After not driving the car for over a week, I drove it last Tues and it started fine. Today - nothing! I hooked it up to a trickle charger that has a "start" option on it. The instructions say to charge for 3 min then try to start it. I did this and nothing happened, then I tried waiting 10 min and still nothing. No lights, not even a slight turnover. What else should I try?

 

Even with the trickle charger you should get lights. (are you sure the charge is working)
Sounds like it is time for a new battery -

 

A new battery.

 

Maybe you need a regular battery charger. Some chargers will not work when your battery is completely dead. Can you push the car out to get a jump start from another car?

It is possible that your battery has internally shorted and not matter how long you charge it, it will not take a charge. With an internally shorted battery, sometimes a jump start will not work either because the bad battery is using up all the current.

If you get the car started by jumping it from another car, do not let your alternator charge the battery back up to full charge. Your alternator is designed to "maintain" battery voltage, not recharge it from the dead. It will work, but it could also shorten the life of your alternator since you are working it to full capacity for a long period of time.

There are many things that can happen to cause a 'no start', this is just the begining.

James

 

Just went back to the garage and moved the negative cable to another spot on the chassis - I moved it from the front to the right side of the engine bay and it started to crank. Don't know why it would make a difference but it finally started.

Thanks for the replies.