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Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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lppa2008
New User
Jan 5, 2008, 11:56 AM
Post #1 of 7
(1496 views)
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Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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We have a 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass and it will not start, we really not sure what it can be and right now can not afford to take it into a mechanic so I am hoping someone on here can give some advice... Here is a rundown of events before and after the car wont start.
On Monday the car worked fine and then we had some bitter cold temps over the next couple of days (we live in Indiana) we then went out to use the car on wednesday and when i go to start it it sounded like it wanted to start but wouldnt. So we pulled the battery and put it on a battery charger and let it "charge", put the battery back in and then absolutely nothing, wouldnt even turn over, so we take the battery back to rural king and they give us a replacement... Put the new battery in and again it sounded like it wanted to turn over but wouldnt, at that point we called in the help of my step dads brother who thought there might be water frozen somewhere in teh engine, so they put a heater on the engine and let it sit overnight, next day the car still wouldnt start so they thought maybe the gas line was froze and put the heater in that area and added some HEET to the gas tank (i wasnt around for this part so i have no details). After trying this the car still wouldnt start. Waited til Saturday before trying again because its warmed up quite a bit and again it acted like it wanted to turn over but no dice, so my dad put the charger back on the battery (not really sure why) and now were back to it not even getting power.. At first i thought maybe the charger was draining the battery somehow (and maybe it is) so i grabbed my multimeter and checked the voltage and it had a full charge of 13.17V, i couldnt check amps because my MM doesnt go past 10A and i didnt want to risk breaking my MM, of course now that i think about it it should be okay but I still dont want to risk it... Nonetheless we are now sitting with it back to the point of getting no power.
Anyway I am hoping someone on here might have some kind of idea whats wrong and what WE OURSELVES might be able to do and remedy the situation w/o needing a mechanic
(This post was edited by lppa2008 on Jan 5, 2008, 11:59 AM)
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jan 5, 2008, 12:45 PM
Post #2 of 7
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Re: Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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If you have voltage at the battery and the car behaves like "no power" as in no battery - then chase down the battery cables and clean at battery, the starter and the engine block ends (check for continuity with your MM and you'll see it) and that should be the trouble,
T
Ps: Things like "Heet" for fuel really won't unfreeze a frozen line right away but can prevent one from happening......
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jan 5, 2008, 1:34 PM
Post #4 of 7
(1484 views)
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Re: Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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Couple thoughts: You said the battery may have been drained or something wrong with charging it?? Pretty sure a fully dead battery can be charged backwards and that would reverse polarity and all bets are off but your meter would show it.
I'm not there hearing, seeing all that's going on so bear with me. It seems like a bad connection now. Even when a cable connection looks good it can be zero. Those can sometimes give you enough to allow interior lights or the dash warnng lights and when you go to "start" the whole car is like someone stole the battery! Most of those I can just twist or turn a cable by hand and get one more start out of to get to my shop.
I think the connections let a trickle thru but not enough. Ever jump start a car and have to readjust the jumpers for a better connection? Same idea.
Also you mentioned over 13v with your meter. Was that right after the charger was removed? Battery shouldn't read quite that high in volts just sitting there. I should know exactly but I think 12.2 is what it would be. Running engine would be measuring alternator output voltage and doesn't count right now,
T
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lppa2008
New User
Jan 5, 2008, 1:47 PM
Post #5 of 7
(1482 views)
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Re: Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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well have narrowed down the lack of power to a loose/bad connection... friend told me to turn teh ignition on and wiggle teh batt cables.. got a couple clicks so it is a connection issue ..
anyway good news is I forgot that i had a mechanic friend and hes gonna come over and give us a hand...
Thanks a bunch for your quick replies....
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lppa2008
New User
Jan 5, 2008, 3:36 PM
Post #6 of 7
(1478 views)
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Re: Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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its working now.. first problem was the batt connection fixed that and turned out it was just flooded and we needed to just put the pedal to the metal.. lol
Thanks for the initial help, that got me started in the right direction...
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jan 6, 2008, 4:46 AM
Post #7 of 7
(1473 views)
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Re: Car wont start and not sure what is wrong
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Thank YOU for posting the followup,
T
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