Yesterday, the car would not start and with a bit of jiggling on the connectors to the battery, we were able to get it to start. We headed to AutoZone...once there with the car off, it would definitely NOT start again. Thought it would be just a battery terminal connector replacement problem, but that was not the piece we needed. A jump would not get a start to happen, so an employee said we should get a new battery. With the new battery installed, the car would still not start...it would turn over, but no start.
A guy from AutoZone looked at my car for more than an hour checking the connections to make sure power from the battery was reaching the starter - yes. He checked the starter, actually making a power arc, but I don't think that affected anything and he confirmed that the starter still worked. He checked any number of other things under the hood, but couldn't think of anything other than possibly the alternator. Finally, they thought to check the fuse box and low and behold, the top right hand corner fuse was completely dead (I am not sure what the name was...the Meter maybe?). Anyway, replacing that "10" fuse we were able to get it started!
This morning, my boyfriend took the car to work and on his way back to the car (he drives a company van during the day), he swung by to grab me. We filled up the gas and headed back to our house. My car performed fine on the highway and we got her parked and everything seem to be functioning properly. A friend came to visit and afterwards, I gave her a ride to the subway. When I was turning around to pull back into my parking spot, my car started lurching in a rather sickening way. She was lurching so much that I was afraid I was going to run into the car in front of me, so I started applying my breaks much more cautiously and then as I was completely breaking and deciding that perhaps I ought to just turn her off, she died...and now, won't start again. I checked that same fuse again, but it looks fine. The interior light work, the console lights work, the car dings when the door is open to register there is a key in the ignition, but she won't turn over.
Any, any, any clues what the heck the problem could be? I am low on cash and don't have AAA, so if there was a solution I can fix where she is, that would be best.
Thanks for your help and thanks for reading my long, long description!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Yesterday, the car would not start and with a bit of jiggling on the connectors to the battery, we were able to get it to start. We headed to AutoZone...once there with the car off, it would definitely NOT start again. Thought it would be just a battery terminal connector replacement problem, but that was not the piece we needed. A jump would not get a start to happen, so an employee said we should get a new battery. With the new battery installed, the car would still not start...it would turn over, but no start.
A guy from AutoZone looked at my car for more than an hour checking the connections to make sure power from the battery was reaching the starter - yes. He checked the starter, actually making a power arc, but I don't think that affected anything and he confirmed that the starter still worked. He checked any number of other things under the hood, but couldn't think of anything other than possibly the alternator. Finally, they thought to check the fuse box and low and behold, the top right hand corner fuse was completely dead (I am not sure what the name was...the Meter maybe?). Anyway, replacing that "10" fuse we were able to get it started!
This morning, my boyfriend took the car to work and on his way back to the car (he drives a company van during the day), he swung by to grab me. We filled up the gas and headed back to our house. My car performed fine on the highway and we got her parked and everything seem to be functioning properly. A friend came to visit and afterwards, I gave her a ride to the subway. When I was turning around to pull back into my parking spot, my car started lurching in a rather sickening way. She was lurching so much that I was afraid I was going to run into the car in front of me, so I started applying my breaks much more cautiously and then as I was completely breaking and deciding that perhaps I ought to just turn her off, she died...and now, won't start again. I checked that same fuse again, but it looks fine. The interior light work, the console lights work, the car dings when the door is open to register there is a key in the ignition, but she won't turn over.
Any, any, any clues what the heck the problem could be? I am low on cash and don't have AAA, so if there was a solution I can fix where she is, that would be best.
Thanks for your help and thanks for reading my long, long description!
- Lora D., Medford, MA, US