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Sudden No Start. Not battery, Alt, or Starter. HELP!

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On friday I took my car to run some errands at lunch, after being in a shop for 5 minutes my car suddenly wouldnt start. I called AAA and they gave me a jump, which let me get the car home. AAA driver tested my Alternator, Battery, and Started - Said they were all normal. I got the car home without any issues on the way, even blasting the AC in traffic. I pulled into my driveway, shut the car off, waited twenty seconds and attempted to restart. Nothing.

Decided to clean the terminals since there was some build up, but that didnt help. I would get from 0 clicks to 10+ clicks when trying to crank it.

I took my battery into Batteries + for testing yesterday, and got a call this morning that the battery is perfect (only 15 months old).

At this point I have no clue what to look for.

One thing I did notice is that when I would insert the key, the display would flicker and then slowly light up.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
 
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notovicrious said:
Year? Mods? Tune? Do you have a scan tool of any sort?
Click to expand...

2012 - P-flo - Stock Tune - I do have a basic scanner tool. No MIL light or anything popped up on the dash. Car ran fine after it was jump started.

Just got back from picking my battery up, its resting at 12.9v. Gonna throw it in to see if it works, but then I will still need to find the underlying problem.
 
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Blvcksails said:
2012 - P-flo - Stock Tune - I do have a basic scanner tool. No MIL light or anything popped up on the dash. Car ran fine after it was jump started.



Just got back from picking my battery up, its resting at 12.9v. Gonna throw it in to see if it works, but then I will still need to find the underlying problem.
Click to expand...



Let us know what happens after you reconnect and go for start.
 
Jaber

Jaber

Modero
Good luck. Mine did the same hing, only it was the battery. I went to pickup the kid from daycare and it clicked once and that’s it. Got a jump and was able to get home. It started up right away. But I waited a couple minutes and it tried to start, but it died and wouldn’t do anything. Autozone tested battery and confirmed dead. Few weeks prior it tested fine btw.
 
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My gauge always says 14 +/- volts so idk maybe it is the battery I would charge it and see if it helps and then just go ahead and get a new one especially for the winter.
 
Jaber

Jaber

Modero
I would make sure the battery was load tested and not just checked for voltage.
 
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notovicrious said:
Let us know what happens after you reconnect and go for start.
Click to expand...

Picked up the battery at 12.9v resting. Dropped it in the car, started on the first attempt. Shut the car off, went to restard, CLICK CLICK CLICK.

Jaber said:
Good luck. Mine did the same hing, only it was the battery. I went to pickup the kid from daycare and it clicked once and that’s it. Got a jump and was able to get home. It started up right away. But I waited a couple minutes and it tried to start, but it died and wouldn’t do anything. Autozone tested battery and confirmed dead. Few weeks prior it tested fine btw.
Click to expand...

The store I bought the battery from is saying that the battery is fine, that they drained/charged the battery, and tested under load.

notovicrious said:
My gauge always says 14 +/- volts so idk maybe it is the battery I would charge it and see if it helps and then just go ahead and get a new one especially for the winter.
Click to expand...

Mine is 12.4v and it dips to ~8v under the load of trying to start up the car.
 
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Blvcksails said:
Picked up the battery at 12.9v resting. Dropped it in the car, started on the first attempt. Shut the car off, went to restard, CLICK CLICK CLICK.







The store I bought the battery from is saying that the battery is fine, that they drained/charged the battery, and tested under load.







Mine is 12.4v and it dips to ~8v under the load of trying to start up the car.
Click to expand...



Get a new battery. Autozone employees can’t be trusted for shit. If a new battery doesn’t fix it then it’s the starter but I doubt that’s your issue.
 
Carlosfandang0

Carlosfandang0

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I had a very similar problem a while back, your description of the issue is basically the same as I was experiencing, it turned out it was the starter in my case but I would not have guessed it from the symptoms, it would start with a jump so I naturally thought it must be the battery, what convinced me it was the starter is that after it not starting I could try a while later and it would start, but then if I switched it straight off and tried again and it would just click (once with each key turn)! But if I kept trying it would eventually start, are you getting a rapid clicking or a loudish single click/clunk with each key turn??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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notovicrious said:
Get a new battery. Autozone employees can’t be trusted for shit. If a new battery doesn’t fix it then it’s the starter but I doubt that’s your issue.
Click to expand...

I actually went to Batteries + (a small chain here in SoCal), so each trip was around 40 minutes total. I called the manager, explained to him that the battery was dipping to 8v under load and then he finally said he would warranty it. Get to the store, he checks the system, battery is out of stock. :paddle: He gave me a loaner for the mean time, but I still need to bring that back! Total trips to get a new battery is 4. Lesson learned, next time I will buy a battery at Autozone just for convenience sake.


Anyways, I got the battery home, connected it, car started right up. Checked voltage while running and it was 14v. Restarted the car and the Voltage under load was around 10.5v. So it was the battery after all.


Carlosfandango said:
I had a very similar problem a while back, your description of the issue is basically the same as I was experiencing, it turned out it was the starter in my case but I would not have guessed it from the symptoms, it would start with a jump so I naturally thought it must be the battery, what convinced me it was the starter is that after it not starting I could try a while later and it would start, but then if I switched it straight off and tried again and it would just click (once with each key turn)! But if I kept trying it would eventually start, are you getting a rapid clicking or a loudish single click/clunk with each key turn??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It wasnt a consistent click, sometimes it wouldnt click, sometimes it would click once, and then other times it would click multiple times. Luckily it did end up being the battery.

Thanks for the input and help guys :thumbup:
 
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By all means the parts auto zone sells are fine to get the job done especially in a pinch but the employees aren’t usually mechanics. At least around my neck of the woods lol. Batteries plus is out here too they have it all when it comes to batteries.
 
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