Car won't start?

[sideshow775]

I went to start my car today and it wouldn't turn over. The interior lights don't work or the instrument cluster other than the hazzards, but my headlights work and tails. So i tried boosting it and it didn't help at all. Looked at all the fuses and the are fine also. What could it be?

[pdiggitydogg]

hows the battery? It may have enough to start lights for awhile, but not start the car

[blind34_1]

if its a non maintenance free battery, pop the top caps off and look inside for water. If there isn't any, or if its low, then you probably have a bad cell. buy a new battery.

walmart gives you five bucks for your old battery, if you buy a new one from them.

[sideshow775]

well i went out and bought a new battery and it still won't work. So i checked the connections to the battery and they were fine. What could it be?

[blind34_1]

any corrosion on terminal? how about the wire? I had a heck of a time trying to figure out why my car wouldn't start all the time. The primary wire was corroded, not allowing enough current to flow. A quick fix was to go at it with sand paper. A real fix was to cut back to non corroded wire, and crimp on a new terminal. Then use that anti-corrosion grease.

If your problem is not a corroded wire, next I would check the fuse box under the hood, not just the under-the-dash one.

check the ground wire for corrosion as well.

After that....test the starter?

[sideshow775]

the terminals are fine, not corroded at all. How do you test the starter?

[AkimboStylee]

take ie out and take it to autozone, they will test it for free

[sideshow775]

I now know why it won't start. My buddy hooked up the booster cables wrong. he hooked it up right on his car but had positive on my negative and negative on my positive. Would this have anything to do with why it won't start anymore?

[AkimboStylee]

yeah. is this an auto or a manual/heck the starter, altenator, fuses, ecu. chances are he fried something. if it is a manual, check the nuetral safety (or neutral start) switch located at the top of the petal.

[ChrisCantSkate]

Originally posted by sideshow775
I now know why it won't start. My buddy hooked up the booster cables wrong. he hooked it up right on his car but had positive on my negative and negative on my positive. Would this have anything to do with why it won't start anymore?

yes, that could have been very bad. is it working now?

[sideshow775]

Nope...The only thing that works are my hazzards and my head lights....

[ChrisCantSkate]

your entire electrical system could have shorted out from reversing the -&+

[Sivik]

I would check the under hood fuses if you haven't done that. Does the radio or anything else work? Is you car equipped with any alarm setup that would disable ignition?

If you car is a manual, have you tried push-starting it to see if it will run?

As far as the crossing the positive/negative, if you car didn't work before you attempted to jump it, I don't think it did anything after you did... unless something has changed since your attempt.

Best bet - get a voltmeter and start checking connections to see what has power and what doesn't.

[thermal]

I guarantee you that you blew some fuses. My buddy did the same thing to my civic. It only blew one fuse tho. Under the hood there should be a big 40amp red fuse. It is marked: IG. Use a meter to test it. I had a hard time trying to figure out mine cuz it looked like it was ok until I used a meter. Goodluck