Car won't start

my Aurora won't start haven't had any problems with it recently. I replaced the battery a few months back and it is fine, radio, lights, windows everything works. I turn the key all I get is one click and nothing. what do you think the problem is?

my Aurora won't start haven't had any problems with it recently. I replaced the battery a few months back and it is fine, radio, lights, windows everything works. I turn the key all I get is one click and nothing. what do you think the problem is?
possibly the starter..have you tried jump starting the vehicle ??

as soon as my roomate gets home I'll try to jump it.

Nope no difference, all I get is a click when I turn the key.

Nope no difference, all I get is a click when I turn the key.
is the battery fully charged ??? check the connections to the battery.make sure there clean and tight..you stated you installed a new battery about 3 months ago,was the car doing the same thing then ??

Go out this morning and same thing a click but now a little strain to turnover, I hold the key and the car starts. After which I start the car another 4 times no problem. I had my Voltage display up during this time. When the car wouldn't start yesterday it was reading 10.5 V when the car starts it moves up to 14.7. I don't know if this is the normal range or what. I check again later to see what range its at when I go to start it again later. Its just strange I tried everywhich way to start the car yesterday and nothing but a one click, even when holding the key. Before when my battery went bad, I would hear many clicks when trying to start the car and nothing worked windows, powerlocks etc.

You need a new battery, the battery is so low that it requires some time to charge even when attempting to jump it, you also may not be making a good connection. If the battery is much below 12 volts before starting it needs to be replaced

I'm going to check the connections again, is there any reason the battery may be low? It seems to charge up once the car is on so I don't think its the altenator. I just replaced it in July.

When I say low I mean bad, as in it can't hold a charge. You are correct it is not the alternator, it is the battery. Take it somewhere and test it, they will tell you the same thing. If a 12 volt battery's output is 10.5 volts its time for a new one.

I doubt if it is your battery, since you jumped it & it still did not start.
Also, you say after a period of time it started normally.
The 10.5 volts is real low, but if your starter is going bad it could have been drawing excessive power which could reduce the voltage.
What you are hearing "click" is the starter solenoid.
Do the headlights dim when you turn the ignition to the start position? If they do this could indicate that the starter is bad & drawing excessive power. It would also indicate a bad battery, which is unlikely in your case, since a jump did not help.

Thank you very much, I'm off tommorrow so I will get to the bottom of it.

I don't want to get into a rant about this, but if the battery is in really bad shape you can have a hard time jumping it because the bad battery itself puts a load on the car you are trying to jump with. This additional load can make it very difficult to have enough power to start the car, which is why you sometimes have to literally use the jumping car to charge the battery up. In the past I have had to wait as long as 30 -45 minutes with the jumper cables hooked up before I was able to jget the car to turn over.

In addition he is reading 10.5 volts with the key in the ignition. You don't get a DIC output when trying to start the car, so the 10.5 volts is not a reading due to the starter going bad and putting a heavy load on the battery. This is definitely a battery issue.

Good points Ghutchin, However, how do you explain the 4 normal startups.

It wouldn't be the first time I've seen something like that...

I agree with the other post here. You said you replaced the battery a few months ago. I would return the battery to the store and get it checked. If the battery is bad, you can get a discount on a new one. If It is good, get it charged up. If you then can crank the car, get the charging system checked at an auto parts store. Most of them will do it for free.

Actually I had totally missed the fact that you had previously replaced your battery...there might be another problem that is draining the battery

Ok, here is the deal. I took the car to my mechanic and he says that something is drawing on my battery. Tells me its $70 an hour to figure it out, so that I might want to try on my own first. I decide that is whats best, because really I was still thinking starter, and I don't want somebody spending hours looking for something that might not be there. In any event I can't figure out what it is either, I watch my voltage meter drop when I turn off my car from 14.7 to 11.5 in about a minute.

a few days later by my trunk I hear clicking, open it up and my antennae moter is running none stop and is hotter than hell, I disconnect the two wire connections that plug into it and figure that solves my problem. But when I park my car I can see the voltage dropping still. And now it seems even worse then before. Before when I was driving my voltage didn't really move, now when I was driving it started to drop to under 14 at times. Now the weird thing is it seems if I turn on the Radio the volts go up?? If I try to start my car after awhile away, the car won't start but it seems after I turn it on (Just electricly not ignition) The volts start to go up, and even up more if say I turn on my lights or radio. (now this may not be correct and it just may be that after some time it charges up some) But in my head the more things I have turned on seem to help the Car start.

