Help..98 Maxima Wont Start =(

[starbai13]

Hey guys..I'm new to this forum...but i thought i'd ask for help =). The other nite my maxima was working perfectly fine...parked it in the driveway and everything....the next morning... i go to start up the car.... nothing works! no lights work.. power locks dont work.. starter doesn't make the cranking noise... nothing! I tried to boost it with jumper cables.. it makes all the lights go on..but when i turn the key the engine doesn't start =( What could be the problem? Battery? Starter? Alternator?

Any help would be appreciated =)

[Spaz]

Yikes.

My guess is:

Since the lights came back on after you put jumper cables on the car is that it's battery-related. You may have left something on that completely juiced the battery - if you kill the battery completely, it wont be able to hold any sort of charge, let alone enough to crank it over.

Depending on how old the battery is, it may need to be replaced. You could always run it into an autozone and they can test it for you (I think they do it for free).

Good luck on that, and let us know what you find out.

[starbai13]

hmm that may be it..cause right now my car is having electrical problems which is supposed to be fixed this weekend...sometimes when i turn off the car...the fan still runs...or the horn goes off on it's own!....i think the fan came on.. on its own..and it killed the battery during the night =(... i need to get a new battery anywayz because i just got a new system.. so when i put in the new battery (sometime tomorrow or wednesday) i'll find out...

thanks for your post =)

[Spaz]

Well, ghost fans and horns will do that, I guess.

What kind of system did you get thrown in there?

[starbai13]

Didn't get the system put in yet...but i got 2 sony 12" subz...a rockford fosgate 900W amp, and a Sony mp3 Deck

[skids929]

Battery, ignition, or alternator. Sounds like a battery from what you described.

[starbai13]

hopefully it's the battery...the optima yellow top didn't come today so it should come tomorrow... i'll let you guys know what happenz =\

[starbai13]

Well i replaced the battery...starter stil doesn't crank so I'm guessing it's the starter...is there a way i can tap the starter to make it start so i can drive it to a mechanic?

[Spaz]

If it's a manual transmission you could always pop the clutch...

not sure about an automatic though.

[starbai13]

It's an automatic...took it to a mechanic today...said he should have it fixed by tomorrow afternoon....it's an electrical problem according to him...

[weiser21]

Did the mechanic say what kind of electrical problem it was? I have the same problem.