Interesting electrical problem, car wont start.

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

A friend of mine here at school has been having some interesting electrical issues with her car.

Long story short, everythings worked fine since school started.

The other day, was driven to school. When she got back to her car, it was dead, wouldnt turn over. The car was still beeping/interior lights were working. I just assumed she left the lights on, but im questioning if that was the case or not.

So, i jumped her, car started right up.

Car is driven to my place and left there for two days.

After that two days, she needed her car, so it was driven to her place (started right up).

The next day, she goes to start it, and it doesnt start.

I come over to check it out, and sure enough it wont start. I got it to turn a couple times at first, then the interior lights would dim and it wouldnt turn over.

However, as soon as you stopped trying ot turn over, all the lights worked fine. even the headlights worked great without any dimming.

My only guess would be a bad battery, but the battery looks pretty new (this is going off cosmetic condition completely though)

any other ideas? we havent tried swappin the battery yet, been too busy.

Click to read more...

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

Bad ground?

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

Bad ground?

i thought about that, but i think the possibility is pretty low. The car is stock, and when i say stock, i mean literally stock.

I'm not sure how a ground would come loose when nothings been touched.

Battery terminals are nice and snug, already checked that.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

Bad battery or a mix of something slowly draining battery + bad alternator.

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

Ok, thats what I meant the battery terms... Hmm

Starter?

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

P.S. Pix of girl.

 

[bw_audio 10+ year member]

..

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

does the engine start then turn off?
If it does, that happened to me. bad BCM..

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wow.gif.23d729408e9177caa2a0ed6a2ba6588e.gif

Read.

It won't turn over.

Also, check to make sure hte battery has enough water.

 

[headlesskoopa 10+ year member]

what kind of car year

 

[dbeez 5,000+ posts]

bad battery had same problem with my wifes car new battery problem gone...

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

P.S. Pix of girl.

****it lol. i specifically referred to "her" in an attempt to avoid for people asking for pics of my girlfriend.

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

I'd say its the battery if you have no problem jumping it

Have you tried taking a dmm to the battery? If its reading >11 it should be able to start the car. If not, its having issues creating current. It would then make sense that it would be just fine for the various low power electronics of the car, but it takes a hell of a lot of energy to turn an engine over and start it.

 

[drpimpvandal 10+ year member]

Starter solenoid may be bad. Starter could also be bad. Has something to do with the resistance the solenoid builds up after it get worn out. It's very similar to what happens to a electric window motor when it goes bad. Sometime it'll work and sometimes not, the problem will probably get worse until fixed.

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

what kind of car year

99.5 jetta

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

I guess i'll just go snag a battery and see if that helps then.

Ill take my DMM over to her place tonight and give the battery a test.