Mutag wouldn't start this morning.

[CatmanJJ]

...feck. What a way to start Friday.

Can't tell if it's the battery or not, but the dome light comes on, car locks and unlocks...no dash lights come on or the radio either and it doesn't turn over at all. Might be the alternator. I checked, I didn't leave anything on the night before and car hasn't been acting up lately at all. Do alternators and/or batteries just go out like that? Could it be the excessive heat and humidity we've had lately. The car is only 3 years old or so, I hope it's one of the 2 cause I can fix those at my house, don't wanna to have to pay for a tow and take this sumbitch in.

I popped the hood, battery indicator is green so I think that means it's okay, but my wife's dad is coming by after work with a volt meter and jumper cables and we're gonna try and figure out what's wrang. I'm happy I have a beater.

Any other thoughts?

Fix
Or
Repair
DailyFTMFL

 

[XtorT'r]

Did you go through any fuses?

 

[COramprat]

You can push start it and see if it fires up. If it does it is the battery.

 

[BobHyatt]

it can also be...

Bad cables. Seen lots of bad cables recently. Some corroded at the battery post itself. Some inside the insulation but up near the battery connector. You can't see it, but the copper wire has been corroded into mostly green/white powder that won't conduct. Ditto for ground cable.

The easiest way to test this is to take a good set of jumper cables, and connect the black to the - battery post, and the other black end clamped against a good ground like the alternator bracket. If things work, the ground cable is bad. If not, connect the + end to the + battery post, and the other + end to the + connector on the power distribution panel (just trace the red wires from the battery, one goes down to the starter, the other goes to the power distribution box. If things work now, the + cable is bad. If not, then the problem isn't either of those cables and you keep tracing to see where +12 drops to zero, probably behind a fuse or with a missing ground elsewhere.

 

[StangYellow]

Yeah alternators can just go, but you would have seen the battery slowly dying on you. Do you have aftermarket amplifiers in your car?

 

[CatmanJJ]

Hmmm no aftermarket speakers or anything like that. It would always fire right up, no hesitation. I'm gonna check the fuses, then gonna try and jump it tonight and see what happens. I've been driving it daily and it's been hotter then hell lately. I've heard that can kill batteries as well. + it is over 3 years old now on the stock battery. So I'm hoping it just the battery cause that should be a quick fix more or less. If not I'll go from there. Poop, I hope it's not the cables, that sounds like a PITA. I don't see corrosion near the connectors, gonna take them off tonight and if there's any underneath.

So annoying, thing was running like a champ just last night, rippin it up on the way home from work like usual.

 

[CatmanJJ]

Kinda feel like a dummy but after some testing it turned out the battery needed to be replaced. Oh well, simple fix thoug and I'm glad.

 

[Superhereaux]

glad too see it was just the battery




for future reference or just FYI for anyone reading this thread, the green "battery indicator" is pretty useless as an indicator of battery life seeing as how it only moniters one cell in a six cell battery

 

[hotmustang331]

My dads 00 stang did the same thing. Door locks worked, dome light worked, car drove perfect to and from town. Shut it down for like an hour and went to move it to its normal parking spot and "click click click". the door chime sounded a little funny, and even the headlighst worked (but not well)...just didnt have enough juice to turn over. Apparently a few cells shorted out....I think the green was still showing on his battery as well.

 

[CatmanJJ]

glad too see it was just the battery

for future reference or just FYI for anyone reading this thread, the green "battery indicator" is pretty useless as an indicator of battery life seeing as how it only moniters one cell in a six cell battery

Def, that green marker, it's not really a light, doesn't mean ****. For what it's worth I popped open the covers and water looked low, guess all the 100 degree heat took its toll so I added some for the hell of it. The green marker slid over to red whatever the hell that means. Good thing my father-in-law had one of those volt meters (not sure of the actual name), we check the battery and alternator, we new rather quickly it was just that battery, which was good news.

My dads 00 stang did the same thing. Door locks worked, dome light worked, car drove perfect to and from town. Shut it down for like an hour and went to move it to its normal parking spot and "click click click". the door chime sounded a little funny, and even the headlighst worked (but not well)...just didnt have enough juice to turn over. Apparently a few cells shorted out....I think the green was still showing on his battery as well.

Yea I guess it's not like the old days where the car would start slowly or there would be a hint of it draining or dying mine went from being fine to straightup not working.

Funny story, I went to Advance Auto Satuday morning, with my printout in hand from the interwebs, to help me pick out the battery I needed (picked up a Autocraft Titanium something or other) and just wanted to verify I picked up the right one, when the 2 clerks man and women, were scrolling through what I had on the screen they were like Ford...Mustang...they looked at my sheet, paused for a second and were like MACH 1...NO WAY, awesome. Made my day. Then i went to get some motor oil and a filter to change the oil on my Ranger, had trouble finding the right filter, the girl came running over, it's model blah blah blah, she gave me the #for my Mustang, lol I just said thanks this is for my truck, she laughed and helped me find the right one anyway.

 

[the98stang]

Yea, I thought it was your battery.

BTW- your avatar gives me a boner