Here's a stumper

I hope it won't but here's what happened.

The other night I went to start my car, as I start my car I turned the headlights on it failed to start, the warning lights and chimes were on. So, I had a jump start, and it fired right up. Packed up the cables sat in the car, turned the headlights on, and then it died instantly. Would not restart either. No power to the headlights, or dash lights. The warning lights, and chimes would still come on though.

Tried a third jump, was gonna just get the car home w/out headlights. But the third jump would not take. The car refused to turn over at all. It was clearly pulling a load from the jump vehicle, but still no go.

As an additional note. If I switch the headlights ON, but have the removed from the ignition, I here a clicking sound that seems to be coming from the dash area.

What the heck is going on here, and how do I fix it?

Thanks

I suppose I should add that it is a 95 Escort Wagon

not sure if this will be the problem, but go to the battery and find the cable to the ground, and where it mounts onto the chassis, its probably corroded and not making a connection so it isnt making a circuit, clean it off and sand it or something and try again, mine did that, except I tried to start it and it started but died right away and I heard a pop, I thought it was a fuse but it was the current jumping.

check both your positive and ground cables from your battery, mine had a short and did the same thing.............also how old is your battery???

The battery is an old one, and the cables do have a bit of corrosion. So while that is a problerm, I don't think it is this problem.

If I had a short off of the battery, would the warning lights, and the 'key in the ignition' chime still come on? Also the dome light works too. Those are about the only electrical systems that do though.

The fact that the engine shuts off when you turn your headlights on is likely a far more serious problem than just your battery. I would really take it into a mechanic to have them check it out. I'm afraid I really don't know what the problem is, but you should have it looked at. (Btw, please do let us know when you find out what the problem was!)

or, best place to start is the alternator if you wanna take a stab at it. how many miles are on it and has the alt. or batt. for that matter ever been changed? the car may have shut off because of the extra drag on the alt. when you turned your lights on... the engine runs off the alt. once it is started..... not the batt. therefor if you got other stuff dragin the alt. down..... its not gonna stay running... take the alt. out and take it to autozone.. they'll test it for free.

I'm just an amateur. But. Autozone can test both your battery and alternator (takes about an hour) and can tell if if they're both fine or need to be replaced.

Thanks,

I've done some tinkering myself(dug out the multimeter). All the internal car systems tested fine. I'm still not 100% sure it is just the alt/batt combo though.

Just to test things out, I removed the fuse for the headlights. Then tried turning the lights on, and it killed the car again. Shouldn't that keep the lights from drawing juice?

However,

After further testing(The car stumbles when the blinkers are on), so I am inclined to believe that something is running weak, either the battery or the alternator, and that is something else I need to test.

The battery is old, at least a year old, definitely older though, it was in the car when I bought it a year ago. The car itself has 120,000 miles on it. As far as whether or not the alternator has been replaced, I do not know.

In the short term, my plan of action is to replace the battery, and disconnect the switch for the headlights from the juice on the off chance that it is possibly involved in a short. Means no headlights, but first priority is getting to and from work.

Tomorrow, I'll run the multimeter on the alternator and battery, see what kind of voltage it's putting out

electrical systems on some of these cars can be pretty funky.first thing i would check out...get out your multi meter,jump it to get it running,and check the output coming from your alternator to your battery..then have someone turn on your wipers or something,and read the meter...it may just be a bad battery and bad regulator

Sounds to me Like the Alternater. Hey, I've seen a few of those go in my day, but never on my escort, not even on my grandpas deisel 2.0 escort. this is the first time I've ever heard this problem from a Escort guy. But Yeah, it'sa good chance of being the Alternator. I'll bet my membership on that one.oh, and clean off the battery, it does make a difference. the slightest bit of corrosion on the terminals will screw up the whole way it fires! Keep your car clean under the hood, you never know when something will go and would you like to work in battery acid and grease and oil deposits that when you get under the car to work on it, chunks just fall in your face? Every 3 or 4 months, I spray the whole thing down with degreaser, just so i know for sure there isn't a bad leak that passed by my eyes