Hey everyone, I just got my car off the jack after painting a caliper and now it doesn't start. There werent any lights on, key was out of the ignition the whole time. The battery has is running at 9.3v and the starter clicks but the engine won't roll over. I've tried jump starting it and the same thing happens. I just bought this car monday and I'm very ticked off about this right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.s. I read somewhere to connect the negative battery cable to the positive for a minute and that didn't help...

 

I just opened up my rcm and all the solders look fine.

Detail: the dash lights all come on with the key, the spoiler randomly went up when trying to start the car and the dash lights blink every time the starter clicks.

 

How long did you spend trying to jump it?

 

About an hour.

 

DO not connect the Neg - to Pos + EVER!!!

9.3 volts is not enough to crank the engine. What color is your battery?

Battery needs a charge and if its a white one then its most likely an original and needs changing.

Get that battery charged to 12 - 14 volts and hopefully it'll start.

 

Just found this thread, same issues...seems like my battery is bad....

 

Sounded like a bad battery still. 9V is low for starting a car if you're not talking about cranking volts, but if you had it hooked up for a while and it still didn't start I don't know. If it doesn't jump then it doesn't jump.

It could be your starter i suppose, or you could try manually using your starter with a hot wire from the battery to the starter.

 

Battery is black, not the original. It was up to 13 volts during the jump start and no luck. I'm gonna call the dealer to see if they will replace it under their crappy used car warranty.

 

Batteries just love to be shorted out, in fact they could explode with excitement and the dealer may explode with laughter if you tell him.

 

Watched a buddy do it to his VW Beetle about 32 years ago. As you probably know the battery is under the rear seat bench in the old Beetles. He came out of there very quickly dripping in acid. The cars interior had seen better days.

 

Im pretty sure he meant taking the cables off the battery and holding the cable ends themselves together. What this does is discharge the capacitors in any ECMs to reset them to a normal flash without any learning adaptions included. The same thing happens with the battery disconnected for an extended period of time.
If the battery charge did not raise above 12V with the battery sitting by itself the you either didnt put enough charge to it or it has a bad cell(s) and needs to be replaced. Not many cars, and definately no computer controlled one, will start with less than about 12.3V from the battery.

 

I took a gamble and bought a new battery. It was the battery after all, plus the dealer agreed to pay for 1/2 of it even though It's not covered under the normal warranty. I'm just glad it was the battery and nothing serious.

 

I hope that is what he did as well. Many times when servicing/removing an airbag from certain vehicles, they tell you to disconnect the positive cable from the battery and temporary connect to ground with a jumper. That will discharge any active charge in the airbag system.

 

Yea, I tried that and it didn't work. The battery simply wouldn't hold a charge. I swapped the battery and walah, starts like a charm.

 

I cringed when I first read this:

"P.s. I read somewhere to connect the negative battery cable to the positive for a minute and that didn't help..."

When I was a teenager a friend shorted out a battery by connecting jumper cables incorrectly and it exploded in his face.