Would a completely dead battery not even start when jumped?

My wife went to start her car today.. she only drives it to/from work..
monday through friday, so it gets the weekend off..

annnyways, she goes to start it today.. NOTHING.. no (starter) click, no
lights, nothin...

So, we took my car to Wal-Mart to get a set of jumper cables (shame on me
for never having them before) and tried to jump off of mine.. It would
crank (sounded like a "weak" crank.. which i dunno if that's normal or
not w/ a jump start) but would not start.

So, I'm clueless.. My only ideas are:

* Battery is completely dead? Seems like it'd start when jumped if that
was the case
* Alternator is bad (which would explain not being able to start, but can
crank when jumped)

Other than that I really have no clue what it could be. Any fuses I
should look out for?

BTW, it's a 91 Civic LX with 160k miles on it.. We planned on retiring
the poor thing in December when our first child is born. Wife figures
she'll be home with the kid and can go do what she needs when I'm home
and not using the car.

 

When you jump a car with a completely dead battery, the juice from the
jumping car at first goes mostly to charge the dead battery. There
isn't much left for the starter. Give the battery several minutes to
build up some charge, with the second car idling briskly. Then try
starting it.

If the old car has seen a lot of highway miles, there's a possibility
that varnish has built up inside the engine, increasing internal
friction. That would somewhat increase the current necessary to start
it.

 

Here are the complicated steps to fix it:





BUY A NEW FREAKIN BATTERY!!!!!!




____________________________________
Do not write below this line. Reserved for me.

 

Not advised if the dead battery happens to be in a rental car...

But if it's your own, it could be good advice, as you might find out
some cold morning next January. A completely discharged battery often
won't ever hold much of a charge again.

 

Well, that's my next step pretty much .. I'm going to borrow my dad's
battery charger, if it doesn't hold a charge, I'm going to take the
battery to Auto Zone and get it tested.. If it fails, I'm gonna take
advantage of the 7 year prorated warranty that came with the battery 3
years ago (just have to find that damn receipt!) ..

... and who would pay to rent a car that's 13 years old and has no a/c
anymore?

 

I forgot to mention.. It's quite a maneuvering act jumping a 91 civic
from a 96 civic.. The battery in the 91 is pretty much where it is in
most cars... towards the front.. the 96's battery is up against the damn
firewall..

 

bad terminal connections on the battery?

 

SoCalMike <> decided to join the conversation

nah.. they look fine.. after i took the jumper cables off the car had a
little power left for the warning lights .. so it's still conencted to the
battery.

 

They can 'Look' fine and still not be. Place the jumper cables on the
dead battery and let your other car charge it for a while. This will
boost the dead battery giving you more start power. The problem is,
unless you have a premium set of cables, the conductors are not large
enough to allow the starting current to flow from the good battery to the
starter of the car with the dead battery. This will make it react this
way.

 

Don't need to run the engine on the car with the good battery.

Betcha didnt know dat!!!!!!!




____________________________________
Do not write below this line. Reserved for me.

 

Why buy a new battery if he's not sure that's the problem?

: Here are the complicated steps to fix it:
:
:
:
:
:
: BUY A NEW FREAKIN BATTERY!!!!!!
:
:
:
:
: ____________________________________
: Do not write below this line. Reserved for me.
:
:

 

Regardless of what the original problem was, if the battery is now
completely dead, then it will no longer be able to carry a full
charge...

It may still serve him well for several months, though - maybe longer
if cold weather/starting torque are not big issues.

 

If your battery is 3 yrs old, don't bother with all that you intend to
do...find your receipt and get a new battery...unless you love dealing with
battery woes every other day! FYI...batteries typically only live 3-5 yrs
on average....depending on what climate conditions you live in. I gotta
say, my original Honda battery in my 99 Civic has lasted just over 5 yrs. I
could tell it was going downhill, because the starter was cranking a little
more slowly, so I decided to replace it before it completely died....a $35
battery at Costco and 10 minutes to replace it was all it needed.

 

wow

 

wouldnt hurt to take the terminals off the battery, clean, tighten, and
wiggle em back on so theyre snug.

 

Yup, they're a cheap set...

I've got my dad's battery charger, going to mess with that tomorrow..
More than likely gonna go with a new battery..

thanks everyone!

 

don't have to but it is adviseable since it is a huge parasitic
load on the good battery, and if the voltage of the good one dips
below 10 volts it may set srs codes or ecu fail codes.

 

And as I said in my original reply. If the jumper cables are not heavy
enough, you will loose to much cranking power heating them up to start
the car with the dead battery. No, you are correct. You don't have to
let the good battery charge the dead battery but it helps.

Randy

 

A bad/cheap set of jumper cables is, as you've discovered, worse than no
cables at all, because it gets you looking in the wrong places for the fix.
I've jump-started cars that others couldn't. The slow cranking almost
always means you don't have enough juice.

On the other hand, my experience is that a battery over three years old
that is completely discharged isn't going to last much longer.


I have also come to the conclusion that the pro-rated warranty on the cheap
batteries at Kragen or AutoZone is just a way for them to tie you up as
along term customer, renting their junk batteries. They rarely last more
than three years, so you're back, buying half of another cheap battery.

 

decided to join the conversation on 04 Aug
2004 with message

Well, my first step was going to be to bring the battery to Auto Zone and
have it tested.. Regardless of what was discussed here. It's free and
doesn't take too long..

I mostly just brought the topic here because 1) it's a discussion group,
and 2) it *could* have been something else and discussing it here would
have given me other places to look if the battery was ok.

yeah, they hooked it up to the tester, and the thing kept saying "uh,
hook up the battery" .. I'd say that's a big indicator that the battery
is "Tango Uniform"

Well, unforunately, they roped me into their vicious cycle. Three years
ago the car would jump, but not start on its own.. So I got a jump and
brought it to Auto Zone for the free battery / alternator test.. Of
course, you've gotta shut off the car to test the battery.. So I did..
"BEEEEP battery bad!" and i couldn't start the damn car again.. So I
pretty much had to get it there..

This is where the (unrelated part of the) story gets interesting..

I drop the new battery in, put the negative terminal on, bolt it down.. I
put the positive terminal on, tighten the bolt.. and the terminal slides
off.. Won't tighten.. Crap. The terminal was corroded to the point where
the metal was too thin to tighten around the new post.. So now what? Buy
a new terminal? Well.. I would've, but there's some weird little fusebox
with wires coming out of it on my terminal.. They ain't got that..
Honda's parts dept was closed for the day, so no chance of that.. Then I
thought: "My grandpa is a plumber!" ..

So, I give him a call ask him if he has some copper pipe about the same
diameter as a battery post.. He does.. So, I ask him to cut me a piece
about an inch long and to cut it open (so it could expand) I get my mom
to run me out there to pick up the copper "shim" and back to my car... I
put my shim on the positive post, give it a few taps to get it on there,
slide my terminal on and viola! It works!

Funny thing is, it worked for about almost 2 years until I finally
brought it to the shop to get the alternator fixed.. Wound up getting a
whole bunch of things done while it was there.. Including new battery
cables..

Montgomery Scott would be proud!