Car died wont start

May 21, 2009

- If the lights work, and you have power to the starter, without turn signals, then it sounds like the main power to the switch circuit is missing. Check the battery terminals again, especially the smaller wires that also connect to the positive side. Is there a fuse for "ign"?
It could also be a bad ignition switch itself. If you don't find any obvious loose wires or blown fuse, it sounds like you should find a mechanic you can trust (or hold hostage...;-) who can find your missing electrons.

May 21, 2009

- Yes. You are losing the main power from the battery. Clean the battery cables again with a wire terminal brush or scrape off all of the corrosion until the contact surfaces are shiny and make sure all of the wires going to the battery terminals have clean connections. You should also make sure the connections on the starter itself are clean and tight (power connection to the battery for the ign circuit may be connected at that point. (disconnect the battery when working on the starter).

May 21, 2009

- Your responses seem to be getting cut off .
You have power to the starter. You have a solenoid wire that kicks in the solenoid to make the starter turn. It sounds like when you try to start the engine, the lights and everything go out.
Does the engine crank when you do this, or does the attempt to crank make everything go out?
If the engine is cranking and all the lights go out, then you probably have a bad ignition switch. If the engine doesn't crank, you are still back to looking for a bad cable connection. Test for power with a 12V light bulb type tester, not a meter. A voltmeter will not draw enough current to show that a connection is weak. Sometimes the terminals on the end of a wire will look good, but have a bad crimp and not make contact very well. Sometimes a wire will be broken or corroded internally and look fine. The most common places are the connections at the battery (the small wire could be bad (if there is one) that comes off the positive side (corroded inside the insulation). There are only so many places that will cause the loss of power in the main circuit, so keep trying.