Fumi

I have never had any electrical problems, my car has always started, until yesterday. I parked it, three hours later I came back and wanted to start it. There was no power anywhere in the car, no lights on the dash, nothing at all. I turned the key and nothing happened, no sound, no clicking. I assumed it was the battery, hooked it to another car and same thing - nothing happened, no poweer anywhere in the car or on the dash, despite power obviously being present now due to the jumper cables being connected.

However, when I unhooked the battery and checked it (it checked fine) and then hooked it up again, the car started liked normal. For three or four times. Then the same thing happened again, but this time I heard a clicking sound, like from a relays, from the left side while turning the ignition key. This stopped and then it was totally dead again.

Does anyone have any idea what this could mean?

tony_2018

Probably doesn't have enough cranking amps

civic402lx

How did you check the battery?
how old is it?

shmooly

mk378

You need a voltmeter.

Turn the light switch on so there is a load on the system. First measure at the battery to be sure it is live. Measure that on the posts that are part of the battery, not on the terminals that are part of the car. Then if the battery is live but the car has no power, measure across each major power and ground connection to see where you are losing the voltage. A good connection will have practically zero volts across it.

Fumi

Thank you very much for all the answers.

I took out the battery and had it checked at Halford's. It does have enough power. I did not recharge it, put it back in and it did start the car. A few times. Then the same thing again. So power, charge or cranking amps is not the issue.

A mechanic I spoke to seems to think that I have a bad connection, because every time I take the battery out and put it back in, it works again, for a moment. So it could be that by me moving everything around, contact gets made and then broken again. Not sure...

mk378 - got it, yes, I will check that tomorrow, thank you. One question, though. You write, "A good connection will have practically zero volts across it." I am not sure what this means. Why zero volts?

civic402lx

Verify all the ground point are clean and solid.

JRCivic1

Also check the battery cable connection at the under hood fuse box... is it tight ??? Wiggle it and see if the tab where it bolts to is not damaged/broken. Also, check your main bus fuse... bolted down firmly and undamaged.

theYBLEGAL

Usually bad grounds are the problem. Make sure both your valve cover and transmission have grounding wires. Replace them just for fun. Use new screws and clean the surfaces so they make good contact.

This one time at the track, my car wouldn't start, so we just kept push starting it so we could keep going out and racing. Couldn't figure out why the starter died, figured it was old. Got the car home after the weekend, and found a loose ground on the transmission. Boom started right up like normal.

Fumi

Thank you very much for all your help! I really appreciate the fast and detailed answers.

I went and checked all the connections and grounds today and it appears I found it right away. When I wiggled the connection from the battery to the fuse box, all the lights went out. And when I pushed it back, they went back on. So I tightened this connection and I am hoping that this will be the end of it. Only time will tell, of course, but so far it has worked.

Thanks again!

civic402lx

Sometime, it's just that simple. Small detail can cause headaches. Glad you found the issue.