Car won't start - doesn't try to crank at all, but lights are working HELP

[cdo221]

Originally Posted by MasterMech77

Your battery is dead due to parasitic draw while the vehicle is at rest. Once you drain the battery down to the point where it will no longer start your car, your charging should not be the only thing you use to "recharge" the battery. The issue is the charging system was designed to maintain your battery from a normal start. Not to take a dead battery from drained to charged. What your asking of your alternator could cause premature wear to it. That is far worse then just replacing the battery. Besides over working the Alt. you are also not correctly charging the battery any way with the Alt. You actually only form a surface charge on the battery cells and not form a deep charge. You get a Deep charge from the proper voltage and cycle from a battery charger. You can pick up a inexpensive charger from any place that sells automotive parts. Best thing is to replace the battery and fix the issue of the drain on they system. Or when it is sitting at the house put a battery tender on it while it is sitting for a long period of time. I have done extensive installs of all kinds of "electrical" add-ons, from gauges to full custom sounds systems (multiple amps, speakers, and components). If done correctly you will not drain the battery at all. If you are planing on adding more components that require a lot of voltage, they make yellow top dry cell low impedance batteries that can be drained down and charged up safely (used more for SUVs that have tons of power hungry accessories like DVD players) Hope this helps.
Jay

Jay, thank you for the thorough explanation! I actually just ordered a battery tender this morning (a CTEK 3300). So from what you're saying, I shouldn't jump the car and drive it around for an extended period of time? Rather, just plug in the battery tender for 24 hours or so, and then drive the car? After that I should replace the battery and fix whatever is causing the parasitic draw, or just put the battery tender on whenever I'm at home?

What's the best way to figure out what is causing the parasitic draw?

[cdo221]

Originally Posted by sero901

I feel the start up issues is a low battery. The corrosion could cause your battery to drain. I can narrow your problem down to what ever is connected directly to the battery.

So basically it's likely not to be the dash cam/Tom's/Valenti lights, since those are plugged into the factory sockets/12V plugs. But rather, probably my HIDs and/or fogs since that is tapped into the battery directly?

[Rayme]

Sounds like your alarm (If it has an ignition relay). If you had a dead battery there's no way your car would have eventually cranked. For fun, I'd go check for any loose terminal on the battery, simple things first.

Let us know what happens eventually.

[MasterMech77]

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

Follow the steps in the wiki how above. Make sure you do not turn the vehicle ignition switch on or anything that will pull more then 10 or 20 amps of power while the Multi-meter is connected this way to the vehicle. IT WILL DAMAGE THE METER!!!! if you turn the car on or pull to much through the meter. That being said, while you have the meter hooked up you will see a certain amount of milliamps being used (ie. 35.23) at this point you will now unhook (one at a time and check the meter each and every time) your add on items. Once the milliamp drain is no longer there you more then likely found the item pulling down the battery. I have used this method many times working at Lexus and while working on MRAPs. It is invaluable when you run in to an issue with the battery going flat.

Hope this helps, keep us posted on what you find,
Jay

[cdo221]

UPDATE:

TL, DR:
Friday 8 AM - car doesn't start
Friday 6 PM - I disconnected and reconnected the negative terminal on my battery. Car starts, everything works, I turn it off after few seconds so no chance for the battery to charge.
Saturday 9:30 am - Car starts, everything works, turn it off to not allow the car to charge.

I didn't get a jump from my coworker after work but when I got home, I checked the car, and it was still in the 'frozen' state as I left it. The window was partially down (from the auto up/down), and the unlock/lock did nothing. I was curious if maybe there was an issue with the trunk light staying on so I manually popped the trunk and threw down the back seat so I could observe the light with the trunk closed. When doing this, I realized my dome light and my trunk light was both going strong, no issues. No dimming flickering or anything.

So, I went to check the battery terminals as @Rayme suggested, maybe they're loose. They were nice and secure, but I disconnected and reconnected the negative terminal to see if maybe I could at least reset the car system and close my open window. After reconnecting, I went to start the car and it fired up right away, full power. All electronics worked, no issues at all. I shut the car off after a few seconds as I didn't want to prematurely wear out the alternator as another poster suggested might be happening.

