selasornayr

Like the topic says, my car won't start... the only way I can get it to start is to jump start it, but once I turn off the car, it won't start again. At first, I thought it was my battery because the car wasn't even cranking, so to see if it was my alternator or battery that's bad, I charged my battery once I got home.

A few hours later, the battery is fully charged, but the car won't start again. I was thinking that the culprit was my alternator, but if my battery is fully charged, it wouldn't matter if my alternator is working, right?

The weird thing is that now that my battery is fully charged, I can't even turn on my alarm, and my dome light flickers, as if my battery is super weak. I checked the main fuses, and they all look fine.

By the way, I drive a 00 Civic Lx Sedan, and these are my electrical-related mods...

- about a 1200-1500 watt stereo system
- Optima Yellow Top
- Big 3 wiring upgrade and ground wires upgrade, "daisy chain" style (4ga wires... I know, it's overkill but I had a bunch of 4ga left over)
- Stock alternator (I have about 108,000 miles on it, about 35,000 miles driven with my stereo system)
- fuel pump kill switch (if this was messed up, at least the car would crank and not fire... so I don't think this is the problem)

Anyway, I'm don't know why the hell my car won't start... there's a bigger electrical problem going on, and my general knowledge and research here on the boards isn't providing the usual answer. Can anyone help?

siregcivic

have you checked your starter???? theres a little wire that goes to the starter that has fallen off on me before.. or maybe your starter just went out

selasornayr

No, I haven't checked that... I'll do so in the morning. But would the health (for lack of a better word) of the starter affect things like my alarm, my radio (aftermarket pioneer), and my lighting?

By the way, I forgot to mention that everytime I attempt to crank my car, I'll turn the key to "III" and of course nothing happens... but once I return the key back to the "II" position, I hear a few clicks coming from the behind the glove compartment area... this seems odd.

Crasian

could be a loose connection on your battery, happened to my buddy the other day

selasornayr

Yeah, I double-checked that too... my battery connections are very snug. I have the knukonceptz battery terminals
(http://knukonceptz.com/productMaster...ry%20Terminals)
and Stinger wire terminals.

selasornayr

bump

Snail Tuning

ok first of trouble shoot, just don't go checking random things.

first get a volt meter. or test light

2. check voltage at battery. (no voltage means bad battery)
3. check voltage at man wire to starter. (no voltage means short in wire, or bad battery terminal connection)
4. check voltage at fues box. (no voltage means short in power wire, or Bad terminal connections)
5. Check battery ground.

then get back to us with the results.
also is it auto or manual, if its manual you need to make sure the clutch switch works, if its an auto make sure the neutral switch is working properly.


also once its started put a volt meter on the cabled at the battery, if it reads 13-15v your alternator is fine. if its lower or higher you may need a new one. also check your battery after you let the car run alittle it should have a slight surface charge of around 13-13.5v if its under 12v after its been charged and run in the car you need a new battery.

selasornayr

Snail, thanks for you help... because of you, I found the problem. After fully charging my battery with my charger, I checked the voltage, and it was too low. I took my battery to Sears (where I bought it 9 months ago), and they did the same tests and concluded that it was my battery that was the problem. Since the battery was under warranty, I simply got a new one in exchange.

When I got home, I tested the voltage again just to make sure, and it was fine. I also checked the alternator like you said, and it was fine.

So yeah, after having so much confidence that my battery wasn't the problem because it was only 9 months old, I did the voltage tests and saw that it was the problem. Damn, that yellow top Optima sure was a piece of ****.