car wont start HELP!!!!!!

[4drmadness]

hey guys. i got an oil change done. i put regualr, not syntehtic, cause i was being cheap. at around 11 yesterday nite, my car wouldnt start back on. my friend tried to jumpstart it, but that didnot work. i have around 63K miles and it is a 04 AT sedan. so i think the battery is not the problem. im thinking it might be spark plugs or alternator maybe? do you guys think i should take it to the dealer as i have warranty, but im scared there not gonna fix it by saying that my mods were the reason that my car isnt working. what do you guys think i should do?

[marlin29311]

a 4 year old car - it could be the battery. I've never had a battery that has lasted more than 3.5-4 years. Does the starter turn at all? If you put the car into "on" but not starting the engine, does it work?

[4drmadness]

The jumpstart didnot do anything. the lights inside my car seem to be working. do u think it could be because of the regular oil change, if i had synthtic before

[marlin29311]

Unless they did something super drasticly wrong, your oil change is not the cause of your car not turning over. It sounds like it's something electrical.

Have you ever had your spark plugs changed? Did the place you take it make sure everything was in order (ps -you got the car home, right?)? Its odd that a car just goes from working to not...

[4drmadness]

umm right now its at my friends house. i have triple A, so i am gona call them to tow it. it didnot give me any signs. it just stopped working. no, i have never had my spark plugs changed. i just got this car 2 months ago, so dnt noe too much about what has been done to it.

[kmckis1029]

sounds electrical to me too... the mods you list in your signiture are not mods that would stop your engine from starting if they are installed correctly...

you do have a grounding kit though... make sure the people who did your oil change didnt somehow move a wire to touch a hot part of the engine and melt it... as that what happened to my brother car once... it just cut off while driving... turned out a wire was touching the engine...

if that not the case, i say use your warranty.

[4drmadness]

you know what. yesterday i attached the ac line to the groundign wire kit, as it was very close to the popcharger. that could be the reason. i tied those to up, n it might be very close or touching engine.

[Jacko3]

Just get the battery changed. Someone had a similar problem last month. Seems like the G does not give any fair warning before its batteries just die. In fact, i am planning to replace my battery in April of 2010. Your mods have nothing to do with it either. I have had warranty work done to my car with all my mods in it.

[4drmadness]

alright guys. thanks for your help. i dont get one thing. if the battery is dead, how are the lights inside the car working just fine. seems weird

[Tampa G35 Sedan 6MT]

I think the Starter needs a set amount of voltage to even try to turn the motor over!

Check the battery and see if the cells have sufficient amount of (Distilled) water.

That will be your first clue as to if it is the battery. If they have low water then the battery is shot but you can still try to fill it with water and see if it helps (not going to kill it any faster)

DJ

[telcoman]

alright guys. thanks for your help. i dont get one thing. if the battery is dead, how are the lights inside the car working just fine. seems weird

The reason the lights go on is that the battery still reads 12 voltsHowever, with a weak or dead cell when the starter is engaged, the voltage drops to 8 or less which is not enough to crank the starter.A reasonable test is put on your headlights & then engage the starter.If the headlights go out you have a defective batteryA good battery will allow you to start the vehicle with the headlights on.Lead Acid automobile batteries rarely last more than 4 years.Do not purchase a cheap battery. Get the highest rated CCA (around 800 or 850) that you can find. Interstate is a good brand.

Good luck

Telcoman

[4drmadness]

just took it to the dealership. he said it might be the key is demagnetized, because the car is still cranking, so the battery seems good. he will let me know in a couple of hours. so ill update you guys then

[4drmadness]

they said that my ECM is faulty.

[Sentientbydesign]

That would explain why you had issues the last time the SES went on. I'm curious what caused the failure.

[SteveTheTech]

Do you remember if the red security light near the clock was on while you were cranking it over?

If the lights inside the car(dash, overhead) and do not get "extraordinarily" dim while cranking, and the car actually cranks over. I would rule out the starting and charging system.

You may have developed an issue with the NATS system wherein it either looses the small run pulse signal.

You said you noticed no other symptoms before but are you using a factory key? Any problems with a battery dieing recently or anything.

What exactly do you have grounded under the dash?

[Sentientbydesign]

The only thing grounded under the dash is the ECM mount.

Considering the fact that there are 100s of cars grounded this way without problems, I can't point the finger there.

[SteveTheTech]

I wasn't saying that do not take it that way. Take a deep breathe Nate.

I was curious if there was anything in near or on the steering column that may effect a voltage signal. Something like a key chain RFID tag will alter the transmission of the encoded key signal. I should have clarified.

[Sentientbydesign]

Sorry if it came out that way Steve. I wasn't defensive in the least bit.

I'm moreso concerned. I've helped Vivek waste lots of his money on mods lol. It's really sad to see the car immobilized.

He also called me earlier.

The ECM had 9 fault codes, then they would all disappear. Really weird.

[SteveTheTech]

Sounds like a communication issue, most likely CAN related codes. Interesting those are my favorite problems to get, they suck for the people who get stuck with them when they die. Makes me want to go back to work and bust out the multimeter on something.

[4drmadness]

u know what. i finally have my car back. the guy told me that the SBD grounding kit on the engine block was grounded on top of a stock grounding wire, so they rerouted it and they told me that that was the problem. they said like there was a additional grounding point, and the grounding wire was of no point because it was on the same bolt as the regular grounding wire. wow does this make sense. lol. and charged me $125 for that. but anywho my car is back to normal, and im super cautious with it now. dont want my g to suffer like this anymore.

[kmckis1029]

were did he move the ground point? thats interesting... could you post a picture of the "new" layout. That might even help SDB to improve his kits.

I havent had any problems with my SBD kit and saw the gains with his kit. i did notice that some of SBD's wires are mounted were factory grounding already was... but i didnt think that would be a problem.

[Sentientbydesign]

This is really interesting. Post up a picture of where they rerouted your wire.

[4drmadness]

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[Sentientbydesign]

That completely defeats the purpose

I have a feeling that the tech didn't know what he was talking about.

[tollboothwilley]

but if the car is working back to normal....

they didnt change anything else Vivek??

[SteveTheTech]

Can you email me either directions or pics where you route your kit on a G. I am curious where they moved to from an too.

[4drmadness]

yea super weird. they said that was the only problem with my car. the grounding was the reason my car didnt start . anyways ill send you he pics tommorow steve.
Modified by 4drmadness at 10:01 PM 10/17/2008

[4drmadness]

[IMG] [/IMG]

[4drmadness]

u not wat nate. after the rerouting, the shifting has become a lot smoother, and the car feels a lot smoother as well. better throttle response

[kmckis1029]

so they only moved two points from what i can see... the point on the front of the engine right?

they moved them to the engine cover mounts/screw points... now his car starts?

Hey SBD im willing to try moving my front mount points to the engine cover points and report back...