I locked/unlocked the car a few times, tested the headlights. Everything worked fine, including the alarm system LED signalling arming/disarming. I even turned the key to the 2nd click to turn on the accessories, everything worked fine - my radar detector, radio, etc. all turned on with no issues.

I thought that maybe it was just a fluke so I didn't drive it that night. I left it in the garage over night til 9:30 AM this morning.

I went back down to the car, starts up just fine, left it on for a few seconds. All the accessories and lights work fine even with the car off.

I have a multimeter coming in the mail, Monday or Tuesday so that I can test if there is a parasitic draw using @MasterMech77 instructions. I also do have the battery tender coming today and plan on hooking that up just so I can get to work on Monday morning without any worries. Will also bring a jumper cable/my AAA membership card to work on Monday in case I'm stranded at work.

At this point though, does it still sound like a dead battery/parasitic draw? I figure that if it is a bad battery, it shouldn't be able to start twice without any sort of charging after dying 24 hours ago.

What do you guys think? Could it be an computer glitch/issue with the alarm/factory immobilizer that was "reset", similar to restarting a computer, when I disconnected the battery?

[sero901]

what happened between friday 8am and 6pm? the battery cant charge its self (yes after you remove a load and let it sit it will recover slightly but not dead to charged) so if it was dead and then came back perfect without intervention i would say you have another problem. I would go back to the pro you said installed the alarm. Maybe he has had one come back to him before for similar issues. Especially if he installs that same system on many cars.

[wheelhaus]

If it "died" and was completely unresponsive, and the next day starts fine, it's 100% not the battery. I'm still suspect of the alarm malfunctioning.

If the battery was low/dying, the engine would struggle to start, the starter would click, the remaining lights would be dim, etc... There's more symptoms to a dead battery than the car suddenly becoming unresponsive to everything from some parasitic loss.

[cdo221]

Originally Posted by sero901

what happened between friday 8am and 6pm? the battery cant charge its self (yes after you remove a load and let it sit it will recover slightly but not dead to charged) so if it was dead and then came back perfect without intervention i would say you have another problem. I would go back to the pro you said installed the alarm. Maybe he has had one come back to him before for similar issues. Especially if he installs that same system on many cars.

Car was just sitting in the garage between 8 am and 6 pm on Friday, it was not touched until I disconnected/reconnected the battery after which it started up perfect.

Thanks for the continued advice everyone. I will talk to the alarm shop to see what they think.

[sero901]

If the car was sitting i'm 99% sure its not the battery. let us know how you make out. Problems like this can be frustrating!

[billwot]

Originally Posted by cdo221

UPDATE:

TL, DR:
Friday 8 AM - car doesn't start
Friday 6 PM - I disconnected and reconnected the negative terminal on my battery. Car starts, everything works, I turn it off after few seconds so no chance for the battery to charge.
Saturday 9:30 am - Car starts, everything works, turn it off to not allow the car to charge.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the terminal(s) could easily have restored the integrity of previously poor connection.

[strat61caster]

I'm going with the alarm tampering with the starting system and doing something wonky. Car batteries don't gain charge, this also reduces the parasitic drain idea. Something fishy is going on.

[cdo221]

Quick update:

Just got off the phone with the alarm place and they told me to just keep driving it. If I don't see any more issues, it was probably just a computer glitch with either the FR-S's electronics or the alarm system itself.

Since everything seems to be in working order so I guess that's that for now - I will update if this ever happens again. I do have a slight parasitic draw - about 75 mA, higher than normal and something I'm going to take a look at eventually, but not the cause of this particular issue anyway.

[sero901]

75 mA draw isn't enough to kill a battery overnight. Hopefully it wont happen again!

[jorredd1]

This is a old thread i know but what happen eith this? My frs just did the exact same thing anf im wondering if its actually the battery or not.