to tighten it.
I will need to double check my battery connections. Both are pretty corroded.
But I got a boost from a friend and it started up fine. I managed to drive home without any issues. But when I got home, I turned off the car and tried starting it again just to see if the battery is charging. Same thing happened. Had juice and lights, but the minute I tried to start the car, everything shuts off. The battery reads around 12v. Looks like my battery is toast. :frown:
But I got a boost from a friend and it started up fine. I managed to drive home without any issues. But when I got home, I turned off the car and tried starting it again just to see if the battery is charging. Same thing happened. Had juice and lights, but the minute I tried to start the car, everything shuts off. The battery reads around 12v. Looks like my battery is toast. :frown:
Here's an update. It turns out it was a bad battery connection. I disconnected the battery and scrubed down the connectors. Reconnected them and made sure they were tight. The car starts right up without any hesitation. Thanks guys for the tips!
I had this problem on my MR2 it seems that with the batteries in the front and more exposed to the road elements the connections become corroded rather quickly.
What a long time friend and mechanic told me to do is to super glue like 2 or 3 pennies to the top of the battery and your connectors stay cleaner alot longer as the pennies take the corrosion not the connectors. It really does work. Its amazing. just my .02cents....literally:biggrin:
What a long time friend and mechanic told me to do is to super glue like 2 or 3 pennies to the top of the battery and your connectors stay cleaner alot longer as the pennies take the corrosion not the connectors. It really does work. Its amazing. just my .02cents....literally:biggrin:
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- 7 February 2010
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Yep, I had one of those universal battery terminals on the negative side. It looked clean from the outside but when I took the clamp off, the owner that fixed it didn't strip much insulation off and the exposed copper easily got corroded and did what yours did. I figured it out when I measured 10 volts at the jump terminal in the engine bay and everywhere else but well over 12 volt at the battery terminals.
I would wire brush clean the terminals and spray the battery anti corrosion spray on it. IMO if your cables are over 10 yrs old I would replace them if you live in extreme climates and or have high mileage. Just cheap and easy maintenance.
Jeff
Jeff
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