89 Maxima, never noticed any problem starting before. When I walked up to my car this morning, I noticed a faint smell of gasoline.
I got in and turned the key, but it didn’t do a thing. Wait, it made that faint buzzing noise. After that try, all I got was the clickity sound.
My neighbor, another clueless woman, tried banging on my battery cables and every other part after that was unsuccessful.
I have plenty gas and the lights and wipers work.
Please, for the love of all that is sweet and innocent, help me. I have no money and a new job that requires a car.
As NurseCarmen says, sounds like a dead battery. Once you get a jump-start, and confirm that you didn’t leave headlights or anything else on, get your battery and charging system tested. Your problem may be as simple as a worn-out battery (They’re only good for 3-5 years, usually) or a tired alternator.
Another possiblity is a failed starter, but those usually make themselves known by producing a single sharp “clack” when you turn the key. “click click click click…” when you turn the key is usually just not enough battery power to engage the starter.
A similar thing happened to me (98 Sunfire). How old is your battery? Basically, it takes about all 12 volts from your car battery to crank the engine, and much less for other accessories. The battery is usually divided into six 2-volt cells, all connected to the terminals. In my case, the battery was 5 years old, and the wires/terminals had started to corrode. The wires connecting at least one of the cells to the terminal had broken, giving me say 10 volts, instead of the full 12. The engine wouldn’t crank, but everything else looked ok. After trying and trying and trying, I could finally get the engine to crank–my mechanic said sometimes the high current can cause those small wires to re-fuse, but it’s only temporary. This sort of thing (all lights work ok, but engine won’t start) leads you to believe it’s the engine, but I’d bet you it’s only the battery. . .unless you know you just replaced it, that is.
I just bought the car about a month ago so I’m not really sure how old the battery is. Hmm…I always thought if your lights worked it wasn’t the battery. See, I am clueless!
I don’t have any jumper cables here or anyone to give me a boost, possibly not for a few days unless I just start pulling strangers over in the street. Which is not the safest move in this neighborhood.
There is, however, an Auto Zone a few miles away. Could I possibly disconnect the battery and lug it there on foot?
What about the smell of gas? That’s why I guessed vapor lock. I’m 0-2 this week in diagnosing car problems, and it’s getting embarassing. Just trying to learn…
I just went outside and took a peek, in case there might be some date on the battery. I know, I am clueless. No date. There is a lot of white powdery stuff around the battery cable. I cleaned it, banged around and tried again. No start, no clickity, and I noticed my seatbelt pulled back REAAAAL slow, and the wipers worked but went reaaal slow.
Rush, that sounds like exactly what happened with mine. The terminals are corroded (the white powdery stuff). Banging on it just made it worse (destroyed what little connection there was remaining). Also, in my case the terminal had pretty much welded itself to the cable. I couldn’t get the battery off myself
Don’t try and disconnect the battery to lug it a few miles, they’re REALLY heavy. It sounds like the battery is dead, but maybe if you cleaned off the terminals really well, inside and out, you may get enough juice. I think you can clean it off with a baking soda and water solution, suggested here. Then scrub the post and clamps with a battery terminal cleaner it has 2 wire brushes, one to clean the post and one to clean the inside of the clamps. You’ll need a wrench to disconnect the terminals after the inital scrubbing.
So this is not a “Just pour a can of coke on it” or a “bang on it a few times” type problem. Gotcha. It never is when it comes to my cars. I will give cleaning the cables a shot.
Here’s an easy one for ya Casey! (just for practice)
90 Corsica, white smoke and antifreeze coming out of the tailpipe.
What is it?
If you guess right I’ll give you my address and you can come fix Car Number Two in my lot.
Oh, for the record, when I tried to disconnect my battery cables, the terminal actually broke off of the battery (I told you the terminal had welded itself to the cable). This, of course, caused a big hole in the side of the battery which leaked battery fluid profusely. It was a mess. My mechanic had to change the whole wire (which isn’t really a big deal, but I didn’t know where or how to get to it). You can try cleaning it, but I’m betting it’s toast. Even if you can get the terminals clean, it is highly probably that it’s corroded to the point where some of the wires are broken. . .
It was a blown head gasket.
I didn’t let it overheat. The guy that sold it to me did, and he put some sort of liquid gasket in it to mask the problem. It started smoking about two weeks after I bought it. It’s been parked in my lot since that day. I just don’t know what to do with it. I can’t afford to fix it but it’s in really good shape other than that problem. I was given the Maxima for next to nothing so I can’t complain too much.
