Help!! Car Wont Start! *cry*
01-25-2005, 10:01 PM
#32
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ok.. first off... calm down. This is not the end of the world.. Panicing and acting all dramatic is only going to peeve people off and they will not help you.
Tomorrow after school.. go you your tib and try starting it one more time. If it only clicks, stop and make sure all the connections are tight.. this includes the ground to body wire in the driver's side fender. Try again...
If it still only clicks, turn on your lights so that you can see them... if the battery is holding a charge, they should be bright, but not as bright as when the car is running. Then try and start the car with the lights on.. They should grow dim, but not die compleatly.
If it dies die compleatly and not come back to anywhere near the original brightness, you have a battery problem. I know you mentioned having two batteries.. where did you get the second? IF it came out of another car, can your original battery start that car? Remember, just because a battery can hold 12 volts, does not mean it has enough "juice" to turn the starter. There is NOTHING more draining then trying to start a car. This is why batteries are labled in "Cold cranking amps" You cannot test a battery with just a voltage metre, but you need a load tester that simulates a load by running the battery's charger through a heavy coil... it is the battery's ability to hold it's charge when subjected to this test that tells you if it is good or not.
Tomorrow after school.. go you your tib and try starting it one more time. If it only clicks, stop and make sure all the connections are tight.. this includes the ground to body wire in the driver's side fender. Try again...
If it still only clicks, turn on your lights so that you can see them... if the battery is holding a charge, they should be bright, but not as bright as when the car is running. Then try and start the car with the lights on.. They should grow dim, but not die compleatly.
If it dies die compleatly and not come back to anywhere near the original brightness, you have a battery problem. I know you mentioned having two batteries.. where did you get the second? IF it came out of another car, can your original battery start that car? Remember, just because a battery can hold 12 volts, does not mean it has enough "juice" to turn the starter. There is NOTHING more draining then trying to start a car. This is why batteries are labled in "Cold cranking amps" You cannot test a battery with just a voltage metre, but you need a load tester that simulates a load by running the battery's charger through a heavy coil... it is the battery's ability to hold it's charge when subjected to this test that tells you if it is good or not.
01-26-2005, 07:26 AM
#33
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Vehicle: 1991 Olds Cutlass
okay i just tried to start my car with the lights on, they shut off completely..... and i checked out all the connections they are tight, dont know where the ground to body wire in the driver's side fender is?
the second battery was just one sitting around extra that we know worked in other cars....
the second battery was just one sitting around extra that we know worked in other cars....
01-26-2005, 09:01 AM
#36
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QUOTE (97Tibby)
they completely dimmed out, not even visible anymore and yes after i put the key off of trying to start it they came back on.
...then your battery should be fine if they came back on.
01-26-2005, 10:09 AM
#37
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jesus please save java webspace... pull the battery take it to autozone and get it tested, and since i work at autozone i know better then to sell a starter or alternator before testing it because yes some are bad out of the box. so my recommendation is to get the battery tested because its the easier of the two to remove, if tis good then pull the starter again and get it retested
01-26-2005, 10:46 AM
#38
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sounds like the starter soleniod 2 me. See if you can jump start it (the starter not the battery). Take a peice of wire touch the quick disconnect peice to the screw holding the wire on the opposite side of the starter when you have the keys in battery mode (like the car was normally running).
01-26-2005, 11:12 AM
#39
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well i dont know much of anything about cars.. but i do know... that my tiburon died while driving it and i jumped it.. it ran for 2 minutes then died.. it ran longer when i turned lights and windshield wipers off. that was a fun drive home in the rain with my friend in a neon jumping me every mile or so. LOL. but yeah, my alternator was $180.. not 80 like your cougar. also my dads jetta does this still.. and when it just clicks then he gets out and pushes on the wire going into the starter silinoid and it starts up.. the connection is lose but he is lazy and wont fix it. plus now its just sitting cause the starter actually went out on it now. and now no matter how hard he pushes that wire it wont start. smile.gif and the starter is expensive for that piece of sh..... oh did i get off subject.. sorry.
also i dont know if this was already said but they cant test the alternator at advance unless the car is on.. and if the car has to be jumped its not going to work. already tried.
also i dont know if this was already said but they cant test the alternator at advance unless the car is on.. and if the car has to be jumped its not going to work. already tried.
01-26-2005, 11:46 AM
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Do as dweet says... he is right, the battery is the easiest to check. As for the other battery you have... when was the last time you tried using that in another car? Something could have happened to it when it was sitting around loosing it's charge.