Drove 1/2hr to work. had to run to store a few min later. went in came out tried to start car battery was dead! my dome & dash lights started flashing. I turned off key. I could hear something still running...like my dash was ticking. Now my monsoon radio died a year ago...turns on stuck on station wont tune etc can hear static in speakers. The radio was not on. The a/c was on with fan on 3, phone charger plugged into lighter, drl lights and maybe the rear defroster. These were the only power draws. Started with a jump. Drove back to work * hrs later had to be jumped again. Drove 1/2 hr to home. Car ran fine. Made sure I had no extra draws on power..no a/c, blower, rear defrost, lighter charger, & turned my interior lights as low as they would go. etc It was night so I had my headlights on. There was no dimming of my lights so I don't think its my alternator. Please help!! I don't want to spend $89 on a new battery & ruin it too until issue is resolved. Recent repairs: 3/13 had flap kit replaced heater/ac wouldn't work, 7/13 replaced catalytic converter
Sounds like a dead cell in the battery. Try measuring each cell in the battery. If one is low it will act like a dead battery when you try starting it.
IT costs nothing to have a load test done on the battery to check for a dead cell which your problems point to. While the engine is running the alternator will be handling the power requirement but the battery will not supply the power required to start.
SOURCE: 2001 2.0 Beetle: Car won't start unless jump started
your charging mechanism may ave gone bad or even your alternator. you can check those things out at autozone. they'll check it and i think it's free
SOURCE: Very same scenario...car ran fine, then bam wouldn't start
in order of likelihood, based on what you described:
bad connection @ battery
bad batt cable or terminal end
bad battery
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forgot to list that when dash lights were flashing the shift indicator said car was in N when the car was in P. I dont know if that indicates something else.
my car is a 2003 vw jetta gls 1.8T. I also just replaced the tires & had a front end alignment 2 week ago.
what is a charging mechanism & how do you repairit?
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