1995 Won't start after dead battery

[jcherney]

I have a 1995 escort manual transmission. I left the lights on over night and totally killed the battery. I hooked another car up to it to jump it but after 45 minutes it still would not even attempt to turn over. The weird thing is as soon as we hooked the other car up to it the flashers and cluster illumination lights would flash on and off.

I finally gave up on jump starting it and I was able to get it home by push starting it. When I got home I threw the battery on the charger for the afternoon and put it back in the car. Now when I hook the battery back up to the car the flashers and dash lights do the same thing that it did when we tried to jump it.

When I turn the key I hear a small clicking noise from what I am guessing is the solenoid module on the passenger side of the firewall.

I have heard that there may be some type of immobiliser device on these cars is this true and could this be my problem? or is it something totally different.

[AzTumbleweed]

Sounds like a bad connection with one of the battery cables to me. Dirty clamps, post or corroded ground. That's why the lights are flashing. That's what I'd check first.

[mightymoose_22]

I would have thought a bad battery connection too, but since you removed it to charge it up and then replaced it... that should have corrected that problem (unless it is just very dirty).

The lights flashing strangely is a big concern.... only reason I can think of that happening is that something is shorted out somewhere.

You are probably going to have to do a good bit of troubleshooting by disconnecting components and finding when the problem goes away so that you can isolate what circuit is causing the problem.

Also, if you know the battery is good and you aren't getting the car to start, consider that your ignition switch or starter may be bad.

If it were me, I would start by disconnecting the ignition switch and jumping the wires to see if it will start.

[jd-autotech]

sounds like this car has a anti theft system with a dis connected audio horn so find the rest of the system and disable it as long as it is after market there should be no prob. if it is factory it gets kinda hairy

[ogrethemage]

I too have been told to look for an anti-theft device but the Haynes manual says nothing about one, visual inspection yields no clues and an online parts house says they carry an anti-theft relay for my year escort, but I have no clue where it would be located on the car......anyone got any suggestions?

[zzyzzx2]

Originally Posted by ogrethemage

I too have been told to look for an anti-theft device but the Haynes manual says nothing about one, visual inspection yields no clues and an online parts house says they carry an anti-theft relay for my year escort, but I have no clue where it would be located on the car......anyone got any suggestions?

It's highly unlikely that your car has one. Nobody steals 1995 Escorts.

[Intuit]

Bad battery connection doesn't cause the lights to flash. If the light switch was already on, they wouldn't wait until he tried to crank it to flash. But make sure they're all off none-the-less; and that goes for the turn-sig as well. Turn sig should only activate in the engine-run position, not the crank position. If operating in crank, would suspect a problem with the ignition switch.

Sounds like there's an after-market alarm/remote-start/anti-theft device installed in the vehicle. I have one. It's common for them to disable the vehicle once power is restored. I have to immediately hit the disarm button after restoring power to mine. They're usually installed somewhere on the driver-side... against the inside/outside firewall or under the dash.