Honda Car Forum

My wife went to start her car today.. she only drives it to/from work..
monday through friday, so it gets the weekend off..

annnyways, she goes to start it today.. NOTHING.. no (starter) click, no
lights, nothin...

So, we took my car to Wal-Mart to get a set of jumper cables (shame on me
for never having them before) and tried to jump off of mine.. It would
crank (sounded like a "weak" crank.. which i dunno if that's normal or
not w/ a jump start) but would not start.

So, I'm clueless.. My only ideas are:

* Battery is completely dead? Seems like it'd start when jumped if that
was the case
* Alternator is bad (which would explain not being able to start, but can
crank when jumped)

Other than that I really have no clue what it could be. Any fuses I
should look out for?

BTW, it's a 91 Civic LX with 160k miles on it.. We planned on retiring
the poor thing in December when our first child is born. Wife figures
she'll be home with the kid and can go do what she needs when I'm home
and not using the car.

--
-Chris
http://www.ChrisGarcia.com - My Homepage
http://www.Evangar.com - Affordable Web Hosting, and much more!

On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 04:27:59 GMT, Chris Garcia <chris@evangar.com>
wrote:

>My wife went to start her car today.. she only drives it to/from work..
>monday through friday, so it gets the weekend off..
>
>annnyways, she goes to start it today.. NOTHING.. no (starter) click, no
>lights, nothin...
>
>So, we took my car to Wal-Mart to get a set of jumper cables (shame on me
>for never having them before) and tried to jump off of mine.. It would
>crank (sounded like a "weak" crank.. which i dunno if that's normal or
>not w/ a jump start) but would not start.
>
>So, I'm clueless.. My only ideas are:
>
>* Battery is completely dead? Seems like it'd start when jumped if that
>was the case
>* Alternator is bad (which would explain not being able to start, but can
>crank when jumped)
>
>Other than that I really have no clue what it could be. Any fuses I
>should look out for?
>
>BTW, it's a 91 Civic LX with 160k miles on it.. We planned on retiring
>the poor thing in December when our first child is born. Wife figures
>she'll be home with the kid and can go do what she needs when I'm home
>and not using the car.

When you jump a car with a completely dead battery, the juice from the
jumping car at first goes mostly to charge the dead battery. There
isn't much left for the starter. Give the battery several minutes to
build up some charge, with the second car idling briskly. Then try
starting it.

If the old car has seen a lot of highway miles, there's a possibility
that varnish has built up inside the engine, increasing internal
friction. That would somewhat increase the current necessary to start
it.

Here are the complicated steps to fix it:





BUY A NEW FREAKIN BATTERY!!!!!!




____________________________________
Do not write below this line. Reserved for me.

On 03 Aug 2004 05:00:47 GMT, drpimpdaddi@aol.comgagnemvp (He Hate
Retard and Moron) wrote:

>Here are the complicated steps to fix it:
>
>
>
>
>
>BUY A NEW FREAKIN BATTERY!!!!!!
>

Not advised if the dead battery happens to be in a rental car...

But if it's your own, it could be good advice, as you might find out
some cold morning next January. A completely discharged battery often
won't ever hold much of a charge again.

Otto <Otto@SomeDomain.com> decided to join the conversation on 03 Aug
2004 with message news:k87ug0d6ct7vdi0nfurjvmerhclsmf7tsu@4ax.com:

> On 03 Aug 2004 05:00:47 GMT, drpimpdaddi@aol.comgagnemvp (He Hate
> Retard and Moron) wrote:
>
>>Here are the complicated steps to fix it:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>BUY A NEW FREAKIN BATTERY!!!!!!
>>
>
> Not advised if the dead battery happens to be in a rental car...
>
> But if it's your own, it could be good advice, as you might find out
> some cold morning next January. A completely discharged battery often
> won't ever hold much of a charge again.
>
>

Well, that's my next step pretty much .. I'm going to borrow my dad's
battery charger, if it doesn't hold a charge, I'm going to take the
battery to Auto Zone and get it tested.. If it fails, I'm gonna take
advantage of the 7 year prorated warranty that came with the battery 3
years ago (just have to find that damn receipt!) ..

