2004 wrx wagon all stock except intercooler y-pipe (big woop, wanna fight about it?) So I get in my car this morning to go to work and everything is normal. Interior lights come on, key dinger dings when door was open, turn the key forward and all dash lights illuminate normally. Just as the starter begins to engage, I'm talking an 1/8th of a second, I hear a click and everything dies. No interior or dash lights, no starter clicking. Nothing. I notice when I opened the door that the door ajar light is slightly illuminated and it blinks for a couple seconds. First thing I checked was the battery connections. Both were tight, so I unhook and clean both of them and the terminals. Hook it back up and now the dash lights come on slightly when trying to start it. Still no starter click or interior lights. I grab my battery charger and hook it up with the car connected to the battery. I noticed that the gauge on the charger didn't move at all. I decided to bump it up to 8 amps and try and start it. The interior lights are on for a sec, and then dim to 50% or so. Dash lights are the same. I get a couple clicks from the starter and then nothing. I unhook the car from the battery and put the charger back on it again. Still no movement on the gauge. When I bump it up to 8 amps, I blow the outlet breaker on the wall. Fantastic. Now I'm beginning to think, and hoping, that it's a bad battery. Although, it showed no signs of that prior to this mornings bs. Haven't dug into the fuse boxes yet because it was too dark. Sorry for rambling on ladies and gents. Any ideas on what the problem could be? I have the usual road flare and gasoline on hand just in case. It's pretty damp and humid out this morning. Could that be a factor in this? Any help is appreciated. Thanks. -Stephen
I'd say battery, if the issue seemed to follow when you removed the battery from the car. If you have access, try a battery from another vehicle. Does you battery charger have voltage without a battery connected? (touch the terminals and see if it sparks) You may be able to connect just the charger to the car to check to see if the lights and accessories turn on. Don't try to start the car, your charger is probably not designed as a jump device.
Thanks for the reply. Im going to switch out the battery from my girlfriends car when she gets here and go from there. Is it possible for a car battery to go bad this quickly? I've had bad batteries in the past, and they showed signs of a problem before complete failure.
Yep, bad battery. I think my battery broke my charger too. I tested it on my girlfriends battery and it blew the outlet breaker as well. Coincidence or not, glad it's a easy fix.
Something catastrophic happened in that old battery. Found Optima red tops for $189 at Napa, heading out there soon to grab one. Super happy wasn't anything worse!
Sounds like a bad cell in your old battery. That an happen without much warning. Usually caused by low fluid and cold weather. Depending on if your charger had a safety system in it or not that bad battery might have fried it.
It was a pretty old charger so im not surprised. The damn thing had rust on the metal outside lol. Time for a charger upgrade.
If you are going to purchase a charger, look for a heavy duty that also has the ability for jump starts. You could also invest in a jump pack, the prices for those are getting pretty cheap and provide portable backup.
Been thinking about getting one of those jump packs and just keeping it in the car, but I still want a good charger though. That old one I had must have been 25+ years old and came in handy a ton, except for this morning of course.
