Hey Guys,

My car wont start.... this all started when i decided to take on the project of skinning my center console / radio bezel in real carbon fiber. I disconnected the battery due to unplugging so many connections. I wanted to be safe, just in case. Weather ended up getting bad here shortly after so i reconnected the battery and tried to start her up even w/ some of the dash connections disconnected. (nothing harmful, cig lighter, traction control switch, air bag light, gas door ect...) It started up. Threw no codes or anything.

I got back to work on my little project, and just kept the battery connected just in case. I tried starting it a week later to check on it. All i hear is the loud click click click of the starter, and then the car sais low voltage, so i put a charger to it and it starts right up.

Well i finish my project and come back to install, this would have been about another week later. The bezel around the ignition switch falls off and i have to wrap it back up and place it up there. I go to start it when all is said and done....Battery is dead again, and this time even the starter will not click. Now i'm worried. I set the charger on at 50 amps for about 30 mins. Come back same story... nothing i just hear a "whirl" from what i assume is the fuel pump kicking on. No clicking from the starter or anything.

I take off the center console again as i assume something must have happened when the ignition switch cover came off. I check all the connections, looks good so i put it back together and still nothing. I check for the lights dimming when i turn the key, it has juice. I check the terminals on the battery, they're all tight.

Now i'm just stumped. i'm thinking now it is the starter, but i wanted to get a little more information before i dive right into that.

Any ideas?? Previously to me working on the car, it had absolutely no issues at all.

1 more thing, it's a manual. Let me know if you need any more info, i tried to include all i could think of.

Thanks.

 

You may have problems with the starter, you mentioned a whirl noise, could it have come from your starter and not the fuel pump? My advice is always to check for voltage at the starter terminal that comes from the ignition switch, purple wire I believe. It could just be coincidence and your problem has nothing to do with what you were doing to the car at the time.

 

Yeap, anytime you let a car battery go completely dead it's on borrowed time from that point forth. You had enough voltage to spin up fuel pump, and I assume you weren't getting any codes? no pull key wait thingy? Yeah, prob. a weak battery.

 

Yeah, no codes. No errors of any kind. I'm going to leave the charger on for a few hours to see if i can get anything out of it. if no luck i'll get it tested.

Thanks for the quick replies!

 

If all you did was pull the center console and radio bezel I'm pretty sure that there are no electronics you could have damaged that would prevent your car from starting. Start by testing the battery, if it's still okay you probably have a starter issue.

If you have long tube headers they have to come off (right side) to get to the starter, if you have stock manifolds you only need to remove the mid-pipe. Good luck