My FiST isn't starting!

[mcummings182]

I don't drive my FiST in the winter because Ohio winters are rough, so I use my winter beater. We've had a decent last couple of days here with no snow, so I decided to take it out for a drive because I'm going through withdraw lol. The key fob wouldn't even unlock the doors, so I thought it was dead and replaced the battery; still no go. Then I thought okay the battery in the car has to be dead because it's been extremely cold and I haven't started the car up in a while. I charged the battery, got the car to start, let it run for a bit then turned it off. I went to start it back up, and nothing. It just makes a click. The lights and everything else electronically works. WTF happened? I'm freaking out now because I have no idea what the problem is. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Fiestarawpower]

Have you tried tapping on the starter

 

[Capri to ST]

Have you tried tapping on the starter

I agree with that. A click/no start can mean a starter going bad, it did in my other car. Sometimes tapping on it helps.

 

[Intuit]

Even with a dead battery in the remote, you would still be able to start it by place it up against the steering column.

It takes a lot of amperage to turn over an engine, versus just run the electronics. Batteries that are allowed to go completely flat, sometimes don't recover. How much time went by between shutdown and restart? Put a voltmeter on it. 12.6v off / 14.2 running.

There have been cases where third party OBD-II tools have kept the ECU awake, slowly draining the battery. If you're letting it sit for extended periods, you'll also want to unplug anything from the two outlets. You may also want to check other add-ons, such as car audio amplifier(s).

 

[Bhalls100]

+1 here for the car battery is most likely the issue, running a car doesn’t really charge a battery especially if its super dead.
I would charge and test the battery before anything else.

 

[Zormecteon]

The simple test for the adequacy of charge in a (car) battery is to test the horn. If the horn sounds loud and clear the battery is fine, but if not, NOT. If there isn't enough juice to honk the horn, there isn't enough to start the car. Radios, dash lights, etc all take very little current and are not good tests.

Is sounds like you've lost a cell in the battery.

 

[alexrex20]

Sounds like you have some bad corrosion in the starter cable. The starter has its own dedicated cable from the battery to the starter. The other cable powers the other BS like PCM and thus the lights and gauges and accessories. Typically when you can get your gauge cluster to light up, and your interior lights light up without seeming dim, but the car doesn't start, you have an issue in your starter cable. It can be a loose connection but most often it's just corrosion. If you have a multimeter you can easily test it by checking resistance from the battery terminal to the starter post.

The click you're hearing is the sound of the starter solenoid spitting out the pinion gear to engage the flywheel, but not having enough juice to actually turn it. Sometimes it will be a rapid repeating click. Both are signs that you have weak current going to the starter. Usually it is caused by a dead battery but we can almost rule that out because you just put a new one in there.

I would verify that you still have 12.7+ volts at the battery, then go from there. Also double check that your connections are tight at the battery.

 

[mcummings182]

I'm going to try testing the battery from my 2002 Ford Escape later when I get home from work, they use the same battery.

Does anyone know if Ford warranty covers batteries? It's total BS this happened and I've only had the car for a little over a year.

 

[alexrex20]

Yes the battery is under warranty.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[mcummings182]

So I swapped my battery out with the battery in my escape, and it started right up! That makes me feel a lot more relived, knowing the issue is just the battery. I think it might just be really really dead, so I ordered a battery tender off Amazon. It should get here Thursday. I'm hoping this works because I hate dealing with the dealership, they take forever to do everything.

 

[alexrex20]

Depending on how much that battery was drained it can really hurt its long-term life. Since it's brand new just take it back. It probably has a dead cell.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[TDavis]

It's ideal to actually drive the car to charge the battery instead of just letting it idle.

 

[Intuit]

Alternators aren't designed to run near capacity for the amount of time it would take to charge a battery that is completely dead. This is *really* hard on alternators. In fact, with a prior vehicle, weak grounding caused the alternatorssss to run full field and while the best quality ones lasted hours, the cheaper ones died in a matter of fifteen minutes or so.

If your batter is completely dead or severely drained, charge it outside the vehicle first, before sticking it back in. This helps reduce undue wear on your alternator.

 

[Zormecteon]

Alternators aren't designed to run near capacity for the amount of time it would take to charge a battery that is completely dead. This is *really* hard on alternators. In fact, with a prior vehicle, weak grounding caused the alternatorssss to run full field and while the best quality ones lasted hours, the cheaper ones died in a matter of fifteen minutes or so.

If your batter is completely dead or severely drained, charge it outside the vehicle first, before sticking it back in. This helps reduce undue wear on your alternator.

I burned up TWO alternators (a couple of years apart) in my '88 Ford Tempo, before a tech informed me of this. At that time we put in a heavy duty alternator. ...

I DID jump start the FiST one time, then once I knew the problem, I put it on a charger since this car hasn't a heavy duty one ..... yet.

 

[SlowDunny]

So I swapped my battery out with the battery in my escape, and it started right up! That makes me feel a lot more relived, knowing the issue is just the battery. I think it might just be really really dead, so I ordered a battery tender off Amazon. It should get here Thursday. I'm hoping this works because I hate dealing with the dealership, they take forever to do everything.

Once you kill a battery it loses a lot of it's life FYI.

You may want to budget a new battery from costco in your near future.