So Now I am really confused about what is going on, probably something else is whacky, maybe the battery is bad now, but I don't think so because It just doesn't seem bad like when I had to replace it before, plus all those things turned on should hurt and not help my volts go up. So as it stands now I am disconnecting my battery at night until I can figure this out.

As I'm sure your mechanic told you, you are going have to systematically remove all under hood and I/P fuses, one at a time until you find the problem circuit.
Good luck, please let us know what you find.

So should I reconnect my antenna that I know is part of the problem and then go through all the fuses until I can get it to stop or should I be more concerned with just watching the voltage?

I would leave the antenna disconnected. Disconnect the battery cable. Verify the battery voltage is at 12 VDC. Reconnect the battery, verify the short is still present, ie; low battery voltage. The problem is most likely in one of the higher current circuits. One at a time, pull the higher current maxi-fuses out of the engine compartment fuse block & the rear fuse blocks (under rear seat). Thats where I would start.
You should disconnect the battery before you pull each fuse, and then reconnect to see if the short is still present.
That would be my approach.

What about a passkey theft system fault. Is the security light blinking or are there any blown fuses?

Come on, guys read! He just said this is a brand new battery! You really think this one needs to be replaced already? Read what he wrote!

oh hey, check the antenna? It's the classic style with the automatic antenna, right? I heard if the antenna doesn't go down all the way it can slowly drain your battery.

Okay, I disconnected my battery and hadn't driven my car for a week because I've been so busy. So when I try to start it today, it tries to turn but after holding it for almost a minute I let go, after that other things aren't working right, the display is out and now I just get a click. I leave it while I go to school and come back later, this time it tries to turn again same as before so I just hold it until it finally does start, took it for a drive and seemed fine except for the kick when I first put it into reverse.

I checked the fuses, none of them are blown, I don't have a voltage reader, my uncle a former mechanic does but our schedules don't match he's off weekdays, and me weekends. Hopefully I we can get together this weekend. The Other thing I noticed when sitting in my car after I turn it off and lock my doors with the keyless entry is that the security light stays on. I never noticed this before because I never locked the car while sitting inside, also at the same time I lock the car, I hear a loud noise in the rear driver side door, its a motor noise maybe the lock or window, only for a second when I hit the button then it stops. Is the security light normal?

if not maybe thats part of the problem, but I still worry because I can watch the voltage drop after I turn off the engine. from 14.5 to 13. By morning if I leave the battery connected it will be at 10.0 once I turn on the car and sit thier a minute it climbs back to 10.6-7 and that is usually good enough to start the car.

Lastly now, after the last start, my Display tells me I need brake fluid and chimes non stop, I checked Brake fluid is fine but still chimes, chimes!

I know thats alot of questions and problems but thats what I got.

oh hey, check the antenna? It's the classic style with the automatic antenna, right? I heard if the antenna doesn't go down all the way it can slowly drain your battery.


Yes, my motor was actully going non stop, I disconnected it but that still didn't fix my problem.

As far as some have said about the battery, I can't be certian until I test it, but the battery does not act like it is bad. When my last battery was bad anything electric I used would cause everything to dim in the car, windows move down like a snail. When I sit in the car the voltage starts to climb, I turn on the radio it goes from 10.6 to 10.5-4, turn it off it goes right back up.

Sounds like you have more than one problem.
I would concentrate on the "motor sound" your getting in the rear door first.
Determine whether its the door lock or window,or find the fuse (or circuit breaker) for both of these circuits and pull them out one at a time till you find the right one.