I originally posted this on Tuesday, but got no replies, so I thought posting it again with a new title might work.

Hi all,

For the last few weeks my battery was hinting at its demise by forgetting to raise the windows to completely meet the convertible top after the door was closed. It was no surprise since it was the original battery from 2005 with about 120,000 miles on it. The other morning when I went to start the car - nothing. I figured the battery had finally failed so picked up and installed a new one.

However, when I tried to start, the car was still dead. Really dead. No sound at all from the starter or solenoid. Couldn't even get out of Park without utilizing the lock override.The accessories all seem to work: radio, a/c, windows, etc. But there is nothing on the dash - none of the system test indicators, no CEL or other warnings and no odometer reading. I have never encountered this in any car before and am stumped about how to troubleshoot it.

If anyone can offer some tips I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

Take the trunk lining out and at the front of the spare tire well is the main batter cable runs to a big fusable link. This is the high power protection for the whole car.

Check you get a voltage on both sides of this fuse and also ensure that the nuts that hold the battery cable to the fuse are tight. Recommend disconnecting the battery when wrenching on these.

If that seems ok, then start checking power at the feeds that go into the various fuse boxes then work your way down to individual fuses for instrument cluster, etc.

 

Thanks! Twenty minutes after posting this, I tried starting the car and bingo, it started right up. I'm happy about that but concerned it may die again some day when it's not in my driveway. Meanwhile, I'll be checking everything i can.

 

I had a similar problem and the nuts on that that fuse were loose. Sometimes the car would start right up, sometimes nothing at all. Tightened everything up and no issue for years now.

 

Yep, tighten up those nuts then clean and burnish your battery terminals. Both of those actions cost you nothing but time....