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View Full Version : DAMMIT!! Car won't start!!


QWKsilvr808
02-11-2002, 12:43 PM
Anyway, I was leaving the office on my lunch break friday, got in my car, turn the key, and *click-click-click-click* but the engine wouldn't turn!!! I was pissed! At first I thought of the starter solenoid, since I'd run into that problem with my CRX. I was hoping it'd start later, so at 5 when I finished work I tried again. Same thing. I had 2 of our student workers push the car and I kick started it and drove it home, and parked it on the incline in front of my house. Packed up all my shyt, let the car roll down the hill again, kick started it to get it to fire up, drove out to town, and let my uncle do a run-down of the electrical/charging system. After load-testing the battery we found out that there was absolutely no cranking amperage in it at all, the battery was completely and utterly dead, even recharging it overnight didn't do anything because the battery simply wouldn't hold a charge.

So anyway, I was totally pissed. It's Friday and the service department is closed for the weekend so I have noone to bitch at. I was scheduled to drop my car off Sunday night to have it looked at Monday morning for the tensioner prob, but now the car doesn't even start. How convenient. I'm waiting to see this morning if someone from Toyota City (my dealership in Honolulu) is gonna call me and say well, your battery is dead because of your shift lite and gauges, at which point I'm gonna totally snap. The battery still registers full on the battery indicator, and when hooked up to a voltmeter it has 12V, but under load (like cranking the engine) there is zero amperage, so somewhere in it there's a dead cell - in otherwords, a complete malfunction, not due to the battery being drained by the stereo, etc.

Have any of you run into problems with the factory battery? I expect it to last at least the 3 years of the basic warranty without drama...

** UPDATE: As I was typing this my dealership just called to tell me that they found the battery to indeed be malfunctioning, so they're gonna replace it under my basic warranty coverage, no problem. What a relief!

DaksGT
02-11-2002, 03:29 PM
Buddy I had the identical problem with my CRX

dawgg
02-11-2002, 05:44 PM
had the same problem with mine, but even an optima yellow top battery didn't fix the problem. I think there's a small short in the car somewhere that kills the battery if i don't run the car for 2 or more days. Let us know if the new battery fixes the problem.

StreetFighter
02-11-2002, 08:34 PM
I had a dream last night that my Celica didn't start hehe. Glad it was only a dream. Good luck on getting yur car fixed.

QWKsilvr808
02-11-2002, 09:11 PM
Originally posted by StreetFighter
I had a dream last night that my Celica didn't start hehe. Glad it was only a dream. Good luck on getting yur car fixed.

Hehe that's no dream, that's a nightmare! :)

For some reason, the problems I have with women in my life I can shrug off easliy enough, but when my car isn't running I'm an emotional wreck. :D

Well I got my car back today and the service advisor I had was awesome. Gave me no probs at all and was super friendly. Even apologized for the car leaving me stranded and all the inconvenience! The tensioner and belt were replaced, so we'll see tomorrow morning when I start her up if that worked or not. I got a brand new battery, and I guess I haven't noticed how bad the old one must've been because she cranks up right away! Before it'd be like *wrr-wrr-wrr-wrVRRROOOoom.*. I'm totally stoked.

DaksGT -- Yeah man, I hated it when my CRX wouldn't start. I changed the ignitor, starter, alternator and belts, distributor, and still had the same probs every once in awhile. The worst is when I came out of a strip club and had to kick start my car while my friend pushed me down the road. How embarassing! :AF: Pulling out the starter and alternator on the CRX was a pain in the ass too. Yikes.

DaksGT
02-12-2002, 01:11 AM
Yeah man I know what u mean, I eventually had it swapped for the d16z so the problem was gone.

djcg
02-12-2002, 01:10 PM
man, I had that problem. Freaked me out for about 15 seconds. Started sweating and stuff. Then i realized the wheel was locked all the way to the right. Doh! Wont make that mistake again. Frightfull 15 seconds of my life.

yakkosmurf
02-12-2002, 02:07 PM
If a car doesn't start, 9 times out of 10 it's a simple problem. It's also usually just one piece that's malfunctioning. The biggest possible hit is a starter replacement. That should be covered under warranty though.