I have a 95 SL2 and my car will not start at all. When I turn the key I hear a brief clicking sound. I have no idea what to do because the car was running perfectly fine 30 minutes prior to me trying to start it again. How will I know the difference between it being the starter, battery, or the alternator?
You need to troubleshoot the problem. Start by jump starting the car. If it starts, it would point to either a bad battery or battery connection that needs thorough cleaning. If it won't jump after charging from another vehicle for a few minutes, then it could be the ignition switch, starter relay, starter solenoid, or starter itself.
If the battery is bad and it jump starts, then you need to check and make sure the alternator is charging the battery properly using a simple voltmeter. It could be that the alternator is bad and the battery is just drained, or it could be both a bad alternator and now a bad battery too.
Let us know what you find.
Bob
From: "ladykd" Subject: starting problems Date: Saturday, June 25, 2005 6:56 PM
I have a 95 SL2 and my car will not start at all. When I turn the key I hear a brief clicking sound. I have no idea what to do because the car was running perfectly fine 30 minutes prior to me trying to start it again. How will I know the difference between it being the starter, battery, or the alternator?
Just to add to the advice below....I recently had a dead battery and it wouldn't start after jumping the battery to another good battery..while discussing for several minutes what to do next, I tried one more time and it did start. Moral of the story...let it sit hooked up to a good battery for several minutes before deciding it isn't the battery(5 minutes wasn't enough, 15 was). Also, I had a battery with one of those indicators (green eye) and it falsely indicated that the battery was good. Apparently, a battery has multiple cells, so the green eye really isn't a good indication...
Good luck.
Bob Shuman wrote:
Regarding the green eye on the battery, the only thing the green eye indicates is that the battery is charged enough to be properly load tested. A dark eye indicates it needs charging to be tested properly, and the light eye indicates a battery that is failed and can't be tested. You still need to load test the battery with a green eye to determine the actual condition.
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