... and who would pay to rent a car that's 13 years old and has no a/c
anymore?


--
-Chris
http://www.ChrisGarcia.com - My Homepage
http://www.Evangar.com - Affordable Web Hosting, and much more!

Chris Garcia <chris@evangar.com> decided to join the conversation on 03
Aug 2004 with message news:Xns953A9341C771chrisgarcia@68.1.17.6:

> Otto <Otto@SomeDomain.com> decided to join the conversation on 03 Aug
> 2004 with message news:k87ug0d6ct7vdi0nfurjvmerhclsmf7tsu@4ax.com:
>
>
> Well, that's my next step pretty much .. I'm going to borrow my dad's
> battery charger, if it doesn't hold a charge, I'm going to take the
> battery to Auto Zone and get it tested.. If it fails, I'm gonna take
> advantage of the 7 year prorated warranty that came with the battery 3
> years ago (just have to find that damn receipt!) ..
>
> .. and who would pay to rent a car that's 13 years old and has no a/c
> anymore?
>
>

I forgot to mention.. It's quite a maneuvering act jumping a 91 civic
from a 96 civic.. The battery in the 91 is pretty much where it is in
most cars... towards the front.. the 96's battery is up against the damn
firewall..

--
-Chris
http://www.ChrisGarcia.com - My Homepage
http://www.Evangar.com - Affordable Web Hosting, and much more!

Chris Garcia wrote:

> My wife went to start her car today.. she only drives it to/from work..
> monday through friday, so it gets the weekend off..
>
> annnyways, she goes to start it today.. NOTHING.. no (starter) click, no
> lights, nothin...
>
> So, we took my car to Wal-Mart to get a set of jumper cables (shame on me
> for never having them before) and tried to jump off of mine.. It would
> crank (sounded like a "weak" crank.. which i dunno if that's normal or
> not w/ a jump start) but would not start.
>
> So, I'm clueless.. My only ideas are:
>
> * Battery is completely dead? Seems like it'd start when jumped if that
> was the case
> * Alternator is bad (which would explain not being able to start, but can
> crank when jumped)
>
> Other than that I really have no clue what it could be. Any fuses I
> should look out for?

bad terminal connections on the battery?

SoCalMike <mikein562athotmail@hotmail.com> decided to join the conversation
on 03 Aug 2004 with message news:cBGPc.237989$Oq2.137610@attbi_s52:

> bad terminal connections on the battery?

nah.. they look fine.. after i took the jumper cables off the car had a
little power left for the warning lights .. so it's still conencted to the
battery.

--
-Chris
http://www.ChrisGarcia.com - My Homepage
http://www.Evangar.com - Affordable Web Hosting, and much more!

In article <Xns953A1A8B67F35chrisgarcia@68.1.17.6>, chris@evangar.com
says...
> SoCalMike <mikein562athotmail@hotmail.com> decided to join the conversation
> on 03 Aug 2004 with message news:cBGPc.237989$Oq2.137610@attbi_s52:
>
> > bad terminal connections on the battery?
>
> nah.. they look fine.. after i took the jumper cables off the car had a
> little power left for the warning lights .. so it's still conencted to the
> battery.
>
>
They can 'Look' fine and still not be. Place the jumper cables on the
dead battery and let your other car charge it for a while. This will
boost the dead battery giving you more start power. The problem is,
unless you have a premium set of cables, the conductors are not large
enough to allow the starting current to flow from the good battery to the
starter of the car with the dead battery. This will make it react this
way.

Don't need to run the engine on the car with the good battery.

Betcha didnt know dat!!!!!!!




____________________________________
Do not write below this line. Reserved for me.