Zrz11386

Hey guys, so last night im driving up a slight incline, and had just under a quarter tank of gas, but still plenty, the light was not on or anything. All of a sudden all the lights on my dash light up and the car stops. It didn't sputter or anything, jus completely stopped, when I tried to start it, it wouldnt turn over, just kept cranking. Im in the middle of the road, so all I can do is put my hazards on.

I call my brother and ask him to bring me a gas can, thinking maybe the gas could have been lower than I thought. When he arrives we put 2 gallons in it, and try to start it. Now meanwhile Ive been sittin in the road with my flashers on for quite awhile, and it seemed like all of the lights were starting to fade, and I was losing power, so i turned everything off in the car. When we try to start it, it starts to sound like it doesnt have enough power. We then hook jumper cables up to it, all power returns while its hooked up, but it still wont turn over, just keeps cranking.

We eventually push it off the road into a level lot. We let the battery charge for longer, and try again, still wont turn over. Every time we take the jumper cables off, it goes back to fading power.

Now here's where I messed up. I have a Viper 5900 alarm and remote start system. Not thinking, quite cold and pissed off, i decide to disconnect the battery to check for corrosion and to make sure I have a good connection. There was a little corrosion on the negative side, nothing big, and none at all on the positive.

Once I reconnect the power to the battery, the alarm starts going off because my alarm system has a lock out feature once the battery is disconnected. Of course I just happen to not have my alarm fob with me, since I was only running around the corner. So every time i attempt to reconnect the battery, the alarm goes off and I now get no power.

I know what my problem is with the alarm, thats a seperate issue and my fault all together. I talked to my buddy who installed it and he got that all squared away My question to you guys is, why would my car have died in the first place? What would cause it to just suddenly stop, and then lose, and not regain power. My car has 50k on it, and the battery is original, Im picking up a new battery on my way home from work just in case.

Any thoughts?

TheB1GDude

You might want to get your alternator checked out in case that's the component that's failed, remember no alternator no charge to keep battery topped up....

Hang on... just reread what you wrote above... are you saying that when jumping it you could get it to start but when charging the battery and trying it won't turn over?

Zrz11386

Sorry if it was confusing, what I was tryin to say was this:

When the car was hooked up to jumper cables, I had full power in terms of dome lights, dash, radio, windows, locks everything. but when i tried to start it, it would just crank and crank, wouldnt turn over.

However when i disconnected the car from the jumper cables, the power immediately faded, the dash and dome lights were very dim, windows were slow if they worked at all, radio was dim, and the car would barely crank, and then eventually die as if I had used up all of the power.

But each time I had the jumper cables on there for a good amount of time, tryin to give it plenty of time to charge.

TheB1GDude

Hmmm OK so it sounds like for one the battery isn't holding a charge but also there is something else going wrong!

I just mentioned this in someone else's thread that if you live in an area that was relatively warn but the temperature has recently and suddenly dropped its possible something might have cracked or leaked, for example the distributor cap might need taking off and cleaning / oiling as moisture is getting inside it and stopping the spark from forming....

I am by no means a competent mechanic so all I can say is take it in but it maybe that your starter motor died along with your battery....

J2L06GT

Have you checked the fuel shut off switch next to your left foot on kick panel.

schapman

have you tried to reset the fuel shutoff by the hood release (driver side)? Also when you say the car just cranks its turning over...it just not getting spark or fuel.

Charlie321

If it's cranking, it's not the starter. If it failed suddenly, it's probably not the alternator because the battery would have kept you going at least for a little bit. It's not the battery because you said you had lights and alarm after you pulled over.

I'm going to go ahead and vote for fuel shutoff switch too.

Zrz11386

Yea i read about the fuel shutoff switch in the owners manual last night, but it said somethin about being triggered by an accident or a sudden jerk, and neither of those happened, so I had ruled it out. But I will definitely check that out tonight, i think my dad mentioned that.

I also thought about the alternator and battery, Ill have to check everything tonight, but definitely the first is the fuel shut off switch.

But does anyone know why the fuel shutoff would activate suddenly like that? Has anyone had this happen?

Thanks alot for all of the responses guys.

J2L06GT

I had it shut off once on really bad pot hole, read on another forum
of people having it trip for no reason and had to have it replaced.
If not that have you checked fuses for fuel pump, not sure of
# but manual gives diagram on location.

Charlie321

It's not the highest-tech device in the world, under the right circumstances, a good bump or a rough shift could set it off. Not often, but it does happen on occasion. If that's what it is, count yourself lucky.