starting mystery after storage

[ESHWORD]

I have a quick and really dumb question for anyone who would like to answer it. I have had my 2002 S2K put up for 5 months. I was going to try and jump start it today, but noticed I couldn't even pop the trunk from inside to get out my itty bitty jumper cables. This put me in instant panic because I know how little juice it would take to open the trunk. Anyway, used the key, tried to jump it Nothing...total dead. Brought home a new battery....nothing..zip...zero....Checked every fuse They're all good. Anybody got any suggestions?? Otherwise it's a $150.00 tow job to the Honda dealer. I would appreciate any comments, suggestions..whatever and thanx in advance.

[My_yella_s2k]

when u turn the key in the ignition, does it do anything? radio come on? fan blow? anything?
your battery may be dead dead dead, even though a new 1 was installed, you may have the same thing

Also - moved to Xviper's area :D

[repiv]

How are you jumping? Did you establish good, solid contacts on the cable clamps?
Positive to positve, the negative of good battery to something solid (metal) on engine of S?
Did you actually put the new battery into the car or just use it as a jumper? When you turn key to ON, do you hear the fuel pump prime?

[gander2112]

I had a Daihatsu Charade that was stored for probably 9 months (don't ask. It was a commuter car, averaged over 45MPG, and when I had to change the clutch, I was able to lift the transmission out with one hand).

Anyway, the long storage time caused one cell in the nearly new (less than 6 months old at start of storage) Diehard battery to go completely dead. Apparently, lead-acid batteries like to be charged and discharged. The guy at sears said it was not uncommon for a battery to fail in a long storage situation.

Now, when I store a vehicle for a long period of time (like my old street motorcycle), I put a battery tender to keep the battery charged, and somewhat exercised. A good investment of $30.00

Geoff

[waltersailing]

I had an issue with mice eating some of my wires. Check and make sure you have a good ground. When you installed the new battery make sure you install the negative ground last. If the radio or any other circuit is open you should see and hear a little spark when hooking up the ground cable. No spark or draw, you have a open in the circuit somewhere.

[yinlun]

Brought home a new battery....nothing..zip...zero....

Okay..so you've eliminated the battery as the main issue. Like Repiv said, with the new battery, does anything else work?

[ESHWORD]

Thank you all for your answers. I get absolutely nothing even with the new battery. I found no mouse turds or whatever when I checked the car, but who knows maybe a wire is loose. Just can't find the problem. I know this is a feeble excuse, but being a woman, I guess I just don't know that much about the cars. I rechecked all the fuses also.

[repiv]

Thank you all for your answers. I get absolutely nothing even with the new battery. I found no mouse turds or whatever when I checked the car, but who knows maybe a wire is loose. Just can't find the problem. I know this is a feeble excuse, but being a woman, I guess I just don't know that much about the cars. I rechecked all the fuses also.

By "absolutely nothing", you mean that when the new battery is hooked up, you don't even get the interior lights to turn on when you open the door (make sure the light is on the correct switched position) and if you can't even get the running lights to come on when you use the headlight switch's first position, that means one of the battery cables are either disconnected at a place you can't see (negative to the engine block or positive to the power distribution block) or one of them is so badly filled with deposits, that no juice can get through. BTW, did you check the fuse box near the battery. The main fuses are there.

[desmo4]

If you do store you car with a standard battery you must keep a float charger connected to it continuously and you should start the car and let it come up to temperature once per month. Flooded electrolyte batteries will suffer diminished capacity or complete failure after one discharge to zero volts. Only Optima Yellow can survive that kind of treatment with very little damage.

As to why your car won't start, there is only one big fuse in the under hood fuse box near the battery which could be the culprit if absolutely nothing comes on with a new battery. If you open the fuse box it is a 100 amp and connected buy a cable directly to the + side of the battery. It could have blown when you first tried to start the car and the original battery was in a very low charge state. The voltage would be low but the current demand would be very high at the instant you turned it on.

Jonathan

[CoralDoc]

It's not surprising that the battery in your car died during storage. Like other posters have mentioned, next time hook up a battery tender to keep the battery charged properly. If it's the original battery in your car, 5-6 years of service is pretty good, I just replaced the 4.5 year-old battery in my 2003.

It is very strange that a brand new battery will not provide any power. Make sure that the new battery is indeed charged properly and that the connections are made securely with the correct polarity (+ to the cable with the red plastic cap and - to the ground cable). Perhaps someone that lives closer to you would be willing to have a look. Even someone with general car knowledge could help as there is nothing especially different about S2000 electrcal systems. It would suck to pay the tow charge for something simple.

[Sikocivic]

I always start with the simple stuff first. If the car ran when you parked it then it should run now. Have you cleaned the battery cable connections? Take them off and clean them and the battery posts with a wire brush or some sandpaper. Then reconnect them and try it again.

[ESHWORD]

Again, thanks to all of you for the suggestions. What I found was the 100 amp fuse connected directly to the battery was corroded. I went to the Honda shop and bought a new one for $7.00 and voila started right up. Just to let you know, if I had had to have it towed to the Honda dealer, looked over and a new 100 amp fuse put it , I would down about $200.00 bucks, so therefore I have saved 5 years worth of membership on the S2K website. You are a wonderful group of people and smart....How do I know?? Because you all ownS2ks. LOL

[repiv]

Good to hear it was something "cheap" and relatively simple. :thumbup: