Help! Car is completely dead.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 160
Likes: 0
Help! Car is completely dead.
I went to back my 2002 z06 out of the garage and the battery was low, I heard that familiar click click.
No problem, I figured just hook up the charger and wait a while.
I go back 5 minutes later and it started without problem. Then I shut it off and tried to start again. This time nothing happened. No lights, nothing on the dash or DIC, everything went dead. The buttons on the key don't even work, locking the doors or unlocking the doors or unlocking the trunk.
I even waited an hour and charged the battery to get plenty of voltage, still nothing happens.
Checked the battery and the volt meter shows 13+ volts.
At this point I no longer think the battery is the problem, I think something else went wrong when I started the car the second time.
Have any of you just all of a sudden have everything go dead?
Any ideas?
Thanks, Darryl
No problem, I figured just hook up the charger and wait a while.
I go back 5 minutes later and it started without problem. Then I shut it off and tried to start again. This time nothing happened. No lights, nothing on the dash or DIC, everything went dead. The buttons on the key don't even work, locking the doors or unlocking the doors or unlocking the trunk.
I even waited an hour and charged the battery to get plenty of voltage, still nothing happens.
Checked the battery and the volt meter shows 13+ volts.
At this point I no longer think the battery is the problem, I think something else went wrong when I started the car the second time.
Have any of you just all of a sudden have everything go dead?
Any ideas?
Thanks, Darryl
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,962
Likes: 29
From: Van Buren Arkansas
Wounded Warrior Escort '11
There are several places to check, but start with the battery cable connections themselves. There is also the connection to the starter from the battery as well as the connection to the underhood fuse box. Just because the connections may appear solid, doesn't mean the crimpings on the large wires are good. Bill Curlee has posted several times about looking for overheated wires and brittle wire covers. You will usually find the problems there. Also, pull the codes.
Jacks996
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 8,667
Likes: 12
From: eagle mountain lake tx
Cruise-In VIII Veteran
check the connections and while they are off take the battery to a auto zone or pepboys and have them do a load test on the battery. its free
If it is bad, put in a optima red top battery and you will never have another problem
If it is bad, put in a optima red top battery and you will never have another problem
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Drifting
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,956
Likes: 1
From: Calgary Ab
dead battery - mine did the exact same thing - only in front of a customers shop. Fortunatly he is a car guy and had a battery pack so i boosted the car and drove it to the shop and got a new battery and had to boost it there to get it home. Put in a new battery and its been fine since. Funny thing was it was the original battery and had not given me any warning at all.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,336
Likes: 4
From: NW Arkansas
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
week before last. no lights when I opened the door, hmm, put key in switch..... seat not moving, hmmm, turned key.......nothing, zip, nada. crap! multimeter showed 5.8 volts. removed the battery to charge and noticed some corrosion on + terminal, thought might be the cause so I cleaned it and charged the battery. load test showed good, re-installed battery and noticed a healthy bit of arcing when I hooked up the - cable but everything seemed back to normal.
two days later same scenario, no lights, seat, no start. 5.6 volts. charged the battery again but left it disconnected. two days later 13.25 volts. in the mean time my new wheels arrived so it's off to my Vette guy. I reconnected the battery, loaded the wheels, battery booster, and halon extiguisher and headed 15 miles north.
it was a faulty driver's seat switch that was energizing the bolster circuit continuously. luckily it didn't cause a fire.
wheels installed and look fan-friggen-tastic, no more battery drain, 4 wheel aligment that cured oversteer on hard right turns, I am a happy camper.
two days later same scenario, no lights, seat, no start. 5.6 volts. charged the battery again but left it disconnected. two days later 13.25 volts. in the mean time my new wheels arrived so it's off to my Vette guy. I reconnected the battery, loaded the wheels, battery booster, and halon extiguisher and headed 15 miles north.
it was a faulty driver's seat switch that was energizing the bolster circuit continuously. luckily it didn't cause a fire.
wheels installed and look fan-friggen-tastic, no more battery drain, 4 wheel aligment that cured oversteer on hard right turns, I am a happy camper.
Racer
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 298
Likes: 0
From: OKlahoma city OK
Well it may not be the battery. I have the same problem, except I know why my battery is dead. My passenger seat has a glitch in the wiring and it likes to move by itself and will do so without you in the car. I went to take my bro to school the other day and it was as dead as a door nail. It didn't take me three seconds to think of the problem. I'll be starting her up today. Hope you get your problem figured out soon.
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,333
Likes: 6
From: Louisville Kentucky
I had the same thing happen to me while working on my HID's. Turned the key and nothing. While checking some fuses, I leaned over with my hand on the fuse boxed and all the lights came on. It turns out that my fuse box itself was not fully seated. Once I pressed down on it everything started working. Early, I had been fooling around with it so it made perfectly good sense.