Four cylinder front wheel drive automatic, 114,000 miles.
My wife's car XLE model, would not start today while we were at Best Buy. I crossed my fingers and tried as much as I could to twist the battery terminals around in case there was a corrosion issue, and, luckily, it started and we were able to drive home. Thinking I found the issue I got out the wire brush and cleaned all the terminals/connections, but did not find any notable corrosion. The battery was replaced about one year ago. After the cleaning it would not start at all. I am thinking the Best Buy start was a fluke.
It is kind of a strange 'will no't start' problem to allow me to explain exactly what happens:
1.) Turning the key to the 'on' position allows you to run all of the accessories, including the radio and hi/low beams with no dimming.
2.) Turning the key further to the 'start' position produces a single 'click' and everything appears to shut off. No radio. No lights. No dash indicators.
3.) If I disconnect the battery and reconnect the same cycle will repeat itself. Also, if a certain amount of time passes it appears to 'reset' itself without disconnecting the battery and you can start from step 1 again.
Honestly, I am not sure what is between the battery and the starter, or what could cause the flow of electricity to stop. The fact that it seems to blow a (non-physical?) fuse is also something I have never seen before. Is there anything in the starter or solenoid that would cause symptoms like this? Is there any way I could bypass the issue in order to start it 'manually' and drive to the dtealership?
In a bind so any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-Arthur
My wife's car XLE model, would not start today while we were at Best Buy. I crossed my fingers and tried as much as I could to twist the battery terminals around in case there was a corrosion issue, and, luckily, it started and we were able to drive home. Thinking I found the issue I got out the wire brush and cleaned all the terminals/connections, but did not find any notable corrosion. The battery was replaced about one year ago. After the cleaning it would not start at all. I am thinking the Best Buy start was a fluke.
It is kind of a strange 'will no't start' problem to allow me to explain exactly what happens:
1.) Turning the key to the 'on' position allows you to run all of the accessories, including the radio and hi/low beams with no dimming.
2.) Turning the key further to the 'start' position produces a single 'click' and everything appears to shut off. No radio. No lights. No dash indicators.
3.) If I disconnect the battery and reconnect the same cycle will repeat itself. Also, if a certain amount of time passes it appears to 'reset' itself without disconnecting the battery and you can start from step 1 again.
Honestly, I am not sure what is between the battery and the starter, or what could cause the flow of electricity to stop. The fact that it seems to blow a (non-physical?) fuse is also something I have never seen before. Is there anything in the starter or solenoid that would cause symptoms like this? Is there any way I could bypass the issue in order to start it 'manually' and drive to the dtealership?
In a bind so any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-Arthur
Jan 10, 2010 at 9:23 PM
