What made my car go completely dead?

TONY_LAM

MEMBER
1995 FORD MUSTANG
222,346 MILES

Today I got into my car and it was completely, I mean there was no power running through the car. I'm not sure what happened. So then I got someone to come and help jump start my car but that didn't work either. Then someone else and came and looked at my car then he took out his battery and hooked it up to my car and got it running then took his battery out and put mines back in and I was able to go home. What was the problem? Why did my car not have any power? I just replaced the battery with a new one not too long ago. And just recently got a new alternator. My car is a 1995 ford mustang

1 Reply

CJ MEDEVAC

MECHANIC
11,004 POSTS

IT'S POSSIBLE THAT YOU LEFT SOMETHING ON, SUCH A DOOR CRACKED OPEN OR SOMETHING DID TURN OFF, LIKE A HOOD OR TRUNK LIGHT (OR EVEN MORE COMPLICATED STUFF). THIS WOULD BE CALLED A PARASITIC DRAW.

BEFORE YOU GET INTO ALL OF THAT, TAKE YOUR RIG TO A POPULAR AUTO PARTS STORE AND HAVE THE BATTERY AND CHARGING SYSTEM TESTED, WHILE STILL IN YOUR CAR. AS WITH ANYTHING ELSE, NEW STUFF CAN GO BAD, OR EVEN BE BAD, RIGHT OFF THE BAT! GOOD THING IS, YOUR BATTERY MAY STILL BE UNDER WARRANTY.

SOME NEWER CARS SORTA GO CRAZY WHEN THE COMPUTER DOES NOT GET THE CORRECT VOLTAGE. GAUGES GO WILD, ETC. IT'S KINDA LIKE "IT'S MIND IS SET", JUMPING OR CHARGING DOES NOT FIX IT

WHAT DOES FIX IT, IS REMOVE THE BATTERY, CHARGE IT OR GET ANOTHER FULLY CHARGE ONE AND INSTALL. THE KEY THING IS REMOVAL, SO THE COMPUTER WILL RESET, AND INSTALLING FULLY A CHARGED BATTERY. ON TOP OF THAT, YOUR ALTERNATOR AND CHARGING SYSTEM, MUST KEEP IT CHARGED, ONCE IT'S RUNNING.

LET ME KNOW THE RESULTS OF THE AUTO PARTS TEST (NOT YOUR BUDDY, WITH A VOLTMETER) AT THE AUTO STORE, IT WILL BE LOAD TESTED, SOMETHING FEW "REGULAR JOES" CAN DO.

WE WILL INVESTIGATE PARASITIC DRAW, IF NEED-BE, IF YOU RETURN WITH A FROWN

THE MEDIC