To make a long story short.

my caR has been sitting out for some time. About 2 months ago i jump started it and it ran fine with no issues. I disconnected the battery since it was going to sit for another month or so before i would officially bring it back out to drive for good.

Today ( a month and a half later )

I plugged the battery back in, turned the key and nothing. At first i didnt think much of it because i thought the battery just might need a jump. I plugged the cables up, turned the key and still... nothing. I then start looking into the basics.. connection is tight, jumper cables on right, listened for fuel but didnt get anything. So after all this i started checking the fuses in the engine bay and under the driver side dash...i found nothing blown or anything that "looks" blown. The only thing i wouldnt be able to check was relays.

things im sure of..

not the battery
doesnt seem to be fuses
batter and jumpers were on tight
car never did anything like this before
no major changes since the last time it started

Question

anything else i could be missing? besides not being able to fully check the relays? any advice would be greatly appreciated. I miss driving my car so much and today i had everything ready to take it out and enjoy it once again...but i got rejected!!! =T

 

How are you sure it is not the battery? To me it sounds like the battery, same thing happen to my R after sitting for a while.

 

Forgot to mention. I took the battery out my hatch ( i know its not the right battery ) just to even see if i can get anything on the key clicks and still.. nothing. I will get another battery since i know the one for the car is dead.. but i seriously dont think its a battery issue.

 

How is your starter?

 

Im sure fine? i dont think its starter or distrib. i dont get anything at all...even when i put the key in and turn it, no lights, no dash lights. nada.

and i dont think its the battery...i got no power at all...its pretty weird, even when i plugged in the jumper cables to the battery that is dying. it should get some type of charge and things should start coming on and lighting up, but i dont even get that. what else can cause me to have no power besides battery and fuses being blown? relay?

it may be something small that im missing and over looking...anything else?

 

check ur ground and cables running to ur starter

 

So you have no power at all (no dash lights, no crank)? Even after you jump the dead battery? After you put the battery out of your hatch in your teg?

i know you said you checked the fuses, but did you check your high amp battery fuse?

Double check that and get back to us.

 

I'll have to check that. but yes...even when i plug up a good working battery i still get nothing. I've even replaced the ground cable for the battery and still nothing. It's as if i have no battery plugged up to the motor...i get nothing at all...anything else besides main fuses?

 

Check that high amp battery fuse to see if thats visually not blown open.

Given that you have a low impedence multimeter......if you don't have one, get one, very handy when elecrical issues arise.

Stick a multimeter on the fuse and see if you are even getting power from the battery. Note the voltage, if it's close to what battery voltage would be (12v or so) than you are getting proper voltage to that fuse. Then you just keep following the wiring diagram and keep probing to see if you have power.


If the high amp battery fuse has low or no voltage after you have visually checked to verify the fuse is still good. Do a voltage drop across the B+ wire from the battery post to the fuse. If the voltage drop is high, it means that your B+ cable is eating all your voltage with high resistance. The high resistance could be corrosion or frayed cables.

I hope a didn't lose you or talk over your head at all, just trying to be a good fellow HT'er. Hope this was some assistance, good luck with your diag.

ITR0529

 

Check the power connection at the starter. Should be a 13 mm. Make sure neg batt cable is disconnected when doing in case wrench contacts metal while tightening starter cable.
Also there is a small 14-16 guage wire that plugs into the starter> make sure its connected.

 

So its confirmed when you use a known good battery that the instrument pack is not lighting up?

 

No i'm with you, and thanks.

I will be going down there this coming monday to work on it some more...i just wanted to get as much advice as i can so i have more to work with. I hope its something simple but if not then ill have to get down n dirty.

thanks for the help everyone! keep em coming.

 

Yea let me know what you find out whats going on with it. I'm curious as to what it could be. Good Luck.

itr0529

 

Ok.

So i went down today again to look at it some more and this is what happened. First of all the battery is bad ( the one that was already in the caR ) So when i first tried to jump start it... no go. After that i tried checking on all the cables and then the fuses and the car still had no power. At first all the fuses were good and all cables were tight. This is when i tried jump starting the car again....i seen some sparks then checked the car and still no power. ( i didnt know but this is when the main batt fuse had blown, hence the sparks ) So this is when i got the battery from my hatch and when i still had no power i thought it could be something else.

soooo... 2 things. the battery was bad and the main batt fuse had blown on the 2nd jump start.

thanks for your help folks. i knew it had to be something simple and it felt good driving her again.