hey everyone

i just joined this forum hoping someone would have the answer for me... i have a 2008 H3 has about 11,938 miles on her... last week i warmed her up but when i turned her on i noticed the battery seemed a lil weak.. so this week i took out the battery and charged it for about 20mins threw it back in her and now she wouldnt crank at all? so i went to get a new battery got home and put it in my H3 and same thing happened? it still wont start... it wont crank i noticed the engine light is on and also the car with a padlock light is lit? ive read a couple of posts and have tried the leave the key in the on position for 10 mins turn it off for 5 secs and then do it 2 more times? but still nothing.... any help would be much appreciated thanks in advance

jon

 

One possible problem may be a bad ground. The OEM battery cables are bad about being able to tighten them enough. Also follow the ground and check where it is attached to the metal frame or body. There is also a ground out of the fuse box over to the fender.
Sounds also like it may have lost the program for your key. Usually that procedure works or repeated tries with the proper key.
Might need to disconnect again, wait a while and then reconnect if none of the above works.

 

Hunner I'm voting on the terminals... The suck hair moose ***** to quote Stan...

Simota, check to see if there's any play in them, twisting/side to side... If so than they aren making a strong enough of a connection...

 

thanks so much guys ill be trying those out tonight when i get outa work thanks.... could be the ground... i live on guam and its killer on cars... everything out here rusts so fast.... ill keep you guys posted... btw happy holiday guys

 

I would suggest you replace those battery terminals anyway and go on from there if that does not fix it.
Don't give up and use the emergency terminals as they are called. (pictured on the right.)They don't have a taper to fit the pos and neg and now most don't have a nut with a formed smooth end so they cut into the lead when you try to tighten them, or at least use a washer. The wire end is universal as well and can be hard to get a good clamp down on the cable.
Find a shop over there that makes cables for big trucks and I bet they have the good stuff.
The ones I have are tinned copper and crimped with a hydraulic crimper. Put a piece of shrink tubing on first, crimp and slide the shrink over the connection to help prevent corrosion.
If done right you could actually pick the battery up with these connectors installed meaning a good physical connection is also a good conductive connection.

 

thanks man i really appreciate all the help... i always wondered why the stock terminals are made that way...? it was the first time i saw that kinda terminal in any car

 

hey guys i checked the terminals and they seem pretty solid... im going to try changing them anyways.... but i think the contact is pretty spot on i lifted the battery using the terminals.... so i think they are pretty tight... no corrosion when i checked the main ground.... any other possible things wrong? i checked the fuses also no blown ones...

 

If you checked the fuses, and have now tried two different batteries I would think it has something to do with the ignition control module, a bad alt not charging the batts would still give you some form of cranking... And if the batts were totally dead than you wouldn't get any lights... Was there anything funky going on leading up to this? PCM usually has other symptoms so to speak...

 

Is there any kind of aftermarket alarm?

 

the only thing out of the ordinary would be that the lights would be blinking while im washing her? like im locking the car with the alarm over and over and over? but it never did this to me.... the alarm is from the factory no aftermarket alarm... looks like im going to have to tow her to the dealership... ill keep you guys posted... im leaning towards the ignition control cuz they are known to fail right? ive read a couple of threads on here about them...