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If you have any starting fluid you can spray a little in the air intake to see if the engine fires. The quickest & easiest way to get starting fluid in the intake is probably by removing the one bolt (using a 7mm wrench, bolt head circled in red below) holding the small resonator on, then simply pull the resonator free (toward the left in picture below). It has a slip fit into the flexible rubber piece between the air cleaner and the throttle body. Pull the resonator out, squirt a little starting fluid in the hole where the resonator used to be (yellow circle in picture), then crank the engine. If it fires up but dies right away that means you likely have a fuel problem.
A couple other things you might try:
-if you have a code reader that can do data logging or real time data look at the fuel rail pressure. It should jump from near zero up to 45 or 50 psi as soon as you turn the key to Run (not Start, just turn the key to the first position so you do not engage the starter)
-as thermo mentioned turn the key to Run, wait a minute, then turn it to Start to crank the engine over. If the engine runs in this case you have a bad fuel pump.
-as thermo didn't mention yet, his other test for a flaky fuel pump is to get on the ground on the rear passenger side with a flashlight, find the fuel tank, and give it a few hard whacks with your hand. This can sometimes "unstick" a bad fuel pump briefly but indicates you need a new fuel pump. Not soon, but now.
Check you interia switch hasn't been activated......inside recessed hole in RHS lower A pillar dress panel.
If it trips out you get no fuel.
Wish I could check that, but I can't get the hood to open! The car has all kinds of problems. If I could drive it, I would take it to the shop, but the battery is dead now after cranking the engine so many times trying to get it to start, so it's just a steel brick sitting on the driveway.
I think you might have misinterpreted....the inertia switch is not under the hood.....it is in the passenger cabin (RHS lower A pillar).
You might be able to charge the car slowly via the cigar lighter socket....that is limited with a 15 Amp fuse, so a 10-12 Amp charger might make some headway to recover your battery.
However you will need to have the ignition switch rolled into position 2 to have the various relays engage to tie the cigar lighter back to the battery as the cigar lighter socket is not powered all the time.
I think you might have misinterpreted....the inertia switch is not under the hood.....it is in the passenger cabin (RHS lower A pillar).
You might be able to charge the car slowly via the cigar lighter socket....that is limited with a 15 Amp fuse, so a 10-12 Amp charger might make some headway to recover your battery.
However you will need to have the ignition switch rolled into position 2 to have the various relays engage to tie the cigar lighter back to the battery as the cigar lighter socket is not powered all the time.
Hmmm... I will definitely look into both of those. Seems there is always a solution to everything if you look hard enough. Thank you all!
X-typenewbie, if you are going to attempt to charge up the battery via the cigarette lighter, ensure you have it set on the 6 amp max setting. The fuse for the lighter is a 10 amp unit. If you put it on the normal charge setting, that is goign to push 10 amps (maybe a little bit more) to the battery and you are likely to blow that fuse. yes, it is going to take longer to charge the battery this way, but it will be having to go through 20 fuses and probably a lot more time spent replacing all those fuses.
X-typenewbie, if you are going to attempt to charge up the battery via the cigarette lighter, ensure you have it set on the 6 amp max setting. The fuse for the lighter is a 10 amp unit. If you put it on the normal charge setting, that is goign to push 10 amps (maybe a little bit more) to the battery and you are likely to blow that fuse. yes, it is going to take longer to charge the battery this way, but it will be having to go through 20 fuses and probably a lot more time spent replacing all those fuses.
Understood - lotta things to keep in mind, thank you for your expertise! How long do you estimate it takes to charge a battery enough to get a start?
While you are charging the car jack up the front passenger side and keep working at that passenger side hood latch. Believe me, I know it is frustrating as I spent a long time trying to do the same thing. I watched the video a few times and finally decided to go buy the exact pry bar that was used in the video. That combined with really good work lights shining up there was how I finally got my hood open. Other people have used curtain rods or other things so don't feel like you need to buy an extra tool but I have found that pry bar useful many times since. These are examples of the type of prybar in the video:
While you are charging the car jack up the front passenger side and keep working at that passenger side hood latch. Believe me, I know it is frustrating as I spent a long time trying to do the same thing. I watched the video a few times and finally decided to go buy the exact pry bar that was used in the video. That combined with really good work lights shining up there was how I finally got my hood open. Other people have used curtain rods or other things so don't feel like you need to buy an extra tool but I have found that pry bar useful many times since. These are examples of the type of prybar in the video:
Sounds difficult, I understand the concept, but I might advise my mechanic how to do it. Just replaced my other car battery today as it was over 6 years old, and it finally died the other day, but at least that hood opened so it was easy. All my older car batteries are dying because I am driving my new car all the time now, so will have to invest in a trickle charger. At the risk of getting banned from this website, I'll disclose that my new car is a Tesla, and it's just in a different world. Thanks again for your help.
I think the cigar lighter socket is protected by a 15A fuse (F68 in the central junction fuse box). I looked it up before posting but I could have been wrong.
I was initially expecting it to be a 10 amp and was going to suggest charging up to 6amp, but if it is a 15 amp fuse he might have a bit more headroom for a higher charging setting.
h2o2, you are correct, it is protected by a 15A fuse. Granted, looking, the question then comes as to whether the car is built with a constant source cigarette lighter or a switched source lighter as it could be built with either (atleast per the drawings).
X-typenewbie, as for charging your car through the cig lighter, I would say to plug it in and let it sit for 12 hours or so. How long it takes to charge has a lot of factors in it. But, 12 hours will be enough to get the battery to 95+% charged. that will be enough to get the car to start. Most car batteries are rated for 80 amp-hours. So, 12 hours at a slow rate of 6 amps gets you near 80 and I realy doubt your battery is completely drained. If so, you can very easily damage it by letting it go that low. This is where a slower charge will help from damaging it more. But, as h2o2 points out, you can charge at the max 10 amp rate. Just be careful what charger you get as some of them will go above 10 amps, especially when the battery is drained a lot. So, possible to blow a 15 amp fuse while only using a "10 amp charge rate". Hopefully your charger has an amp meter on the front so you can see how fast it is charging.
