Ok so I drove it home last night, turned off the headlights, interior lights were not on, parked it and then went back out this afternoon to get something and the doors will not unlock with the remote.
I opened the door with the key and the car would not re-lock when I hit the lock/unlock switch on the door, so I tried to turn it over and all I hear is a clicking and I figure it is a dead battery. I take the key out and then as I am about to get out the gauges come on like you are in the power on position with the engine off but the gauges would only stay on for a few seconds before going back off.
I am thinking it may be a dead battery but since it's raining I can't attempt to jump start it.
Does this sound like a dead battery?
Is there anything that could cause the battery to die like this since none of the lights were on and that's usually what causes it?
I noticed rather than rings around the battery terminals, it has those flat plates, can I attach the jumper cables to the plates and still be able to jump it? (never jumped a mustang before)
It's also been raining pretty much non-stop for like 5-6 days so maybe something got soaked somewhere and shorted out?
You wont jump your car because its raining? Are you gonna melt?
it's raining really hard, and I prefer not to play with electricity in pouring rain.
on top of that, like I asked, I am not sure if I can hook my cables to those metal plates and I don't see a way of getting to the terminals without hooking to those plates or taking them off.
here is a pic, not my car and not the style battery I have but you will get the idea of what I mean by the metal plates.
@stlwagon: Sounds like a dead battery to me. Go ahead and jump it. Rain won't hurt you. Seems a little early for an 08 battery to fail, but it's possible. __________________
Yeah it was running fine last night, and all it's done is sit in the driveway since then. I am wondering if the rain caused it somehow.
Although my main concern is that I've never jumped a car with those metal plates before and don't know how to safely connect to that when attempting to jump.
Last edited by Ramaj; 09-17-2009 at 04:42 PM.
Reason: added in reply.
it's raining really hard, and I prefer not to play with electricity in pouring rain.
on top of that, like I asked, I am not sure if I can hook my cables to those metal plates and I don't see a way of getting to the terminals without hooking to those plates or taking them off.
here is a pic, not my car and not the style battery I have but you will get the idea of what I mean by the metal plates.
yeah i wouldn't mess with electricity in the rain either muckerpuck
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I took the battery down to the parts store and had them test it, it was bad so I bought a new one ($100 ouch). Took that home and put it in, car started and I ran it for about 5 minutes, no problems everything seemed fine and I figured it was just a bad battery that had gone dead, no biggie.
Went out friday morning to go to work, won't start, same problem. Called a tow truck and had it taken to the dealership and they spent a couple hours checking over the electricals. Battery had been drained to 0 volts but when they charged it back up and tested it, it was working just as it should be so they ruled out that it was a battery problem. After a few hours they were unable to find any extra power draw and after being unable to reproduce the incident (mind you it was sitting for at least 12 hours before I found it dead both times) they gave me the keys and sent me on my way with instructions to have it towed back (for free mind you) if it happens again.
Any ideas on this?, I'm really stumped.
They checked the alternator and it was working and charging fine once the battery was re-charged.
Is it possible that this is a "Passenger side water leak" issue? That the computer over there got fried by the water, and all of these odd issues are a result of that?
Is it possible that this is a "Passenger side water leak" issue? That the computer over there got fried by the water, and all of these odd issues are a result of that?
it's possible since it has been raining alot lately, but wouldn't the dealership have caught that on their initial inspection? and wouldn't it cause other problems as opposed to just draining the battery?
I mean it's been raining almost non-stop for over a week and some of it has been really heavy so anything is possible.
Ok so I talked to the dealership on Tuesday, they said they had been unable to replicate the problem, including a claim that they let it sit from saturday until monday morning and that it every time they tried it it started right up with no problems and they could not find any problems in the electronics.
however, I picked it up wednesday morning, drove it around wednesday night and parked it around 12:30 at night when I got home. Came back out on thursday around 9 pm after having not driven or messed with it all day and it would not unlock, no power at all, won't turn over exactly the same issues as before.
I do not know what is going on at this point and I'm starting to assume the dealership ignored my mentioning that it sat for at least 12 hours each time and started it a few times a day with no problems.
At this point I have no clue, I mean I don't think it's an ECU issue because all the electronics seem to work fine once you get the battery charged.
The ONLY thing that has changed is that between me giving it to them the first time it happened and now is that between 1500 and 2000 rpm's there seems to be some kind of low rattle whining kind of noise that sounds like it's coming from the drivers side dash near the firewall. also there seems to be a little more whining type noises from the engine bay than normal but I can't pinpoint an area. I mean it almost sounds like when you have a fan on your computer that is runnning so hard it rattles and whines, except it's from the engine bay somewhere.
Sounds like the dealer is taking a limp attitude towards your problem, but the battery just can’t go dead supernaturally, there has to be a drain somewhere. Don’t know how handy you are with electronics, but the first thing I’d do is connect an ammeter between the negative battery lug and the battery to determine the magnitude of the current draw. Can’t recall the normal drain off the top of my head, but I would expect it to be somewhere around .04 amps. For the battery to go dead in such a short amount of time the drain would need to be much more substantial, an amp or more. With the meter in place measuring the current draw start disconnecting things and pulling fuses until you find something that reduces the current to a normal level (just make sure you remember were everything goes, maybe try things one at a time and put them back if they don’t change anything before moving on to the next item). It’s a lot of work, but this should localize the trouble area. If you have a sound system that’d be a good place to start looking as the power amp may not be shutting down as it should with the key off. If I remember right even some of the factory sound systems sometimes malfunctioned causing a drain.
Sounds like the dealer is taking a limp attitude towards your problem, but the battery just can’t go dead supernaturally, there has to be a drain somewhere. Don’t know how handy you are with electronics, but the first thing I’d do is connect an ammeter between the negative battery lug and the battery to determine the magnitude of the current draw. Can’t recall the normal drain off the top of my head, but I would expect it to be somewhere around .04 amps. For the battery to go dead in such a short amount of time the drain would need to be much more substantial, an amp or more. With the meter in place measuring the current draw start disconnecting things and pulling fuses until you find something that reduces the current to a normal level (just make sure you remember were everything goes, maybe try things one at a time and put them back if they don’t change anything before moving on to the next item). It’s a lot of work, but this should localize the trouble area. If you have a sound system that’d be a good place to start looking as the power amp may not be shutting down as it should with the key off. If I remember right even some of the factory sound systems sometimes malfunctioned causing a drain.
well it's stock and doesn't have the shaker system.
the dealership has marked down that it is drawing 17 milliamps in sleep mode and that the limit is 50 milliamps max.
I really just don't have time to f*** with it right now. (pardon my language). i just got the stupid thing back form being in and out of the shop for a week and now it's going back. and I work weekends so friday-monday are days I work. and I have a shitty schedule that allows me almost no time to get out there and do anything to it.
I'll mention that to the dealership though. They also called me on monday and said they tried it and it was running fine, while on the paperwork they have that it sat from saturday to tuesday. so who knows how long they let it sit in reality, but everytime it goes in my driveway if it sits for more than about 11 hours it goes dead.
2008 Mustang, won't start. need advice. 
