HELP Please: diagnosing failure to start

[96cali]

EDIT: waiting on battery to arrive, ran great after AAA jumped it.

Drove car this afternoon, ran like a champ. Parked car, noticed someone gave me a hard bump/scrape on my driver side rear corner of the bumper (Likely happened yesterday). Pissed.

5:45pm I go out to start it and nothing except a few dash lights and it did not seem like all of them. Clock no longer shows time, did not check radio presets. Heard a faint click from the column/cluster but nothing from engine. Shut down, key out, check to see if I left something on to drain the batt but nothing obvious. Try again with key, less dash lights and no clicks.

Find alternate way of getting daughter from school, eat din din, come back to car on street in front of my office after dark. Bring jumper pack, hook up and dash lights completely when I try to crank. Hear faint clicks from column/cluster again but nada from the engine.

So what's your opinion? Alternator? Ground? Starter? Did not check loose battery cables but when I put the jumper on they seemed tight and clean.

Help is much appreciated before morning when I contact my mechs.

[96cali]

Nobody?

Bueller........Bueller........

[cooljess76]

Is it possible that the crash sensor might have been triggered? I'm sure you've checked the obvious things like battery terminals, fuses and such. If you're getting a faint clicking I'd say that the ignition is fine, but since it won't even jumpstart I'd say that the battery is probably fine too. I recently took my alternator out to chase a charging system problem and found a few of the terminals on my starter were corroded. I also cleaned under the negative battery cable where it bolts to the chassis and the main engine ground under the passenger side of the car that connects to the right motor mount and the chassis. I think that was my problem because I found that it wasn't corroded very badly, but it was pitted, maybe slightly melted from what seemed to be arcing. I haven't been able to check though because I broke my A/C compressor bracket where the tensioner pulley bolts onto it and I'm waiting for the part. Your problem sounds totally different than mine, but I'd check the starter, crash sensor and grounds first. BTW, the starter is a mothafackinbiotch to get to. I had to remove my ASC, airbox, secondary air pump, alternator, and the 20 pin datalink connector. Even with all that removed, I could barely fit my head in there to see the front of the starter. I used an inspection mirror and a flashlight and diconnecting the wires was all done by feel. Best of luck to you Phil, hope you're handy with a multimeter. Let us know what you find. Here's what my car looks like right now

[96cali]

Actually it turns out to be the battery for the moment which is what my mech speculated. I could not get it to jump from my 450 amp jump pack, nor my wifes car, but AAA showed up with some mega jump pack and it cranked over. Think I'll be returning the jump pack LOL.

Now to find the right battery....

[96cali]

Oh and I the guy who banged my bumper parked right behind me again today. I looked at his bumper, then my bumper, then his and HEY WTF?! Then I wonder who this is (must be in my building) and the license plate has his name on it. So I go to his office and he owns up but says he didn't see any damage when he checked it. This was not a small bump- he has my paint on his bumper. Turns out he's a WWII B-17 bomber pilot and a nice guy (with distance judging issues LOL). Anyways he's agreed to make it right and I agreed to not rake him over the coals about it. If it gets resprayed I may do the prep work on my bumper and sideskirt too and have it all done at once.

Funny thing is had my car not died and been out with AAA I might not have seen his car and bumper damage and put 2 and 2 together.

Happy day.

[cooljess76]

Cool Phil, I'm glad you got it sorted out and I hope everything works out for you. I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner, but it seems that I was wrong anyway, lol. I got a Diehard, but I'd just as soon get an Interstate or Optima. The Diehard came with a 10 year warranty and Sears already replaced it once because my charging system killed it. I'll probably be cashing in on the warranty again once I get things sorted out.

[aceyx]

Cover up that intake!

Wad up shop towels or make a cover using overlaying strips of masking tape. Coolant hoses can just be plugged.

[cooljess76]

lol, thanks man, I did shortly after the picture was taken.