HELP, my car is completely DEAD!!!

[Arlyarlz]

I need some advice as I don't want the garage to rip me off. I have never had any problems with my car since i bought it 7 months ago. I haven't drove my car for about 3 days and when I wanted to drive it today it was completely dead. Does anyone have any idea why this has happened? No locks or lights will work. It is actually DEAD. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME OUT.

[cali yaris]

Sounds like the battery. Did you hook up another car's battery and try to start it?

[Arlyarlz]

i thought it would be more than the battery because normally the car would try to start up but even when I turn the key it don't actually do anything. I will give it ago just incase. But could there be any other reasons if its not the battery.

[balmung_chris]

yea ask a friend to boost your car's battery

[balmung_chris]

yes the car cannot start without the battery, that would also explain the lgihts and everything else not working.

[marcus]

battery....u probably left the dome lights on.. had this issue when i went on vacation for a week...jump start and drove the car for 2 hours pretty much charged it its been over a year now..

[Arlyarlz]

cheers peeps, i will give it a go!

[kuyachris84]

yeah I've had this done before... left the interior lights on and my car was dead. Just get some jumper cables and jump start the car....

[Red Horse]

This also happened to be before and I went to a mechanic to get estimate and it turn's out to be a dead alternator.

[talnlnky]

this is why you buy the manual.... push start FTW.... no need for a friend, cables, or a new bat.

[SailDesign]

this is why you buy the manual.... push start FTW.... no need for a friend, cables, or a new bat.

Ahem.. Cough <look-in-the-manual> cough! :smile:

[ka0sx]

sail,even though it says it in the manual not to, it will not hurt the car if done right if necessity calls.

[Sir A.Y. Atoyot]

sail,even though it says it in the manual not to, it will not hurt the car if done right if necessity calls.

Actually, when the battery is thoroughly dead, you can't start it by pushing or pulling anyway. The alternator requires a little tiny bit of juice (called excitation current) in order to charge. When the battery is really dead, that juice is not forthcoming, so no power is produced by the alternator to charge the battery, run the ignition, computers, etc. The best solution is to put a battery charger on it for a few hours - if you can't get AC electricity to the car as it sits, take the battery out and charge it somewhere else.

[GeneW]

battery....u probably left the dome lights on.. had this issue when i went on vacation for a week...jump start and drove the car for 2 hours pretty much charged it its been over a year now..

In the "good old days" this wasn't such bad advice. Auto makers typically over engineered stuff, with margins of performance that were far beyond the norm. Some GM alternators were capable of pounding fifty to almost 100 amps continuous output with minimal over heating.

Today with modern "high stress" alternators you risk super heating them by using them as battery chargers. Many modern alternators will run quite "hot" with normal use.

My CRX "ate" at least one alternator when I jumped it - a few months later the alternator shit the bed.

While I love my Toyota and respect Japanese engineering the "usual" routine for these guys and gals is "just enough for typical use". They're not big on "robust engineering", especially for electrical stuff.

I'd either buy a new battery or get a battery charger and recharge the unit from the wall.

Gene

[Yaris Hilton]

Yeah, my daughter's Echo's alternator went out around 100K miles. Bad rear bearing let the rotor start hitting the sides.

[talnlnky]

sail,even though it says it in the manual not to, it will not hurt the car if done right if necessity calls.

yeah.... there was a thread about this a long time ago... nobody had ever had issues with it, or could even come up with a reason as to why it would be a problem if you do it properly.

I've started my car while rolling probably 100 times.... no problems yet. Never had to push start... but I've done a lil hypermiling where I cut the engine, then put the ignition back to acc so I had steering and brakes. I don't do it anymore... but, it appears to be fine.

The only vehicle I had a bad alt in was my 86 Jeep Cherokee. The mazda had no problems... course, after it was 5 years old I put in a 160amp alt... but I had that alt running in the car for five years. I'm not too scared about an alt going bad in the yaris... isn't it rated 80amps? 80 is decent for a car.... I remember the civics had 60amp... I can't imagine a CRX having anything more than that. I'm not a big fan of honda when it comes to the electrical systems. Subaru is pretty cool tho.

[GeneW]

yeah.... there was a thread about this a long time ago... nobody had ever had issues with it, or could even come up with a reason as to why it would be a problem if you do it properly.

I've started my car while rolling probably 100 times.... no problems yet. Never had to push start... but I've done a lil hypermiling where I cut the engine, then put the ignition back to acc so I had steering and brakes. I don't do it anymore... but, it appears to be fine.

The only vehicle I had a bad alt in was my 86 Jeep Cherokee. The mazda had no problems... course, after it was 5 years old I put in a 160amp alt... but I had that alt running in the car for five years. I'm not too scared about an alt going bad in the yaris... isn't it rated 80amps? 80 is decent for a car.... I remember the civics had 60amp... I can't imagine a CRX having anything more than that. I'm not a big fan of honda when it comes to the electrical systems. Subaru is pretty cool tho.

When you push start with carb equipped cars it tends to dump fuel into the motor, causing the catalytic converter to fry. Not sure about FI cars.

I don't know the alternator rating on a Yaris. DO know that my CRX ate four alternators over the course of 200,000 miles or so.

Gene

[talnlnky]

When you push start with carb equipped cars it tends to dump fuel into the motor, causing the catalytic converter to fry. Not sure about FI cars.

I don't know the alternator rating on a Yaris. DO know that my CRX ate four alternators over the course of 200,000 miles or so.

Gene

hmmm... push started the jeep I had prolly half a dozen times (it was carb)... sold it with 186,000 miles on it... never had to replace the cat....


I dunno... I think people make too big of a deal about push starting

[CtrlAltDefeat]

When I left my keys in the ignition of my auto Geo Metro on accessory (14 years ago), my amp completely drained my battery. My friends successfully push started me. Pretty amazing for a 1L 3cyl automatic... I also once drove an overheating Pontiac Grand Am to the dealership to trade it in. I accelerated it up to around 90 before it got too hot, then turned it off and coasted to 45 to let it cool down before I turned it back on and let out the clutch to start it. Then, I would speed back up to 90 again. :laugh: It doesn't seem to me like it's that hard on the engine to push start it. Hell DFCO pretty much does the same thing, I think...