Yonez

I stayed home from work sick today, and my wife took my car to work. About 15 minutes after she left, she texted me to tell me the car was overheating. I called her and told her to pull over and shut it off, and that I would be there in a few minutes to swap her cars (its about 20 degrees here, she was not happy about that). When i got there and she got into her car, she told me she thought that there might be something wrong with the electrical system because it was acting funny. After checking the coolant and refilling the reservoir, I jumped in to start it up and...nothing. no guages came on, the radio didnt come on, nothing. Every once in a while though, the hazards would flash when the key was out and not turned forward. When the key is in and turned, the only thing that would come on is the airbag light, and it was very faint. While i sat in the cold a HP stopped ot make sure i was ok, and i had to open the door because the window wouldnt roll down


After getting the car towed home (and when we got out, the driver window had gone down all the way during the commute) i started messing with it and can not for the life of me figure anything out. I took the battery out and inspected it, and the negative terminal has a small crack in it and there was little to no fluid inside the battery when i checked. I cleaned the terminals as best I could without the terminal cleaning kit ( no way to get to the store until my wife gets home) and put the battery back in after filling it with distilled water, and tried to start it. Still wouldnt crank, but the alternator made a loud whining noise when I turned the key forward.

Does anyone have any ideas? I cant find anything online, and we were supposed to go visit family this weekend. Any help would be appreciated!

jz78817

do you have a voltmeter? Measure the voltage across the battery terminals.

Chromeshadow

The battery is dead, adding water won't bring it back. I'd start by replacing the battery, then check the coolant level. When is the last time you had regular maintenance done on this car? Btw, what kind of a car is it?

Yonez

Sorry, thought i Included that. its a 2005 V6 mustang, automatic. I keep up on all the maintenance on it, I just had the oil changed in it recently. Took the battery and alternator into autozone last night to have them both tested, alternator was good but the battery turned out bad. it was only putting out 7 volts i think he said. I was just surprised that it started with no problems in the morning, and not even 30 minutes later wouldn't even power the radio or any of the dash lights. waiting for my wife to get home so i can drive down and throw a new battery into it and see if that fixes it.