I’ve had my 2005 Mustang parked at my brothers apartment complex garage with a cover over it for the last six weeks. Over the winter I’ve driven it about once a month just to keep the battery charged and make sure everything still worked. Today I went to get it seeing as spring is here and it’s time to start driving the nice car again. When I went to start it nothing happened. Is this an electrical issue? I’ve had my share of bad batteries in other cars and they always seem to make something go on, but my hazard lights wont even turn on. What am I missing?
Yes I suspect that your battery has died. Throw a volt meter across the battery. If you find 12 volts DC across the terminals, turn on the head lights and remeasure the voltage. If the voltage is still 12 volts DC, then measure the voltage across the battery while someone else tries to crank the engine. If the battery voltage still remains 12 volts DC and the engine does not crank, measure the voltage at the starter while trying to crank. Get back to us with the results of the above testing.
Sounds like a simple battery swap. Did you try jump cables?
It is very likely the battery has a very low charge on it. Also make sure the battery connections are clean and making a good connection. Hopefully placing a battery charger on the battery for at least several hours will be enough to get the engine started again. I suggest you also have the system load tested. You may be due for a battery replacement going by the age of the car.
Step one is to remove and clean the terminals… Step two is try to charge the battery. Step three is to replace the battery.
There was a time, you could just jump-start a car with a dead battery and the alternator could complete the charging process. But if the battery is has a dead cell, the alternator could be damaged trying to charge the defective battery…
It takes several hours to thoroughly charge a battery that’s substantially discharged.
A few minutes a month won’t cut it.