Ok, so my car was running fine earlier today, it started with a bit of a stutter and after driving over some loose gravel and parking on some short grass, watching a little league baseball game.. and coming back it wont even click when i turn the key. We tried to jump it... battery is fine.. we checked the fuses.. fine... it just wont turn.. no clicking.. no nothing.. just quite and nothing happens... all my electrical stuff works but my engine wont turn. Starter?

 

Dead cell in the battery? When you turn the key, and nothing happens, do all of your acessorys turn off but the come back on again? Does the radio flash 12:00. Sounds like a ground issue or bad cell in your battery.It could possibly be your netural saftey switch that is down under the dash by the clutch pedal. Moisture could have also played an issue. I am just throwing this stuff out there. The possiblities are endless. Maybe there was a Mustang close by that infected it with that blue oval disease. I heard that is so contagious and deadly.

 

Accessories work fine. I have an auto tranny. several people guessed starter and thats what i believe it to be. Could it have been damaged or something when i was driving in the dusty gravel? Theres no moisture around, just alot of dust and alot of gravel.. but i was going slow and didnt bottom out or anything.. Im gonna have it towed back to my house and see if messin with the starter helps.. 107 for a new one at shucks.. and i have to work 2morrow.. i hate my life...

 

" I hate my life." Dude, remember that you live in the USA, it could be worse. I will end that there. If driving over grass or loose gravel will damage your starter, I would be walking. Check it out, thats all you can do. Be sure that the battery is not smoked. When a battery is no good, it still can give you enough power to run your inside crap. But it can also be so dead, that it wont allow you to take a jump. Borrow another battery from a buddy and start there. Then check all your connections, if there is any corrosion on your terminals get some terminal cleaner and a wire brush (and saftey glasses) and clean your battery. Start basic, I have run into similiar situations and have replaced almost every electrical component only to find out it was caused by a dead cell in the battery or a bad ground cable. Electrical problems suck, they never really give you any indication of where,when, how or why. Pull out the starter if allelse fails and bench test it, if it doesnt enguage, well then you have an answer.Good luck.

 

Does the security lite come on or blinks when you try starting?

 

YES! Our "family" mechanic (the guy we use regularly) said somethin about some control module being fried from trying to hook up the battery backwards or jumping it backwards, but i never did that, i made sure it was pos/neg in the right order.... He said my opti is goining too and that he wants to replace it and the water pump.. as well as flush out my radiator fixing my heater... optis are like 400 plus... then theres all the other parts and work.. im 18.. i make very little money working at a movie theatre.. ive been applying around but never get any call backs.. i got one for a car wash but who gets car washes in september... so they didnt call me back.. i say i hate my life because theres only a couple of things id die for and my car is one of em and its on the racks... im stranded at my moms house which is miles from my house, my school, my job... im pretty much reverting back to my younger teen years when i had to bum rides off of mom and dad... its just frustrating because i bought a pos car after being told it was cherry other than a few things.. i boughtit for4500 and its in shabby condition when i looked deeper than theengine bay etc.when my dad told me hed help me get a car if i got it off aLot.. i found an actual cherry95 camarowith T-tops and i told my dad if i paid for everycent i could if he would help me that way.. then i said"I never said id help you"... i was like wtf...then he gets on my *** about me buying a car off craigslist and its moretrouble than itsworth.. he just wants me to drive a frigginHonda Accord... bastard...Anyway i am willing to work my *** off to fix this car but its a MAJOR inconvience for me... everything i do revolves around me driving.. and now i cant do that.. but the bright side is.. for wayover 1000 bucks im sure.. my car will run cleaner and smoother (the guys doing a tune up and fixing whatever else needs to be... at my expense of course)... so.. the friggin stereo is the least of my worries now.. which pisses me off.. i mean.. not to beat on my car (which i love to death) but my 98 V6 mustang gave me less trouble when i had it.. Im glad i have a V8 Camaro, but ****.. i wish i woulda gotten an earlier model i could work on at home..

 

Sounds like it could be the starter, bro.

 

If the security lite is on the car will be dead as a door nail. With the lite lit the computer will prevent the starter from engaging and even if you wire around the starter circuit, the injectors won't fire. The computer wants to see a signal from the security module, so the module cannot be bypassed unless it is deleted in the computer software. Before anything else is done to the car you need to get the security issue resolved. Most times it is the pellet in the key that goes bad, you can get a new key or bypass the pellet by wiring a resistor of the same value as the pellet across the two leads that run from the ignition switch to the security module. http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech1.htmlhas a whole writeup on how to do it.

 

ok... so it could possibly be nothing more than my key... i have two keys ones at my dads house and one i use obviously. The mechanic said something about some module being damaged from someone trying to jump start the car backwards or wiring the battery backwards... whats that?

 

I had the same problem, I switched my steering column after someone **** wad tried to steal my car with a screw driver and broke the column. I got a steering column off ebay and with the new key it wouldn't crank the motor at all, not even a click, once I swapped the resistor from one key to the other it cranked right away, however the car sat about two years and I have no fuel pressure so most likely I need a new fuel pump =/ Which I didn't order but I got a new battery and c-moly lower control arms =) Good thing I am mini tubbing mine and upgrading my chassis, so it can sit for a bit. I'd rather change the starter than the fuel pump though =/ Try the other key and if it still won't start I'd guess it is the starter.