Car Won't Start

[bud]

hello - need help on ls400 the car will not start, no lights, just faint click when I turn key. Jump start car the lights come on but still no starting. the battery tests good.

any ideas?

Thanks

[silvermate]

sounds like the batter isn't holding a charge, if the lights will come on but no start, it might not have enough juice to turn the car over

if you checked the batter and it checked out OK, then maybe check the terminal cables for corrosision, it might not be getting a good contact.

note::the corrosion on the cables can go well beyond and underneath the rubber protective around the cables

--if so you would in fact need to replace the whole cable.

[UCF3]

Apply some Battery Terminal cleaner to the terminals, and tighten the nuts. It could be based upon the sudden cold temps.

[Meist21]

Just two months ago my neighbor had his 98 LS just have clicking noises. The battery tested good. It turned out to be the starter. Not a very inexpensive fix for this car. (The location is under the manifold and a #$%^# to get at). His car made a series of clicking noises. We tested his battery and it was good. Your problem may be a loose bat. cable or a wire somewhere else. Wierd how the lights were not working but then they were.

[1990LS400]

The problem sure sounds like what happened the four times a battery failed in our first LS. The batteries would test as being OK with one of those squeeze bulb (specific gravity?) testers but the tester did not reflect the breakage of the cell-to-cell connection within the battery. You can verify whether the battery is good by putting it on a charger and seeing if it will take a charge. Batteries in our 1st LS rarely lasted more than three years even with regular maintenance with distilled water. The repair shop owner to which we take our cars told me that this is about typical. Come to think of it, our current LS has 3 years, 7 months on its original battery - I think that is a new record!

[99lsguy]

I agree with the "bad battery" theory first!

This fall, in the cooler November weather, my LS barely turned over a couple of mornings and finally gave out. It was the original Toyota OEM battery that came with the car - issued in August of 1999. That's 4 years, three months on original battery - and like others have said, it's all you can get out of a battery ;) . Good testing, but not enough juice to crank. Went to Sears (regretably) and installed new one - started right up!

YOU do need tight, clean connections....

See if Autozone (or similar) will allow you to bring back a new battery the same day if it doesn't cure the LS....It would still be perfectly good and spotless......I'd give it a shot! :D

99

[jzz30]

its always best to test and eliminate with the cheap things first.

[VBdenny]

Before you jump to conclusions, let me add a little story regarding not starting and the battery. My wife left the lights on at the Newark airport for three days. She said when she pushed the door lock button on the key, she didn't hear the click. Sure enough, the door was still locked. Using the key itself, she opened the door and everything was completely dead. Then the parking lot attendant came over with a jumper battery on a cart and hooked it up. The gauges came on, but the car wouldn't even crank. Then the brought the lot truck over and jumped it. My wife said it still wouldn't start. AFter the batteries were connected for about 10 minutes, she was able to start it up. The guy told her that her battery was bad, which I knew to be untrue. Never have had another probles since.

The preplexing issue remains, how did she leave the lights on? I tried every way I could think of and couldn't replicate. Apparently, when these puppies have a dead battery you almost have to hook up directly to a power plant to jump. They don't like it very much. Have the battery load tested at just about any autoparts store for free. Be aware that the SELL batteries, so read up on it first so you know what they are doing.

Denny

[91ls400]

About a month ago I left my headlights on and came out 3 hours later to a clicking starter. I couldnt figure out why my lights didnt turn off, then I noticed that the rubber covering on the driverside courtesy switch (the black button) had gotten too cold and had hardened. So when I opened my door the button didnt pop out, and the car never knew I got out, leaving the lights on. When I returned to my car I noticed my back lights were still dimly lit... darn. But the car came right to life, all it needed was a quick jump!

VB: If it was winter at Newark it was probably just the switch.

A little off topic but...

The 2000-2003(dont know the year) Chrysler Sebring I got the jump from had no visible battery, just arrows poiting to bolts where I could attach the cables, where do they put the battery?

[SKperformance]

Lots of cars move the battery

gm has some under the passenger seat most germans have them in the trunk

[Gillette LS400]

Alot of gen I LS400s have courtesy (dome) light switch problems.

But the quickest way to check to see why your car won't start is with a voltmeter. With the car off, place the leads of the voltmeter on the battery. It should read anywhere from 11.8-12.69 but no higher and less means a partially drained battery. Then, have someone turn the car to the ON position with the AC fan on low and radio on. The voltage could drop as low as 11 volts. Any less means weak battery. Now try starting the car. Voltage can drop as low as 9 Volts on the battery. Any less and there is your problem.

Many batteries will do fine under moderate load and appear to be charged, even take a charge, but then under stress will seem to be almost non-existant. Like other people said too, corrosion is a big problem that can cause weak starts, but another major thing to check is your ground wire. It can come loose and would create this type of situation where it has plenty of contact to supply things such as stereo, lights and ac fan, but then will fail under higher loads such as a starter.

To directly check the starter to see if it is a problem, get a wire and solder it to a needle. Connect it to the positive terminal and find your starter relay or actually get to the back of the starter and connect it to the positive starter terminal to make it try to crank. If it doesn't, either starter is out or battery is bad, if it does start, there is a bad connection somewhere along you starter relay/ignition switch/wiring/fuse/or even could be a kill switch problem.

Good Luck!

[VBdenny]

I'll tell you where the battery is on the Chrysler since my neighbor just had to replace his. Believe it or not, the battery is located inside the tirewell on the front drivers side. I guess you have to remove the inner wheel well lining to get at it.