Car won't turn over...

[phoenxislayer15]

I recently installed a new battery terminal, because the old one was crappy. Ever since then, my battery has been dead when the car sits anywhere for more than 2 hours or so. I can always jump it, and when the battery is charged it will turn off and on. However, now the car won't even attempt to start. All the other lights and everything are working, but when I turn the key nothing happens. I'm not sure what I did, or what I broke. Someone help me... :uh:

[keruhas184]

burned a fuse? or the starter?

[Luis 89LXi]

did you hear a click when turn the key, instrument ligths fade a bit, but no crank ?

your starter may gettin stuck, try to hit it whit a metal piece. this helps sometimes but if its the starter you'll need to replace.

Luis

[phoenxislayer15]

No click when I turn it, I'll check on the fuses but I'm sure they're all good.

[phoenxislayer15]

I'm pretty sure it's an electrical problem. When I turn the key to the second position, nothing comes on. This is also started when someone was messing with my battery cables while trying to jump start. He pulled it off and I tried to start, but he connected it as soon as I turned it to start, sending sparks everywhere. Could this have shorted something out?

[FoX]

depends on what he pulled and if he had his battery connected or not... did you check to see first if he connected the battery backwards? Right after you check that right beside your battery under the hood is a fuse box... in that fuse box there are fuses that are covers with plastic caps.... check them... they are your main fuses... if nothing is coming on in your car and the battery has juice and is connected correctly then it will be on of these fuses. They are usually Big see through top fuses, they look nothing like the other fuses in the car, the ones i am talking about will be screwed down to there terminals. If i can find a place to host them i will post pictures if you need them.

[buds302]

dude check the connection at the battery and the starter this should be the biggest wire comin off the batt on the hot side. then theres a separate wire that runs into the fuse box under the hood. check to make sure that connection is tight as well. does the car start after you clamp the cables to it. as if it was normal. or is it slow to start. if it takes a while to re charge the batt. after the cables ars connected then you got a deffective batt. id take it back.also what kind of terminal did you get?
and if it was one of those cheap walmart 24k gold plated ones GET A NEW ONE. cause when it says gold plated that doesnt mean its real. especialy from walmart. i now somebody who used to work in jewlry and he cold make the fakest lookin gold and make it look real. now i dont know if you know this or not but real gold is a very good electrical conductor. if we had enough of it it would put the copper wire buisiness out of buisiness. get a regular terminal(one thats made of lead) and make sure everything is good clean and tight and see if that dont help. bad or loose connections create heat and heat creates fire and we dont need that!!

[phoenxislayer15]

How can I check the big fuses to see if they are good.

EDIT: The battery is hooked up right, and I have interchanged the battery with another one, and the same problem.

[justin89]

How can I check the big fuses to see if they are good.

EDIT: The battery is hooked up right, and I have interchanged the battery with another one, and the same problem.
take a flashlight and see if the copper strip is burnt out in the fuse box under the hood.also check the connection at the battery and the starter.

[shepherd79]

you need to check the main fuse. it is 70 or 75 amp can't remember. if that fuse burned, nothing will work.

[phoenxislayer15]

I took it out, and the piece in the middle is split. I'm guessing it's not supposed to be right?

[A20A1]

I was thinking there was a short if you kept draiing the batteryl

[Blkblurr]

Sounds to me that you broke the internal connection of your battery when you replaced your battery cable. The other possibility is the battery cable is bad. The symptoms you gave indicate a partial connection that can only handle small loads. The connection got worse until no power flowed from the battery.

[POS carb]

#1 if it drains the battery just sitting there you have a short somewhere, usually it's the headlight motors getting stuck, take out their fuse whenever you get the rest of this sorted out and see if it stops draining. A good test is to put a digital volt meter to the battery and watch the voltage as you pull each fuse. if you see the voltage go up when you pull a fuse that means there's a current drain on that circuit

#2 to test the fuses do this:
get a 12v light (like a blinker or an interior light whatever) and hook up 1 wire to ground and with the other wire probe each main fuse on both terminals, the bulb should light up. If there is a fuse that lights the bulb on only 1 terminal then it is blown. This also works on standard fuses, you can see a little piece of metal just short of poking out the top, this is the contact point. Or just use your digital volt meter.

To test the starter:
there should be 12V at the fat cable that bolts to the starter w/ a 10mm nut. The little speaker terminal wire should have approx 12V whern the key is in the "Start" position and also make sure you have a good ground wire on the tranny. If the ground is bad you'll notice the meter read 12V on the terminal and then drops to like 2 volts when you try and crank it. Note anytime you crank the engine it's normal to see the voltage drop to like 10 or 11 volts

[phoenxislayer15]

Speaking of headlight motor, recently my right headlight has been broken. It gets stuck and doesn't open or close anymore. It acts like it's completely loose, and I'm not sure how to fix it.

[POS carb]

the rod is probably disconnected, there's like a ball-and-socket joint on the arm whrere it swings that is held on with a black plastic square, It's probably loose or missing. spin the knobs on top of the motors, they should go by themselves if you turn too far

[phoenxislayer15]

Now my frickin starter is gone, I'm junking this junk.