This has probably been posted before, (perhaps I'm not using the proper search terms) but I'm hoping for some ideas.

My car had been sitting for a while in the unusually cold winter for a couple of weeks. When I tried to use the car, the heater fan and whipers wouldn't work. When I'd turn it on, I'd hear a "click" but nothing more. I drove the car around for about 20 mins last night. Today nothing electrical will work, except for my A/F gauge (red light @ bottom). There was a 10A fuse that was fried (not sure which one yet), which I replaced but it didn't fix anything and it didn't blow again. If I turn on anything, I simply hear a "click." The battery has lots of charge and other than a massive short somewhere I cannot think of what I should be looking at. The car will not start either, again I can hear a "click." To me it seems odd that the A/F gauge light comes on and the relays/solinoids can work (presumably that's what the "click" is).

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

do the horn or headlights work? If so, then probably a bad connection at the battery or starter or a bad starter.

If they don't you have a dead battery.

why do you think you have a massive charge on the battery???

 

Thanks for the response. No the horn and headlights do not work, I should have stated that. They cause "clicks" like the other electrical things.

The battery is @ over 13V and fairly new, so I don't think it's dead.

 

With a non running car; the battery shouldn't be more than 12.6 volts ever (since there are six 2.1 volt cells in a automotive battery).

So I would suspect the battery first off if you are seeing 13+ volts in it.

But since the headlight and horn circuits are directly wired to the battery, either the battery is dead or the connections to the battery are bad. Check the battery posts.

Remember winter is hell on batteries

 

It turns out that the battery is/was dead. Making the problem more interesting is the fact that my multimeter is broken and reading incorrectly. I charged it for ~1/2 an hour and it didn't hold the charge. (I'm trying again and I'll give it longer) I've never had a battery fall completely flat on its face before, it's always been a more gradual thing.

 

Probably one of the cells inside failed, shorting the battery completely internally