engine light flashing/car wont start

[djbrick]

i was driving on the interstate and i just brought my car from a private owner. so i call myself testing the car out. i put the pedal to the floor. everything was cool until like a mile down the road my engine light started flashing the car was "choking" when i accelarated. and when i turned the car off it wouldn't never start back up again. what could be wrong.

[Mickey#1]

What year & engine?
Is the starter cranking the engine over?

[djbrick]

1996 eighty eight LS w/ 3.8 v6 engine. and when i turn the key all i get is a click. i can tell the battery is charged b/c my lights and radio comes on it just wont turn over. i was going to put a wrench between the two silonoid bolts but its up under the engine and i wasnt sure about that and i didnt wanna mess nothing up worse than it already was. a friend of mine told me to tap the starter while he tries to turn the key but that didnt work(not sure if we did it right).

[Mickey#1]

1st thing to check is the battery cable/connection at the battery. Disconnect the battery cables, remove the bolts & rubber boots from the cables. Clean off any corrosion with sandpaper or a wire brush. Apply dielectric grease to help prevent future corrosion & reassemble. It's very important to get the rubber boot off the positive battery cables so you can check for corrosion between the 2 cables.

If cleaning the cables doesn't help then try removing the spark plugs & see if it turns over. These engines are prone to 'hydrolocking'. The intake gaskets or intake itself can fail allowing coolant to flood the combustion chamber.

Is the clicking coming from the starter or under the dash?

[djbrick]

under the dash last time i checked

[Mickey#1]

How did the battery cables look?
Any water on the spark plugs?

[maxwedge]

Local mechanic next stop here!

[djbrick]

thanks 4 ya help mickey#1 i gave up on it b/c my battery was about to die. i went on ahead and call the towing company to get it serviced.