Car people, what is the most common problem when...
 

...when you go to start your car you were just driving 30 minutes ago, and nothing works at ALL.. when you first get in the car the lights work, but as soon as you turn that ignition they go out, and absolutely nothing works....

and when you try to jump it, it STILL doesn't work?

btw...this is a used car (1 person owned) you just bought a day ago in seemingly great condition with only 67.8k miles on it.

YARGH! it's sounds like yer battery be needin' some squid juice. This could point to a problem with your altrnator.

AHOY!

Not a car person, but

Try the battery connections, Make sure you Clean them, and the Ground is connected good. Or Extreme bab sell in the battery.

what kind of car is it? it really could be anything from faulty wiring to a bad starter.

check the battery connections .. could be a lose cable happened to me a few times allready

Electrical or computer problem? =\

when the car runs though there are absolutely no probs?

how do you eventually get the car started?

well i've only had it for 1 day... it always started fine.. the *only* thing i noticed which doesn't even seem significant to me, was sometimes i noticed while i was breaking at a light, spontaneously the sound of the idoling would change to a deeper / more bass tone/noise. other than that, never had a prob starting it up.

as you can tell i am car illiterate.

oh n' also, i did notice when i went to start it, it didn't sound like a nice "smooth" start... sounded just a tad bit on the grindy/noisy side, if that might be relevant i don't know.

yeah it sounds like it loses power when idling check batt connections and then if that doesn't work maybe a wire is touching something and now you have a short

The idle sound is being caused by the extreme drain off the alternator trying to charge your battery because your battery is shorted out.
Pull it out and have it checked at an auto parts store.

remove batt cables / clean terminals / put back on and tighten. problem solved. 99.9% guaranteed.

I think its been said about 100 times already... battery / alternator. Probably more the alternator more than the battery though

car starts off the battery, the alternator does nothing without the motor running, he cant start it. think about it.

If it was the alternator the car would never have ran to begin with.
The only function of the battery is to start the car and keep memory. The alternator runs everything once it's started.

you need to check battery :)

start simple and get yourself a tune up. new plugs, hoses, etc... and an oil change. while you're there ask the guys to take a look at it.

Not true. A bad alternator can drain your battery as you drive. I've had it happen.

sounds like a ford, but get yourself a new battery....

its your starter. see if someone can bang it for ya

If it was as simple as a bad battery he would be able to jump it. Most likely it is the battery and he isnt jumping it properly or he has an electrical short somewhere. If it was the alternator it would start and run until the battery ran out of juice.

Try jumping it again, make sure you have good connections. You will know because your accessories (dash lights, stereo, etc) will have full power. Let it sit for a few minutes with the other car running and try to start it. Or you can always throw another battery in there and see what happens.

:1orglaugh Did you thank Lee Ioccoa lately for resurrecting Dodge in the 80's :1orglaugh

I'll take a Ford truck over a Chevy or Dodge any day of the week, but yea, Ford cars suck.

There are three possibilities as to what the problem is.


1) Battery no longer takes a charge, Replace it.

2) The alternator is not charging the battery properly and doesn't give enough juice under startup conditions. Have it tested and rebuilt if needed.

3) The starter coil is toast. have it checked and replaced if needed.

Yup. If it's bad enough it can actually pull juice FROM the battery to run all the electronics such as ignition system (ie: plugs and coils, radio, headlights etc)


Also, as someone said earlier, check the battery contacts. Take a wire brush and clean the battery and cable terminals.


If it's a bad alternator it might be cheaper than a battery replacement to fix. It could be just a simple thing like bad bushings.


I had a VW Golf last year that would make that deep bass-like sound at idle and at take off. The engine would also have a very hard time starting in the mornings and for the first 30 minutes of driving the engine would have maybe 10hp total at take off from stop lights.

After I sold it the guy came back and informed me all the problem was was a bad alternator. He had it rebuilt cheaply and all problems were gone. I sold it to him for $400 because of the engine problems. He turned around and resold it for $1200 a few months later.

There's starter pack that is made to take voltage and support the electrical load from the highest of current sources between the battery and alternator. If the alternator can't produce the proper power the motor and all electrical appliances will in fact pull from the battery.

it was a bad battery cable connection.

gf's dad fixed it :winkwink:

Good job... sounded like the alternator to me for sure!

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup