y does my car not have any power even w/ new battery?

87mustang347 said:

ok so i finally got my whole motor put together and got it running.i let it run for a couple of minutes then shut it off to get some coolant to put into the radiator. when i got back to my house my dad wanted to here the car run. so i hooked up the jumper cables to my jetta, turned the key, then pop. heard a lil noise and just thought i blew a fuse. no big deal. turns out no fuses are blown but yet when i open my door the dome light nore the beeping noise from the door turn on. i had to jump start my car every other time i started it, the battery had just been sitting for over a year so i figure maybe the battery is shot.i just went to advanced auto, bought a new battery, put it in my car and STILL NOTHING!!! not even one bit of juice is goin anywhere to my car. wtf?

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i do believe its the battery wires. it happenedto my dadsf-150. you can goto a local parts store to get atool that looks like a t to clean the wires and batter connections.

sounds like you jumped the wrong terminals ( +/- -/+)

did any fusible links blow?

87mustang347 said:

so if i jumped the wrong terminals, what would cause the whole car to be down on power. it cant be the battery wires because i just bought a relocation kit and its all new wires, i checked the ground and the terminals and there all fine.

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if you replaced your cables before you jumped it and heard the pop, you could have fried the wires. Have you checked the resistance w/ a volt meter? I can't think of anything else that would cause this problem other than a bad battery.

Iroically enough, I'm in the same boat pretty much. My LX 5.0 won't even let me roll the damn window up, won't turn over, nothing and I've put different batteries in it, jumped it, etc. I'll figure it out, not trying to steal your thread.

Good Luck

Best way to troubleshoot this is to get a meter.

I suggest the following: With the car as is, check battery voltage at the posts, then at the terminals, then at the other end of the cables. Then check it from the pos side to the body and engine to see if those grounds are good.

You may get good voltage readings, but have enough corrosion that it will not carry any current. The pop sound was probably the result of that effect.

Clean both ends of both battery cables, and especially the body and engine ground connections.

Check the cables for continuity with the meter, disconnected. Wiggle the heck out of the terminals on the cables and see if that makes a difference. I had exactly this on an F150, and the wire had separated from the molded lead battery clamp. I found it by noticing that the insulation was pulled out about 1/8 of an inch from the clamp body. Still did not have bare wire visible, and would show 12 volts, but would not carry any current for lights, horn, starter, etc.

If none of this fixes it or finds the problem, you will have to go through the power circuits with the meter until you find the problem.

If that does not do it, as someone else said, start looking at the fusible links.

87mustang347 said:

nope, checked those too cause thats what i thought it was but the only fuse that was blown was the one from my fog lights, but ive known that for a while

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just so we are all on the same page, fusible links are different than fuses.

87mustang347 said:

rd thanx for the great info. heres an update though. i just went out to my car with a test light. hooked up one end of it to the negaive batt terminal and the needle end into the positive cable. light went on. kept the needle in the positive battery cable, put the other end on the part of the negative cable where i connetcted it to the body in the trunk and the light still went on. now i moved forward at the cable, about half way, put the other end on a good ground and nothing happen, no light.
y does the test light turn on when i have it ground real close to the battery but the further away i go from it, the light doesnt turn on from the test light?

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replace your ground cable and move it

sounds like it was getting it's ground from the battery at first, but when you went to the other end it for some reason couldn't? Sounds kinda weird to me. Shouldn't it still be getting enough ground from the battery through the length of wire to light up a little test light? I think baldy might be right...your neg cable might be junk. I'd pull it completely off and test the resistance from one end to the other. If the resistance is too high, replace it. I'm not sure what "too high" is, I think it depends on the length and guage of wire though.

Did you sand/clean off the area you bolted your ground wire to in the trunk? Although that would definately make a difference when trying to start the car, I don't think it should w/ the test light

i have used jumper cables before (just one half of them) as a way to run a very temporary ground cable to see if it makes a difference. if the car comes to life with the jumper attached, that can help diagnose.

but i think something happened in the test you did (what seems fishy to James also seems fishy to me, but I might not understand what you did exactly).

good luck with it.

HISSIN50 said:

i have used jumper cables before (just one half of them) as a way to run a very temporary ground cable to see if it makes a difference. if the car comes to life with the jumper attached, that can help diagnose.

but i think something happened in the test you did (what seems fishy to James also seems fishy to me, but I might not understand what you did exactly).

good luck with it.

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dun dun dun dun!!! HISSIN to the rescue! I forgot about the jumper cables thing...I'd definately try that. I think your problem is a funky ground and you can use the cables to try that. If you don't understand what we mean by that...Hook one black end to the neg terminal attached to the battery and then hook the other black end to a good solid ground and see if the car will turn over.

