Hi all,

I haven't driven my car for about 2 weeks. This morning, when I tried to start it, it couldn't and the "failure indicator" light shows up. I checked the forum a bit, but decided to jump it anyway. It got it going, and I was able to drive it for roughly 20 miles, and eventually got back home. Spent another hour at home finished watching the playoff game, and decided to take it out again.

It's not starting again, even with a jump. All I hear is some clicking noises, while windows and rear spoiler just go up and down slowly. It seems that it has enough power to operate some accessories, but not enough to start the car.

I have read some posts relating to battery and alternator. In this case, without much inspection which I should have done, am I dealing with a dead battery or bad alternator, or both? Should I give it a shot charging up the current battery?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

 

battery...get a new one

 

your bat may not be gone yet.. charge it drive for an hour or so take it home and try to restart,then try the next day, this happened to me i did not drive two months, recharged the batt and drove the car every other day for 1/2 hour or so and all is well as far as starting goes

 

I had a similar problem - all lights and accessories worked, but car would barely turn over - it got worse as time went on and finally would not turn over. I got a new battery and all is well.

Now I need to remember to call the dealer to get the stereo / pcm code

 

Battery could have bad cell or cells. Check battery with a Digital multi meter or some sort of DC voltage tester. If it's 12.0 -12.5 with car off, it's good. If not...well you know...battery time. If you can get it running and the battery voltage is 13.5-13.7 or so, alternator is probably good.

 

First - jump the car again and get it running. Then disconnect the battery, if the car is still running then your alternator is still good.

Second - If the battery is bad, you can try to salvage it. Take the battery out of the car, unscrew the six plugs on the top. Remember to wear some gloves when doing this. Pour out all the liquid, then replace with distilled water. Recharge the battery and drop it back in the car

Or Third - buy a new battery

 

Alternators are great these days. 9 times out of 10 there have been power issues it is the battery. I suggest putting a slow charge like overnight at 2amps. If you put a quick one hour charge, the battery will have a "surface charge" that does not have many amps. Many people get away with that but it is much better for battery life to put a slow
low amp charge to put a deep strong charge. If after you charge slow overnight and it cannot start on it's own, the battery is then a heavy toxic paper weight. I strongly recommend getting a battery "tender" and leaving it plugged in while the vehicle is parked. New ones have electronics that keep batteries conditioned and live longer. Good luck.

 

For you guys that garage your cars a lot:

Get a trickle charger.

 

No a battery expert, but I don't think you want to pour out all the liquid and replace it with water - just top it off (to the fill line) with distilled water - otherwise you will lose all the acid and the chemical reaction...

 

If you leave your car unlocked in the garage, you will be draining your battery because of standby features. Lock it and after a certain time period the computer shuts everything down to prevent battery drain.

 

Big thanks to everyone...walked away for a few hours and checked back, wow, you all really have nothing better to do but to help out the newbies like me!! That's why this site is awesome.

Anyway, just a quick update, I decided to the easy route and got new battery. As soon as I dropped it in and got re-connected, it fired right up!! I hope this will do it, as I would hate being stranded out there.

I decided to get a new battery because 1) I just bought it, figure this is probably the original battery that is up to its time; 2) thought about pulling it out and take it to places like Sears to fully recharge it, but heard that a battery that went through such draining cycle might not have such a life left anyway...oh well, a $150 wallet damage that I didn't expect, but I guess I have a choice of dropping $150 on new battery, or giving the same amount if not more to the tow guy someday.

From an alternator perspective, what are the signs of my car having the bad ones? Battery doesn't recharge even after a drive or so?

Thanks again everyone!!