Help me please!

[d-minky]

I'm having a big problem with my '95 neon. I just drove it from NJ to Florida for school. It's got about 77000 miles on it, and just before driving it down we took it to a mechanic and got everything all fixed up ($700 worth of fixing up), so I know it was in as good shape as it could be before driving it down.

Now it won't start.

I think it's an electrical problem; when it first wouldn't start I was in a parking lot, and I thought maybe the battery had died. So I got someone to come get ready to jump it for me, but while he was driving over, i fiddled with the interior lights, and all of a sudden the instrument panel turned on, the radio turned on, and I was able to start to car no problem. On the drive home, the instrument panel kept flicking on and off, as did the radio, so I turned the radio off. It seems like there could be a short.

Now I can't even get it to start at all. The power locks are really sluggish, and the interior light and radio flicker when I turn them on. When I try to start the engine it clicks a bunch, then slows down and stops.

The one clue I have is when I was driving, I went through a humongous rain storm. It was really really bad weather. During the drive (or rather, crawl) through the rain, I had my emergency blinkers on. There was a loud click that came from the front right of my car. I thought it sounded like one of my headlights exploded, but this definately did not happen. However, after I got out of the rain, I tried turning on all my different lights just to test them out. When I put my emergency lights back on, the instrument panel only showed the left side lighting up, instead of both sides. My right blinker worked fine, and still does.

So I think it has something to do with that rain and the emergency blinkers. Another big clue is that if I try to turn on the emergency blinkers now, all they do is click loudly a whole lot. My other blinkers work fine.

I really know nothing about cars, so I don't know how to find out if this is a short, or something else. Can anyone tell me how to check for this? Or offer any insight at all? I'd like to find out everything I can possibly try myself before having to shell out even more money on this just-repaired car.

Thanks a whole lot!

[KatWoman]

Check all wires connecting to your battery and check for corrosion or looseness. Also there is a wire that goes from the fuse box (the black one that sits on the battery tray) that connects as well. Check that for corrosion or looseness as well. Chrysler batteries are crappy in my opinion because they leak acid junk out and eventually it will eat away at your wiring, kind of like a cancer. Feel your wires too...are the flexible or are they getting brittle? Another thing you can do is buy a fuse tester at the auto parts store and test all the fuses in the box next to your battery and in the side of your dash. Another small possibility too is that your alternator is toast.