QuestionHi Roland,
First off, I have a '94 Lebaron conv. LE with 131,000 miles. I've been with this car through thick and thin, but maybe it's time to put my car to rest?
I recently had a new battery put in, and everything was working fine for about 2 weeks, and yet now, after not driving it for 2 days, it will not start. It will not click, nothing happens when I turn the key. The battery is not loosely connected, and when I just tried to jumpstart the car, the connection was good and the plug sparked, but when I turn the key still absolutely nothing happens. inside lights won't turn on, the open door chime does not work, there is absolutely no power.
I am not a mechanic, nor do I know much about cars, I only have experience with this one. What is the likely answer to my problem? How expensive would it run, approximately, as I am a poor college student? Thank you for your input!
AnswerHi Manda,
Does the emergency flasher system work? If not, then you have a problem that is basically the battery is either fully discharged or not connected, because the emergency flasher is powered right from the battery thru fuse 37 (one of the contacts of the fuse is #37) in the box under the hood. (Look to see if one of the fuses is identified for the emergency flasher). So if the yellow fuse (20 amp) for the emergency flasher is good and your emergency flasher is not working then the battery connection is bad or the battery is discharged. I would try verifying the cable clamps are tight. Then I would follow the 2 wires that are on the - post of the battery clamp to their attachment points: the rear of the engine and the ground point on the left side of the engine comparment on the inner fender shield and make sure those ground points are shiny and tight.
If on the other hand the emergency flasher work then see if any of the lights work, and then open the power distribution box (long rectangular behind the battery) open it and listen to hear if you get a soft click from the relay nearest the outer end of the box when a helper tries the starter. If not, then it would be good to remove the relay and notice that there are 4 pin sockets. If you take a wire and jump from the rear pin socket to the front pin socket then the starter motor should fire up on its own if everything about the battery is OK. If not, then I suspect the battery is discharged and you need to do some testing for what is draining the battery. It may be simple like a light bulb is on in the trunk, etc. So do these several things and write back. When you say you tried to jump start it and the plug sparked, I assume that you mean the spark occured at one of the battery posts? or where? You may just have a short circuit. It would help to have a volt-ohm meter to check and find a short or measure the battery voltage if that is the problem. You can remove the battery and have a friend take it to the place where you bought it if it appears to be discharged (reads less than say 8 volts with a a voltmeter) and ask them to recharge it while we look for the short using the volt-ohm meter. Such a meter might cost $10-20 and will be invaluable to you in the future.
Roland