Here's a checklist:

Check battery, terminal connections, ground, starter relay switch (also known as solenoid) and starter in that order.

A voltmeter is handy if you are familiar with how to use it to find bad connections. Measure the voltage drop across a connection: more than .5 volts across a connection indicates a problem.
See http://www.fluke.com/application_notes/automotive/circuit.asp?AGID=1&SID=103#volt for a diagram on how to do voltage drop testing


1.) Will the car start if it is jumped? Then clean battery terminals and check the battery. Most auto parts stores will do a free battery check if you bring them the battery.

2.) Check the battery to engine block ground, and the ground behind the engine to the firewall.

3.) Check the cables for cracks in the insulation, and corrosion around the wire where it joins the connector. Look for swelling of the cable’s diameter which would indicate corrosion inside the cable. Bending the cable can often reveal corrosive damage inside the cable when the outside looks OK.

4.) Put the car's transmission in neutral or have someone press in on the clutch. Then pull the small push on connector (red wire) off the starter relay (Looks like it is stuck on a screw) and jump it to the terminal that is connected to the battery. If it starts, the relay is good and your problem is in the rest of the circuit.

5.) .) Remember to check the ignition switch, neutral safety switch on auto trans and the clutch safety switch on manual trans cars. If they are good, then the relay is bad. See http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d80195960.gif for a very good diagram of the starter & neutral safety switch wiring

6.) Jump the big terminals on the starter relay next to the battery with a screwdriver - watch out for the sparks! If the engine cranks, the starter and power wiring are good. The starter relay is also known as a starter solenoid. If jumpering the two big solenoid posts made the starter crank, the logical next step is to replace the starter solenoid (also known as the starter relay).

7.) The starter may be hung, loosen up the bolts that hold it on, and give it a good whack with a big hammer. Tighten up the bolts and try again.

8.) Pull the starter and take it to Autozone or Pep Boys and have them test it. If the starter fails the test, then replace it. If you got this far, the starter is probably bad.

Rear mounted battery wiring.

One 1 or 1/0 gauge (or larger) from battery positive post to the battery side of the front mounted starter solenoid (relay). You may wish to place a battery shut off switch in the wiring between the battery and the starter solenoid. Be sure to remove the old battery cable that was connected to the battery. Do not remove or move any other wires. That includes any wiring for the alternator.

Follow this plan and you will have zero ground problems.

One 1 gauge or 1/0 gauge wire from battery negative post to a clean shiny spot on the chassis near the battery. Use a 5/16” bolt and bolt it down to make the rear ground. Use a 1 gauge or 1/0 gauge wire from the rear ground bolt to a clean shiny spot on the block.

One 4 gauge wire from the block where you connected the battery ground wire to the chassis ground where the battery was mounted up front. Use a 5/16” bolt and bolt down the 4 gauge engine to chassis ground, make sure that it the metal around the bolt is clean & shiny. This is the alternator power ground.

Crimp or even better, solder the lugs on the all the wire. The local auto stereo shop will have them if the auto parts store doesn't. Use some heat shrink tubing to cover the lugs and make things look nice.

The computer has a dedicated power ground wire with a cylindrical quick connect (about 2 ½”long by 1” diameter. It comes out of the wiring harness near the ignition coil & starter solenoid (or relay). Be sure to bolt it to the chassis ground in the same place as you bolted the alternator power ground. This is an absolute don’t overlook it item for EFI cars

87mustang347 said:

ok so i found what the problem was. it ended up being that main ground off the battery like u guys said. i took it off and sanded the paint down to bare metal and then hooked it back up and now i get power every time. im still needing to jump start my car tho to get it running even with the new battery. my guesse is that since i got more compression in my motor now, the stock starter doesnt have enough torque to spin the motor over. ill be installing a high torque one this weekend though and hopefully that should fix it. thanx for the great info guys

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glad to hear you got it seemingly fixed.

on the issues that remain, I might be missing something here, but a new starter would not be my first guess. see, if a boost (jump) is allowing the car to start, the starter works just fine. the issue would seem to be that the system is not getting the amps to the starter. I would look at the gauge of the cables from the battery to the starter solenoid - you might be losing too much juice in the long trip to the front.

That is where i would start though (not with a starter). good luck.

Sorry I did not maintain my reply- and im glad to see you didnt fry any wires.
If you relocated the batt to the rear I would suggest running heavy heavy AWG wire. I went with a 4awg and it turned out to be too small (also with factory starter) . I replaced starter with a gear reduction unit , and replaced ALL of my starter circuit wiring to 1/0 welding cable. This is pretty much the largest practical size you should use, and could even be considered excessive. However in the case of resistance, wider diameter, # of wound wires is KEY. Be sure to run a seperate ground from your rear ground to the engine block to ensure a proper ground at all points of your electrical system. GOOD LUCK