Car not starting

shamrock55

My mothers car wouldnt start yesterday morning and we presumed the battery was dead so i jump started it for her, it started again straight away so off she went,now again this morning it wouldnt start again but i wasnt around so couldnt jump start it again,now the thing is the first morning it didnt start i noticed the panel which holds all the fuses was hanging loose frm just under the glove box and i just pushed it back in place, my mother now wants me to take it to a garage for her tommorow to get it looked at but i was just thinking could it be anything to do with the fuses maybe one was loose or something could that make a car not start or make it seem the battery is dead??? Cheers guys if it was just a matter of making sure all the fuses were in properly id do it myself in the morning rather than the mother having to fork out for it at a garage

CiniO

Either the battery is dead, or something is draining electricity when car is parked.

shamrock55

Id say the battery is ok because i only had jump leads on for about 5 secs when she started i hardly had to charge it at all, is it possable that the fuses would have anything to do with it??

Bruthal

Its either something draining the battery while the car is parked, or the battery is not holding charge and needs replacing, or is not being charged due to alternator problem, or the battery main connections are not tight.

CiniO

shamrock55 wrote: »

Id say the battery is ok because i only had jump leads on for about 5 secs when she started i hardly had to charge it at all,

If you have good jump leads, you will possibly start a car with completely dead battery. So this is no indication at all.

is it possable that the fuses would have anything to do with it??

Could be.
There's no point in guessing.
Get a device like that and check the voltage on battery, and current which is drained when car is parked, closed, etc...

Bruthal

CiniO wrote: »

If you have good jump leads, you will possibly start a car with completely dead battery. So this is no indication at all.



Could be.
There's no point in guessing.
Get a device like that and check the voltage on battery, and current which is drained when car is parked, closed, etc...

If it was somehow a fuse problem, a jump start would not work. The jump battery is connected to the same point as main battery, there for any electrical circuit problem AFTER the main battery terminals would still exist with regards to starting.

The digital meter set to amps to check for load with car parked up will need a lead from battery removed, and the meter put into the open circuit, with care taken not to put the meter across the actual battery terminals when in amps measuring mode.

Its likely a flat battery, perhaps just needing replacement. While trying to start, a voltage test will show if voltage is dropping right down. Test at terminals of battery and also on clamps, to determine if its a bad connection at the clamps.

CiniO

Bruthal wrote: »

If it was somehow a fuse problem, a jump start would not work. The jump battery is connected to the same point as main battery, there for any electrical circuit problem AFTER the main battery terminals would still exist with regards to starting.

What I was thinking that by moving the whole fusebox, OP could have made some micro short circuit on one of the wires, which just drains the battery.

The digital meter set to amps to check for load with car parked up will need a lead from battery removed, and the meter put into the open circuit, with care taken not to put the meter across the actual battery terminals when in amps measuring mode.

Exactly. It must be at 10A mode (unfused) as while plugging it it, it would burn the fuse in any other mode.
Red wire must be plugged to 10A socket (the one on the top).

Its likely a flat battery, perhaps just needing replacement. While trying to start, a voltage test will show if voltage is dropping right down. Test at terminals of battery and also on clamps, to determine if its a bad connection at the clamps.

My father had a problem like that last winter (car wouldn't start in the morning)
We though it was old battery which was gone (it was already 7 years old) so we get the new one.
Unfortunately 1 week later, car wouldn't start again.
I checked with multimeter, and batter was drained at 0.9A when car was parked.
We took it to car mechanic, and he reckoned it must be short circuit at alternator or starter motor. He kept the car for 2 days, and said it was fixed. (he regenerated alternator and starter motor). He said that car only draied 0.9A for a minute, and then fell down to 0.6A (due to display backlight going off after 1 minute). And he said that by his job done, he managed to make it down to 0.3A now, which is within the norms. I didn't like it, but paid him and came back home, and checked again, and car was still draining 0.9A. Indeed he was right that after 1 minute it goes down to 0.6A, but there was absolutely no difference to before it went to mechanic.

So my father got mad, drove back there and demanded money back. He got most of it, and mechanic (which actually was old aquaintance of mine) said good luck to find anyone else in the region to fix it.

I decided I'm going to try it myself then.
Plugged in multimeter in 10A mode (with ignition off). This showed 0.9A and went down to 0.6A in 1minute. I kept pulling fuses off until current went down to nearly 0. And that way I found a culprit (by checking what the fuse is for).
Funnily it was boot light, which no one bothered to check, and it was on even when boot was closed. Once I removed the bulb, current drained by the car came down to 0.02A which is IMHO very good result.

Car was 00 Opel corsa, and reason for boot bulb to be on, seemed to be perished wire going through boot door, which got completely wet, after perished rubber pipe from rear screen wash leaked on the wire.

Little things, but can be hard to discover.

Bruthal

Yea on exact same problem on a neighbours car last year, it was boot light as well.