My car won’t start. The battery is practically new but a couple of times I’ve had to jump it after sitting 2 days even when the headlights and other lights appear strong. Now it not only won’t start but the electrical system appears to be completely dead. Not a glimmer out of the headlights or dash lights. My question is can the electrical system be so dead that when you turn the ignition switch on, put your foot on the brake, put your thumb on the shifter that it won’t come out of park. I’m assuming that if there’s not enough power for the brake lights to come on then the neutral safety switch won’t allow it to come out of park. My question is, am I right in that assumption?
Then the question becomes what can make the system completely dead when the battery is only 2 months old. I think it’s possible that it happened suddenly when I shut it off on Sunday. When I hit the automatic door lock key fob From my back steps nothing happen. I wrote it off as needing a battery for the key fob but I think it’s possible but everything was so dead but not even the automatic door locks worked. And that was right after shutting it off. So then the question comes as to what can suddenly make the electrical system completely dead when the battery is practically new. I’m certain that it’s not loose or corroded cables. Could it possibly be a defective battery? Downstream from there, what can cause the DOA symptom?
If some electrical component in the car has shorted it can drain a brand new battery to nearly zero overnight. A smaller drain can pull the battery down enough that it won’t fully recharge on your drive to work and back.
Likely culprits are non factory radios amps, subs, alarms, or remote starters.
Have your mechanic check the battery, alternator and then run a parasitic draw test.
Sounds to me that you may have a bad connection from your battery to your car. Remove battery and charge and test it. Then check both battery cables, clean both ends. Clean battery terminals. If everything above checks out it should start. Then check your charging system and check for parasitic draw as mentioned above.
Please read what I wrote again. You didn’t answer my question. And I already said that I know that it’s not the posts or the cables. the battery is about 3 months old post we’re completely cleaned and one of the connectors was replaced. There is no corrosion around the battery post or the cables. They are completely clean and they are very tight. My question has to do with my inability to be able to get it out of park. The question is… Am I right in assuming the reason it won’t come out of park is there’s not enough current to activate the neutral safety switch.?
You said to check for parasitic draw as mentioned above, but it’s not mentioned above. How do you do that?
One thing I didn’t do which I should have and I will do now is to
I don’t think so. I’d have to research a little to be certain on that. I think that switch just keeps the engine from cranking in gear. Should be some sort of mechanical interlock to keep it in park, independent of the battery. Sorry, I don’t have specific info. Is there a removable plug on the shifter handle or on the console in the shifter area? I believe some have access to the shift interlock mechanism there.
also check to make sure your brake lights are not stuck on. a bad brake light switch will cause this. it can stick intermittently. you tend not to notice it being stuck on unless it is dark out.
Sounds to me that you may have a bad connection from your battery to your car. Remove battery and charge and test it. Then check both battery cables, clean both ends. Clean battery terminals. If everything above checks out it should start. Then check your charging system and check for parasitic draw as mentioned above.
My question is can the electrical system be so dead that when you turn the ignition switch on, put your foot on the brake, put your thumb on the shifter that it won’t come out of park.
Yes.
Could it possibly be a defective battery?
Yes, but probably not.
what can cause the DOA symptom?
Sounds to me that you may have a bad connection from your battery to your car. Remove battery and charge and test it. Then check both battery cables, clean both ends. Clean battery terminals. If everything above checks out it should start. Then check your charging system and check for parasitic draw as mentioned above.
These are the full steps to get to your answer. If you have cleaned your cables the don’t forget to check the cables
They may be damaged between the connections.
The neutral safety switch has nothing to do with shifting out of park. It prevents the starter from being energized when the transmission is in anything but Park or Neutral. Your issue is with the shift interlock. Try attaching a battery charger and see if you can shift out of Park.
not likely. The Neutral Safety Switch is there to keep you from starting your car in any gear other than Neutral or Park. With your engine not running, but key on- you should still be able to shift gears, just not engage the starter. The NSS should be completely separate from the brake pedal/lights. The NSS will not keep your shift lever from moving.
There may be some sort of shift interlock switch that keeps you form shifting out of park if the brake pedal isn’t pressed, which if electrical, wouldn’t work if no battery juice. If this is the case, do as Volvo_70 suggested, and look for the manual override.
as for your underlying issue, I tend to lean towards what tcmichnoth says- recheck your battery cables and connections. This sounds an awful lot like a cable issue.
Have you checked voltage at your battery? and then checked voltage with key on? and then checked voltage when attempting to crank engine?
**edited to clarify my wording about the neutral safety switch functionality with engine off.
I thought you said the switch had nothing to do with it Yet you’re suggesting adding voltage to the battery with a charter charger, which would energize the switch oh, and see if it comes out of park. The only way it could have been fact get coming out of park is if the neutral safety switch does have something to do about it.
Okay, I see no, it wasn’t my question but I see what you mean. Just so other people reading this will know, you’re completely wrong about that. In order to get the car out of park, you have to have your foot on the brake which enables the brake light switch which tells the neutral safety switch it’s okay to come out of the park because your foot is on the brake
Two different forum members have already provided the valid advice of using the manual shift lock override/release, and you can count me as a third member who recommends the same thing. Have you done that?
Thank you. That is the answer. And the word completely is important here. It has to be deader than a doornail. But I’ve had an odd twist to the story now. It wouldn’t start this morning so I put the multimeter on it which said 13.7 V. With that much voltage nothing lit up on the dashboard or the headlights or the brake lights or the turn signals. Nothing. But I jumped it to another car and it fired right up. I let it run for a long time turned it off and measure the voltage at the battery again and I got 17.7 V. Why the heck should it require so much voltage to work. It doesn’t make sense.
I took the car back to the place where I bought the battery and they load tested it and it failed. They replaced the battery but I’m still not convinced my problem is solved. A battery that progressively fails still has enough voltage to do Drive low-amperage things like dashboard lights and neutral safety switches. Replacing a three and a half-month-old battery doesn’t explain the electrical system acting like it’s completely dead. I have found some YouTube videos on how to Parasitic Draw Tests and I’ll do that freezing ass off limited.
That may be the question you wanted me to ask because you’ve got an answer to that one but it’s not the question that I asked. I clearly said “My question is…” and I even rephrased it at the end and it wasn’t how do I get it out of park? Plus, the only reason you mentioned eddo is because he mentioned you. He said ’ if the brake pedal isn’t depressed" whereas I said it wouldn’t come out of park despite the fact I had my foot on the brake. And the rest of his answer about the neutral safety switch was completely wrong, which evidently escaped you but you notice he mentioned your name so you quote that part. I was asking why it wouldn’t come out of park in the context of larger questions about the battery and the DOA electrical system symptom. Instead of understanding the question, you couldn’t wait to tell me you knew how to get it out of park. Tester understood the question. Tester is the one that answered my question. He was simple clear direct and correct.
But thanks for the information because now if I ever have to get it out of park because of a dead electrical system I know what to look for.