while driving home from work tonight i noticed that the check engine light came on. i'm not sure when it appeared exactly. anyway, after i turned off the car i decided to restart it to see if the cel would still be there. but the minute i turn the key over, it seems like all the power has been shut off and there's no sound whatsoever. i lock the car with the remote-there's the "beep" alarm sound but iot sounds a little weak. also, the door locks didn't go down. the red security light for my alarm still blinks but the security light for the head unit is not. this happened one other time about a month ago (minus the cel i think) but the car turned on fine the next day and has been fine until tonight. i tried to unlock the car with the remote-it made the beep beep sound and the outside lights flashed but the door locks did not pop up. so i opened the door through the keyhole and none of the interior lights came on.

i have a 94 ex. the car came with a basic keyless entry viper alarm when i bought it from the previous owner like three years ago. it has a turbo timer, etc., but i don't think the problem is related to the turbo setup. besides that, i have colder plugs in the car. i'm not sure what to check or replace. a friend suggests that it could be a short related to the alarm system. if anyone can tell me what to look for in the search engine or if anyone has any idea what's up, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Battery dead?

liam

 

i would say battery... Check before you go out and spend $50 to make sure there is no corrosion on terminals, and the cables are tight. Same thing happended to me, just corrosion.. looks kinda white and green.
If everything seems fine there, go get your battery charged , dont take it to autozone dead, they will say it is dead when all it may need is a recharge, and you are compelled to buy another battery.
If the recharge does not work , borrow one from your parents /freinds car to make sure that is what is wrong.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thai-paramedic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i would say battery... Check before you go out and spend $50 to make sure there is no corrosion on terminals, and the cables are tight. Same thing happended to me, just corrosion.. looks kinda white and green.
If everything seems fine there, go get your battery charged , dont take it to autozone dead, they will say it is dead when all it may need is a recharge, and you are compelled to buy another battery.
If the recharge does not work , borrow one from your parents /freinds car to make sure that is what is wrong.
</TD></TR></TABLE> yep that's what I would check first..

 

thanks for the replies and suggestions. this morning i unlocked the car and the alarm's sound was much weaker than last night. still no power to the door locks or interior lights. i popped the hood and noticed that there was a tiny bit of whitish/greenish corrosion on the negative terminal only. tiny meaning it was more like a pinch of salt around the bottom edge-not like the terminal was marinated with corrosion. the cables were tight. anyway, i already got a new battery from advance auto and the car started up and drove fine-no cel or whatever. but now i'm not sure what to do with the old one. advance will give a $10 refund if i give them the old one. i know i haven't replaced, charged, or jumped the old battery in the 3 years that i've had the car. i don't know about the previous owner either. this was the 2nd random time that it's happened.