On last Thursday I had a appointment to have the windshield replaced in my 1991 RS at 9:00 a.m. At my house. I left my keys at home (I’m 15) and came home and my car wouldn’t start after I cleaned it out.

I found out that once they showed up to put the new windshield in, that they said it was to cold to put it in at our garage. So, innocently, my mother gave them the keys to this idiot. She said that they had my car for 2 hours to replace the windshield.

When I came home the car was sitting in the driveway, so I went and looked at my new windshield and went inside. I came back out shortly after and started to clean my car. I cleaned the interior out (When I found they knocked off the brake pedal pad) I also washed my car on the outside and did all my glass. I also installed the plastic panel above the pedals, I had it out because I installed neons and had to get wiring under there.

So later that night I was going to go somewhere so I hop in pop the key in and NOTHING??? Didn’t even turn over. So I’m think that maybe they accidentally left something on that drained my battery. So I pop the hood and looked at the freshly installed Optima Gel Cell Battery. The side posts were completely loose. I went and got the wrench to tighten it. The losers stripped my positive side terminal screw and the negative side was loose as heck. So it’s like 8 at night and there is stores open. So I’m really pissed now.

That night my dad calls the place- because he set it up and was under his name- and they say that the head idiot will call back first thing in the morning. So the next morning a lady calls- she said they did not disconnect the battery. So now I gotta figure out how the battery mysteriously gets loose all by itself? I pull the battery out and make sure that they didn’t strip the battery too- luckily for them they didn’t. I put the new bolt in and guess what. The friggin’ car still won’t start!! No clicking -no nothing!

So now I’m in the process of trying to figure out what happened. I have already pulled all the fuses and rechecked the battery connections. They are all ok.

What could be my problem? I think it is electrical but maybe not. Please help me!

Thanks for letting me vent a little.

 

Did you check to see if its drained? Sounds like they killed it blasting the radio.

 

No they didn't because I have top and side post mounts, I have all my accessories ran on the tops and the two main hookups on sides. Everything on the top posts works fine.

 

no clue

 

Possibly vats related?

 

Temporarily install a jumper from the top terminal to the suspect side terminal and see if your accessories work. I have a feeling your side terminal is trashed internally, or possibly the cable itself is hosed.

 

Sounds like they f*d somethinge up real bad, then they got nervous and tryed to fix it....leading to stripped bolt(s) depending on how competent they were you may find many more problems. hopefully you get it straightened out. At least you learned not to let anyone you dont have FULL confidence in work on your car. Over hear in pa, ive only found one shop that can take my car through inspection without doing hundreds of dollars of damage, of course "it was like that when it came in", it couldnt have been the mechanic with the impact wrench who bent my rim and stripped 3 lug nuts. I dont even bother taking it any where to get **fixed**. Sorry for the long post, very pissed off...

 

well if the car ran fine before and then did not work after, then they did something!! call them and say all i want to know is what you guys did and then tried to fix so i can get running again, they had yours keys they could of done anything!!

good luck

 

dood i would be freakin pissed... i thought those batteries were supposed to be hard as hell to drain... those freakers must have done some major damage to mess that thing up... hope you can figure out what it is and get it fixed and get them to pay for it!!

 

check your starter, the wire is probally loose, i had the same problem. none of the accessories or anything would come on, just crawl under there and check it out, if its loose tighten that biatch

 

I've been working on it after school. I check the batttery it was a little low- but will charge.

I don't think it's vats related because there is a security light that comes on when you try to start it right? The only time when this comes on is when I first put the keys in, but I think it supposta do that.

I'll try getting a drifferent key outa the safe and try that, but I think thats not the problem- because I can turn it to all positions however nothing happens when I try to start it.

I went to a local garage, I know the guy, and asked what it could be. He said starter, or the Neutral Safty switch. I check the safty switch- not that.

Tonight I'm going to finish my aluminum guage bezel swap. And I'll jack the car up and try to check the starter. Is there any way to check it? Other than "hit it with the hammer"?

Thanks for the help guys-- I'll keep you posted!

 

Hey,
I also have another question:

I was just thinking back. Once in a while I would hop in the car to start it up and all I hear is VROOOOOOOM, no the engine dosen't start , but it sounds like the starter goes, but nothing happens. What is this from?

 

not sure how relevant this is, but i had a problem similar with one of my cars.... some of the teeth on the flywheel were gone, so i had to put it in gear and move the car a little(with the ignition off ) then try again. once again good luck.

 

I sure hope that is not the problem.. I don't think it is because the starter does not do anything. I just got out from underneath it- hitting it with a hammer, that did not do anything, but it did make me feel alittle better:lala:

 

i was talking about..
this certainly isnt the answere to ur current problem....

 

I was wounderin because I thought may be she was slowly going to the land of many happy starters.:lala: :lala:

 

dont check the starter by hitting it with a hammer . you dont even have to jack it up, stick your head under the car and tighten the positive connection to the starter( the fat wire). And about the starter going without engaging (starting the car), the teeth on the starter are probally wore down, or the shaft the gear is on has play in it (is loose). The starter wont engage if the gear cant hit the flywheel right. damn dude, its not a complicated task, but using hammers and crap. Just take it to a shop or someone who knows how to put in a new starter to fix it.

 

Redflashblue,

First of all I have to jack my car up because it only sits 6" off the ground. So do you think you could get your head under there?? And about using "hammer and crap" I have head this from more than just the Master Mechanic I talked to.

 

If you have a voltmeter, start checking voltages. Check the selenoid to see that its getting power and functioning properly.

 

Thanks for the HELPFUL information, I'll jack it up later and wont come out till' I've got it solved

 

so what youre saying is a master mechanic beats sh*t with a hammer to make it work? lol, i didnt mean to offend you sayin that about the hammer bro, chill and lower ur bs flags. i didnt stick my head under my car when i tightened my connection, i looked under there and could reach it w/ the wrench, still the first thing you should do is check the ...ehh nevermind i said it before.
as you can see i can climb all around underneath my car lol

 

jk, my car is better suited for handling than muddin'

 

I lowered my flags. I'm sorry- but I really wasen't in the mood. I just replaced the starter and guess what nothin!

Hey- nice lift on the camaro LOL

 

you need to track down your problem with a voltmeter, thats the next step. if you dont have one you need to find someone who does.

check to see if you have voltage at the big cable. if so have someone try to start it while you check the voltage on the small one. my guess is you dont, so you need to follow it back till you find the problem.

by the way ive witnessed many "professional mechanics" smack a starter with anything from a wrench to a large rock. and it normaly works.

 

Actually, yes. Hitting a starter on a car that won't start is quite a common pratice, you are trying to free up a possibly stuck bendix gear or sticking solinoid.

 

dude sorry to hear about your car... people like this **** me off so bad, they have NO respect for your car

it's like that time, i took my car to the muffler shop to get my flowmaster put on and when i got in the car i found my SHIFTER was broken

hope everything works out

 

you should check the realays right next to the brake booster, it could also be the ground on the motor


hope u get your car fixed

 

Yes I'm really pissed off at these poeple. I finally found the problem--

There was a car alarm installed when the previous owner had the car. There is like 1 trillion wires under the dash- 1 finally found out that 2 of them were supposto be connected. Reconnected and it's working fine. NEXT mission I'm finding my oil drip.

As for the idiots that did this to my car all they are saying is a bunch of . Of course they didn't do it.


Thanks for your help!!

:hail: :hail: :hail: