AgnosticJive

So last night my brother was cutting the grass and he accidentally cut the cable going into the house...now that wouldn't have been that big of a deal but with heroes being on...it was. So after panicking for a bit I went to my friends house a short 1 minute drive away. I was there for a total of an hour,we go outside to drive around and smoke cigarettes and HEY what do you know...my car won't start...engine won't turn over,lights are flickering,etc. Everything had been turned off while I was inside so I just thought "while I am pissed,it's just the battery".

We got jumper cables and tried to jump my car and nothing...sitting,waiting for it to do something,and nada. We disconnect the cables and I saw that there was a shitload of sulfate on the (what I believe was) positive terminal. I left my car there and came home.

Now after reading some stories (i.e. wiring issues,faulty fuse boxes,green gremlins in the engine bay,etc.) on here I'm getting kinda scared. Would anyone like to advise me on a course of action, besides removing the buildup tomorrow in clearer light, that will cause the least damage to my wallet?(btw...I'm a poor college student.) .

AgnosticJive

by the way,I meant to add that I'm 90% certain that the terminals were clean when I took the battery cover off.

MR1

Probably the battery, can be difficult to get a good ground with cables. I'd start with a trip to the dealer if battery still has warranty.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Make certain the cables and posts are extremely clean and then give it a try.
If it wouldn't start with jumpers there was interference between the cable and post.
You can use baking soda and water to help clean the area along with terminal cleaners, either brush or blade design. Remove negative first and connect last.

badazzTL

I hope you got to watch Heroes last night. I didn't get to watch it last night, but I'm going to watch it today. Thank God for DVR

AMIC

I doubt this will give you an ulcer but smoking will definitely give you lung cancer.

01tl4tl

Simple fix- mix baking soda- the yellow box of white powder in the frig, several spoonfuls mixed into big glass of hot water- dissolve- pour on top of corrossion- it washed the stuff off as it nuetralizes it- then pour fresh water over everything

Then as turbonut said- remove NEG cable first, then POS
Failure to do in that order makes YOU the shortest path the Earth for electricty- not a good thing for you~
clean with 200 grit sandpaper or wire tool or whatever you can find
Inside the terminal, and the sides of the post it sits on, needs to have exposed metal showing- now its ready to reinstall
POS first tighten-
now NEG - tighten-
if the cables look bad right past the connector to the battery- replace them
Charge battery- jumpstart is hard on it and the alternator is not designed to charge battery either!
Take to parts store for FREE battery/electrical system test
Good luck- they do tend to fail like lightbulbs
Fine- then nothing

AgnosticJive

Well I went over this morning and did the whole baking soda/water thing...it took like an hour to get to where we could even see the battery below it,turns out it somehow had a huge crack in it which I think we're probably responsible for. Went,got a new battery,wire brush,and that spray battery cleaner (which all together worked like a charm.) and put in the battery and all was well...until I had to start a search for the navi/audio security codes. but hey,at least it's moving.

AgnosticJive

oh yeah,and I DID get to see heroes. shit is getting crazy what with parkman's dad being one of the original group and all...not to mention him being the boogey man.

Ganplosive

The connection is kinda faulty, sometimes I try to start my car and the same shit happens where everything flickers and then the car just dies (as though there's no power.) Each time I pop my hood I see it's because the connection isn't secure so I juts finally got blue tape and taped it down (the wire onto the battery so the ring is around the pin) and that's been fixed since..