Emergency: Help me fix my car!

[mkory]

Hey hey, Nico. Long time no see. Well a lot has been going on for me with school and work and even more school. But right now I have a REAL emergency. So here's the story: I let a friend of mine drive my car today because he was off work (we work at the same place) and he offered to wash it because he likes to and had some free time. So I hand him the keys and lead him through the whole deal of no clutch starting because of the remote start and all that. Well other than being really hard on the clutch (which I felt the effects of when I began to drive it) he did alright. He's got a manual mustang so I knew he'd drive it fine... but anyways, back on topic.

He left the car in gear and pulled the ebrake up WAAAYY high (why do people do this when they drive my car?). I go to start it and not even thinking I turn the key. I hear the starter begin to turn, but the car being in gear and the ebrake up all the way up the flywheel won't allow the starter to move. I shift into neutral, no start. I push in the clutch, no start. Did not allowing the starter to turn kill the battery? So I find the next people coming out of blockbuster and ask kindly for a jump. They do and all goes well and I let the car run for 10-15 minutes. Turn off. Immediately try to turn her back on and no start. But when I get a jump she starts slowly, but still starts. If there's no jump and I'm just running off my battery, the headlights/electronics are fine till I turn the key, no start, all lights go completely black, then after I let up they slowly fade back on. I've heard that this could have killed my battery, alternator, or perhapse my starter. Something about needing twice the amps and my battery can't put out enough, but two batteries (while jumping) does?

Battery?Alternator?Starter?Something else?

Please help me figure this out TONIGHT. This is my only car I have to drive and I MUST be able to drive it by the beginning of the week. If it really matters, It's a stock 1995 240sx, with only exhaust.

[chad_KAT]

I would get your starter bench tested or load tested with a Vat 45 or something of that nature. charge yourbattery, and check it with a multimeter....if it dose not show near 12.6 volts then you should consider getting a new battery. im not positive whats wrong but i think that is where you should start diagnosing your car. keep us posted.

[mkory]

I'm going down to autozone tomorrow morning to have them do a battery check. I'll probably take the one out of my step dad's truck tomorrow morning before I go over there to see if it starts with a different battery. If the battery is shot, will the electronics and lights turn on no problem when I'm not trying to start it?

[chad_KAT]

say that again.... " If the battery is shot, will the electronics and lights turn on no problem when I'm not trying to start it?"

[mkory]

Okay, when I turn the key to accessory or run, the lights and electronics inside the car turn on just fine, but as soon as I turn the key to start, the engine clicks, all lights go black (headlights, tails, dash, radio). Then, when I let off start because obviously nothing is happening, All these lights slowly fade back on, to their normal brightness.

[skylinedreams]

If the battery is dead it can sometimes power the electronics on. what seems to be happening is your battery doesn't have enough amps any more to turn over the engine. I had the same issue in my car and when I took my battery to advance auto they said the battery was good but a new battery fixed my problem. If you have a battery charger you might want to try that before you go get a new one that is if the battery checks out ok at the parts store.

[mkory]

Well I think I'm gonna take the battery out of my mom's taurus or my step-dad's ram tomorrow morning before I head over to autozone. If it's the battery then theirs should start my car right up.

Is a battery charger that much better than the car's alternator?

[tr0ublemaker909]

check the grounding cable on your motor i had the same exact problem i can almost guarantee that its the problem just tighten it down some and you should be fine, mine was doing the same thing ran fine for the longest then out of the blue decides to do this try it and let us know if it worked

[mkory]

Grounding cable on motor? Do you mean the ground wire that goes to the battery? If not, where is the wire you're talking about? Punctuated sentences are easy to read.