First, my car is completely dead, no sounds when turning the ignition. Upon putting jumper cables onto my battery and a donor battery, I get my lights in the car to turn on and I'm able to try to turn the car over. When I turn the car over all I hear is a clicking noise coming from what I think is the starter. Is it a starter problem? Or is it a battery problem? Because if I go outside right now it's put the key in the ignition, it'll be completely silent again until I hook up jumper cables. To me it sounds like it could be both a starter and a battery problem. Thanks for any tips.

 

Battery

 

 

sounds like the battery is flat, either needs a proper 24 hour recharge and 24 hour rest or needs to be replaced

 

Thanks, my next step is to take my battery to autozone and have they bench test it. If the battery is good then I guess the starter would be next. If it's the alternator, would the lights turn on in the car? I didnt think so. Also another note, when I tried jumping my car with my GFs car, her car is a little car, I was thinking maybe her battery wasnt strong enough to jump my Jags battery. Either way I'm gonna go step by step I guess.

 

 

I was parked in the garage playing the stereo (a little too long I guess w/600 watt RMS amp), and the stereo went dead and the car won't start now. Can I use old fashion battery cables to get a jump from another car? Or do I need have it charged?

I thought someone said you shouldn't use cable jump with the newer batteries? I have a 1 yr old Napa battery.

 

I told my dad to buy a battery load tester. (Harbor Freight $25, Autozone $45). It is smarter to spend $25 for tester than to buy new $150 battery, when old one is good. For diagnosing starter you need multi-tester with ampermeter clamp (about $15 from Harbor Freight)

 

If the car was running perfectly fine the last time you got into it and now when you try and start it you get nothing, 99% chance it is the battery. They pretty much go now days without any warning as they are so finiscky about having the proper voltage. You get out of that tight range, and you get nothing.

 

You can jump newer cars from another car battery. The caution is to not hook battery cables from both terminals to the car being jumped anymore. You hook the (+) to (+), but hook the (-) to a grounding point other than the (-) battery terminal. There are even cars made where there is a dedicated (+) separate and (-) attachment points. Look up a 2006 Pontiac Bonneville for example.

Hooking a jump this way minimizes the chance of frying your ECU.

That being said, if your battery is toast, like a dead cell, jumping it still won't start your car. Jags are really picky about sufficient voltage in a very narrow range.

As for the alternator, remember it merely supplies voltage to the battery while car is running. So if your car is not running, it would have no effect on your lights.