2009 Hyundai Santa Fe SE FWD 62000mi had 60000 mi factory service at the dealership in Oct 2014. I replaced brake pads and battery also in Oct 2014.
The battery terminal had heavy corrosion when I replaced the battery. I used a wire brush to remove the corrosion. Last night my wife took the vehicle through an automatic car wash. She noticed that the radio reset and she had to re-program the stations directly after the car wash. She drove the vehicle later with no issues. This morning she tried to start it and nothing happened. The key was turned and there was no crank, no noise, nothing.
I took a quick look under the hood to see if anything obvious was loose before I left for work. I did not notice anything. I will look into it further when I get done with work.
? what should I do first to try and diagnose this problem??
Check the cable connections at the battery and the chassis.
Try starting it in neutral instead of park in the event the Neutral Safety is bad or out of adjustment.
Ed B.
Because the radio had to be reset eliminates the Neutral safety switch.
Battery connections are the first place to begin when you have a “No Crank” situation. Even
if you have a new battery, if the connections are loose, dirty or corroded, you will not be
allowing the full flow of current to pass thru the connections. The connection may be
enough to turn on the lights, but not enough for the huge flow that is needed to operate the
starter. This is where many people say that they know the battery is good….”because the
lights come on”. This is no more a battery test than licking a 9volt battery. It only tells you that there is electricity…not how many volts or the amperage that flows from the battery.
Jump starting may have wiggled the terminal just enough to allow the current to pass and start the engine, but tomorrow you have the same problem.
First remove the cables from the battery and use a wire brush to remove any corrosion and dirt from the battery posts and the cable terminals. There is a tool with a round wire brush for this purpose, found at any auto parts store for less than $10 http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/kd-tools-terminal-battery-brush-kdt201/25980576-P?searchTerm=terminal+brush.
Before connecting the cables, apply a coating of di-electric grease to the battery posts this will keep oxygen away from the connection so that it will not corrode as fast.
It is just as important that the other end of the cables also have a clean connection. Remove the positive cable from the battery again so that you do not short anything out. Follow both cables to their far ends, remove this connection and wire brush the connection and the cable terminal clean and retighten these connections.
If there was work done recently, there may have been an “engine to body” ground that was not installed following the work. These grounds normally run from the rear of the engine to the firewall and are uninsulated and most are a braided wire. If any of these are found unattached…reattach them.
Remember….this is not a “Sherman Tank” don’t over tighten the connections.
Tight…tight………………too tight…broke!!!
Yosemite
Thanks for you help! Ill check into it when I get home and let you all know.
Figured it out. Long story short, it was the terminal connections. They were bad. They previously had heavy corrosion. I scraped them off with a wire brush. When I pulled them off today there was some new corrosion and rust. They could not be tightened any more and were sitting loosely on the posts. I replaced them and had the battery tested and charged. Vehicle works normal now.
Thanks Yosemite!
Glad you got it fixed. I had a very similar thing happen on my Corolla one time. I stopped for gas during the first big rainstorm of the season, when I went to start the car, I turned the key, nothing, then when I tried again all the dash lights dimmed and went out. Just like you, it was the battery connections. I have no explanation for why rain would have anything to do with this, maybe that was just a coincidence, but it had been starting fine for at least an entire year. All I had to do was tighten the connections.