Went for a good drive yesterday and stopped to get a bite to eat. Came back out to start car and it made a click like the starter turned over one time then just died. No electrical power to anything. checked fuses, all were good. without tools or support had to get a tow home. 12.7v at battery and alternator and connections are solid and clean. Anyone got a good source or ideas of where to go from here? Is there a main fuse to check somewhere? I tried a google search on that and came up blank. Thanks for any pointers.

 

Did you check the fusable link at the starter? Check for 12V at the starter main cable and trigger.

 

Not yet I haven't. Strangely when I just went out there to start checking grounds I leaned on my horn and it honked. checked if lights worked and they did. So, I put the key in and tried to start it, and it clicked, almost like an electrical click or short, and everything died. checked horn and this time it made a feeble whimper. checked vols on battery again and it was fine. went back to check horn. it honked. tried to start it and it turned over. I'm guess I've got something loose. I'll check the link at starter, I presume you mean the link on the starter solenoid?

 

You have a dead battery. Buy a new battery.

 

have u checked the terminal connections at the battery? a loose terminal or corrosion can also cause similar issues.

 

Before you do anything else,remove and clean battery posts and cable ends til shiny and try to start car again. If no change,clean ground cable at starter and transmission mounting area. Try to start car again. Lead acid battery not likely to go from 12.7 volts which is 95% charged to 0 volts. I have seen internal bus in battery generate same symptoms,but rare. AGM and lithium batteries more likely to see near or full voltage but when load applied drop down to near 0 volts only to register near/full voltage again in several minutes-pattern failure.

This no start scenario speaks to a poor,compromised connection that when put under load of starter motor breaks the connection. Often a small ambient temperature/humidity change will reestablish the connection to be able to carry small loads like lights and horn. When ignition switch turned to crank position and starter motor loads the circuit,the poor connection breaks the circuit again, appearing to be a dead battery. Yet volt testing battery shows near full charge as before. Believe very likely op will find this to be the case.

Not possible for fuse link at starter to be responsible for total,sudden loss of all power to the whole car. If there was a failure in fuse link at starter,it would have no effect on circuits like lights,horn which have battery voltage available to them at all times.

 

Psst,... Ill bet you a donut it's just a dead battery!

All of hat you said is true, but typically if he drove it there, all is well with his grounds and links and terminals and everything. His battery just picked that moment to die.

I'll be waiting here patiently for my donut when he posts back.

 

That's it ? "A" donut ? If you reread his post-both of them they're clues there. Been here more than a few times. Need to be able to duplicate problem. The key is the starter circuit,no other component on the car tests the battery and wiring/connections as severely. Very sure the battery is good,likewise the starter also good because...the car started and ran subsequently,with the same battery,without charging it when op started looking for ground issues.

This is VERY close to multiple choice question on automotive recertification tests i have taken many times. I stand by my diagnosis. This problem can be diagnosed quickly with a VAT tester with a carbon pile. Not everyone has access to this equipment though.

If op is looking back in this thread,here's the method to both duplicate the fault even if car is starting and running "fine" and force the problem to occur and quickly isolate the cause. Best time to do this is with a cold engine,overnight,all day sitting.This is best done with car in garage or pulled up to garage door or wall. Pop hood.Turn on headlights so you can see them shining on whatever is in front of the car. Disable ignition by disconnecting coil primaries. Close hood without latching it.You're not trying to start the car,you are repetitively loading the starting circuit to build heat in it.
Turn key on and bump the starter to crank the engine less than 1/2 a revolution and let off,wait a second and repeat,may need to do this 30 or more times,as many times as necessary You are not hurting the engine or starter doing this.The engine will not flood as it's not turning and won't pull fuel thru carb into engine.

The biggest amp draw is when starter initially engages flywheel and is just beginning to turn engine. This is when you get the click and nothing. When the headlights go out,don't touch anything,leave key on and get out of car. Open hood and use a small pocket screwdriver and go to positive battery cable clamp and try to wedge screwdriver between battery post and cable clamp-to make a connection between the two. If you get a very slight spark and headlights turn on and you hear key buzzer,dirty/loose cable connection is problem. If nothing,do same to negative terminal/clamp.
Very certain one or the other will be the culprit. Battery cable doesn't have to be loose on battery post,a layer of oxidation develops over time between post and clamp and acts as insulation. This particular scenario is temp/humidity sensitive. Clean cable terminals/battery posts til shiny,reinstall cables and coat terminals with vaseline. Heat in engine compartment will melt vaseline and cause it to flow into and over terminal and keeps air from connection. No air,no oxidation. Keeeps connection clean for a long time.

Will await OPs verdict.

 

I'm also betting on a loose battery terminal or corrosion between the terminal and the battery post. Sounds like either of those to me.

 

I've had this click but no start scenario, happen intermittently always on the same car. I've come to learn that usually just loosening and cleaning up the positive terminal will fix it. Never heard the temperature / humidity explanation. I kind of thought it was some sort of reaction btw the metal and acid fumes from the battery or something creating a insulating barrier.

Last time it happened was this past spring. Started perfectly when I left, but wouldn't crank when trying to return from a short errand. That time, the only way to get the starter to crank was to use a jumper cable, one end connected to the positive battery terminal and the other I crawled under car and hooked it on the starter. Of course it was in the middle of a sudden downpour at the time too. I removed the starter and had it rebuilt after that. I've always used a light grease on my battery posts. I'll have to try the Vaseline.

 

High humidity,rainy day aggravates the already iffy connection-just like you related in your post.

Very often terminals are tight and look ok and often overlooked as no/intermittent start.
Battery gassing can play a role in terminal connections and this condition found on same battery/cable terminal more than a couple times is indicative of a battery late in its life cycle.
More often it is simple oxidation between post/terminal. Looks ok but voltmeter placed on battery post and then cable terminal will register voltage drop.
If battery post/cable terminal appear dull gray on their respective mating surfaces(like the color of top/sides of terminal) they need to be cleaned to bright metal.
Long ago I used to use lithium grease to coat terminals with but long term found corrosion beneath the grease on terminals and stopped using it.

Vaseline will melt and flow over complete connection right down to battery case and keep connection intact indefinitely. Battery gassing more than normal will corrode terminal connection faster but Vaseline will slow that down and definitely less messy than grease.

 

Winner chicken dinner. Or doughnut, apparently. Yah, terminals were clean as could be. grounds were solid. starter solenoid connections were solid. took it in to get tested and dead. Nice job diagnosing. I've never had a battery act like that when it died. Thanks.

 

I want this day to go down in rotary history as "The Day I Out-diagnosed GSLSEforme" on a problem. It will probably be the last time, being the first time - but I don't want this fleeting moment to be lost to the ages.

GSLSEforme, please send said donut via PM. I like sprinkles, by the way.