hey whats up guys, sorry for another "car wont start" thread. I made a couple searched but the ones that i read through didnt really fit what im experiencing

well heres the background first. Its an 04, 33k, AT. Car has been good. Then starting about 3-4 months ago, start ups would be slightly weak. Initial start up is good, but when i leave the car for 10 mins and come back to start it, then the weak start ups happen. Didnt happen too often tho

okay, then this past Sunday, for the first time ever the car turned and turned but no start. tried again, no start. Opened the hood to check everything. Tried again, and it started. Shut it off again, retried, and it worked.

Now i havent driven the car since this past sunday. Tried to turn it on again, did not start. only this time, it didnt even turn over. No cranking. And a weird clanking, rattling noise comes from the engine. The radio works, dash lights come on. The lights that come on are the service soon, engine oil pressure, and battery light. Im HOPING its the battery, because thats a relatively easy fix. Thanks alot for the help, sorry for the long read


sparknotes: Car has been having weak start ups in the last 3-4 months. Last sunday, car turned but did not start. Then worked later.

Now car wont start, and wont turn at all. loud rattling noise from engine.

 

yep sounds like a battery, a series of clicks right, easiest way just take a DVOM and see what its putting out, better yet use the one in your car lol
if its not that check the starter itself

 

yeah when i turn the key, all i hear is clakclakclakclakclakclakclakclakclak

at that point, sh%ting bricks because this is my dd.

and im sorry but im not too sure what DVOM is

edit: ahh digital volt ohm meter. whats the normal reading? 14?

edit: ok another update. My overhead lights wont come on, and the volt reading is at about 10.

 

there you go battery is dead
car cant start on 10 volts
recharge the battery or get a new one

 

lol..i just went through this..did your car have trouble turning before this happened?? if so it could be the throttle..but i hope its the battery.

 

it just cost me 400. bucks from nissan to replace the throttle body and re amp the timing thingy..haha.get that checked out

 

nope ive never had any problems. the worse thats happened so far was that it turned but didnt start. this happened last weekend. What happened today was the first time ive ever experienced anything like this.

im really hoping its the battery. and right now im leaning towards the battery because i couldnt even turn on my overhead lights. It might be placebo effect, but even my honk when i lock the car seems weaker.

 

It's probably the battery. The Z's batteries are known to give out after about 3-4 years. I had mine replaced 1-2 years ago.

Fresh batteries should read over 14V.

 

+1 on a Dead Battery.

 

ok thanks alot for the helps guys. im gonna go ahead and pick up an optima yellow top. lets see if that fixes it.

 

sorry but i got 2 more questions

1) might there be any other reasons why my car is doing that? how do you tell if you have a bad starter or alternator etc

2) has anybody else experienced this? are you supposed to hear this clanking noise from th engine if you tried starting a car with a dead battery?

 

well its def. the battery because you said it has only 10 volts. that is not enough to start a car.
to check the alternator turn the car on and let it run, take the DVOM and put the leads on neg and pos, a good alternator will put out 14.7 and usually nothing below a 13.9
the starter would be obvious because you wouldnt even here it turn over

 

well i dont hear the engine turning over

only hear the clicking when the key is turned

but yeah im def gonna get the battery. This optima yellowtop seems to be hard to find. the local autozone doesnt even carry it

 

well it cant crank over because the battery cant supply the starter with enough power

 

when you start look at your dome lights if they turn off or go dim should be your battery

 

its probably a battery problem mine died on my 03 at 65k miles. replaced it myself for about 70 bucks.

 

Your batter for sure. And you dont need a optima battery, unless your running an audio system. Just get a normal battery with the same or more cca.

 

i was also thinking about the Duralast gold battery

heard some good stuff about it, but i also read from some on here about how in hot starts, the idle goes low enough to stall so he had to keep his foot on the pedal for a couple minutes.

 

+1 on getting just a regular replacement battery. No need to go with lightweight unless you're racing your car hardcore. No need to go high end unless you have lots of gadgets that drain the battery fast.