What would cause my car to have no power at all with a new battery?

ALEXKENT851

MEMBER
2012 KIA FORTE
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
1,300,000 MILES

Car was driving perfectly fine. I went to eat and when I came out there was no power at all. Used a jump box, and another car to try to jump start it and nothing. My jump box reads the batter is fully charged at 12.8v. When I replaced the battery a year ago, I had my alternator tested and it was fine. I checked the little fuses, but I do not know how to check the large box fuses or what else could be the cause? How to check it?

Wednesday, April 19th, 2023 AT 5:52 AM

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
110,119 POSTS

Hi,

I looked at the power distribution wiring schematics. I noticed that the battery supplies voltage to the fuse box directly. I attached a pic below. If you lost power to everything, my first thoughts are there is an open between the box and the battery, otherwise, every fuse had to fail.

So, open the under-hood fuse box and check if any of the fuses have power. Note that I am basing this on nothing electrical working. You can remove any fuse in the under-hood box and check for power.

Here is a link that explains how it's done:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-fuse

You will need a test lamp or multimeter/voltmeter. If you don't have one, see if a local parts store will lend one to you. Also, make sure the battery terminals are both clean, tight, and free of corrosion.

Let me know what you find or if you have questions.

Take care,

Joe

See pic below.

Image (Click to make bigger)