I went to start my car today and it wouldn’t start.
It seems as though the battery is dead (no lights are coming on) but when the roadside assistance guy came by and tried to jump the car the car still wouldn’t start.
In the times that I’ve had the car jumped before because of a dead battery usually the lights come on, the gauges move and I can start the car.
This time the car stayed silent save for a brief second where the lights did come on and the gauges moved but the car still didn’t start.
The guy said that it might be the starter or something electrical.
I’m not sure. He honestly didn’t seem to know what he was doing.
The last time I drove the car was a couple of days ago and I did so with no problems.
I don’t want to take the car to my mechanic if I can just get it jumped again by someone else.
If your battery is dead, there are 3 possibilities, it has an internal short that’s keeping it from being jumped or the alternator/regulator is faulty and not charging or the cables are not conducting electricity. First charge you battery and measure the voltage, should be about 12v or so. Then start the car, if the car starts or at least cranks, it’s not likely the battery. If it doesn’t start, check the cables for breakage, remove them, clean the battery terminals, the cable, ground connection point and try again. If it still doesn’t start it’s probably the battery. If it starts, raise the idle to a high idle and check the voltage at the battery, should be 13-14v, if so it’s charging, if it’s less than 12v it’s not charging and you probably need an alternator. You can get altenators bench checked and rebuilt at a local auto electric place (check yellowpages for alternator) for pretty cheap. Consider that for my car a new alternator from MB is $800 list price, a rebuilt is $200 and an alternator shop to rebuild yours is less than $100.
If you are not sure, places like Pep Boys will check your charging system and battery for a few bucks, well worth it if you can get it there.
Wouldn’t it be easier to get it fixed than to continue jumping it?
There must be something else in addition to the battery amiss.
Any vehicle, no matter what the condition of the battery, or even no battery woudl respond when the terminal are commected to a second power source, ie an external battery/vehicle.
Therefore either the jump leads were faulty, or not connected at the doner end, OR not connected properly attached at your end, or your vehicle cables have problems. I have seen a case where a loop in the battery cable collected moisture, then corroded, so while there may have been voltage at teh far end of the cable it woudl not conduct any current worth reporting.
Thus if it cannot be charged or cannot be started off a replacement battery, I’d examin the cables Power and ground to the engine and battery.
I don’t want to take the car to my mechanic if I can just get it jumped again by someone else.
Well I don’t know what to tell you with a attitude like that.
I will suggest that it is likely that any good mechanic can find and fix the problem quickly and cheaply. But without access to the car, I can only make guesses.
You may have a loose ground. Make sure the battery cables are clean and snug on the battery. If so then depending on how long youve had the battery it may be time to get a new one. It wont cost you anything if you have a warranty on it of course.
I don’t agree.I seen many batterys so discharged that even when connected to an AC battery charger on START setting not allow the engine to crank
Anytime you have to jump a car, you have a problem that needs to be addressed. I have not had to jump a car in over 25 years. We really don’t know what is wrong with your car, it could be a bad connection, bad battery, charging system problem or a few others. The test to at least eliminate most of the possibilities is easy and cheap, many auto part stores will do it for free, if you can get the car to them. If you can remove the battery, take it in for testing.
It sounds like to driver did not really know.
Maybe, but you’d surely see lights come on and they would stay on, except during attempted cranking.
I’m guessing either a loose cable or a bad fusable link, but these are guesses and the OP really needs to take it to a mechanic and have it fixed. If he has to keep jumping it, there is a problem that should be fixed not just ignored.