Hi CarTalk community,
I have a 2003 BMW 325i which I got a new battery installed into my car. Then I was out of town for 5 months without driving the car and when I go to start the car it won’t start. Even somethings like clicking the unlock button on my car key won’t work, so I manually have to put the car key in the door to unlock it. This leads me to think the battery is dead after not being used.
Today I tried to jump my car and and it seems like it was charging because the inside lights and the doors would lock/unlock from the key fob. So when I turned the key in the ignition it started to make some clicks (before jumping there were no clicks at all). I gave it 5 more minutes and tried to start it again and this time it made less clicks(maybe 1) and the lights in the car inside the car stopped working. I am guessing the battery didn’t have enough charge after trying to jump it a second time. During this process, I definitely let my car connected to the donor car for around ~20 minutes.
Any ideas what could be going wrong? Does this sound like a battery issue or could it be something else? What would be the best next steps to take?
Thanks in advance!