2000 Corolla won't start, dashboard blank

[nalratoss]

Hi,

my car (2000 Toyota Corolla) just had a problem. I went to school, parking my car at parking lot. 2 minutes later I got my stuff done and went back to start the car. The dashboard lights are extremely dim and my car won't start. I tried to start again and the dashboard light went totally blank, I had to call somebody to jumpstart it. It worked and he told me to leave it running idle for 10-15 min after I drive home. I did that, but my car's battery went out again after I let it idle for about 8 minutes. It simply went out automatically. Could anyone determine the nature of the problem. Is it battery, or alternator, or sneak circuit in the electrical system? Thanks.

[1.8litrebeater]

Sounds like an alternator problem for sure.

[Highway_maniac]

Quick check:

Bad battery: Start the car (jump start / bump start manual shift). Does it run OK now? Turn on your lights (if you have halogen lights, with HID/xenon this trick will not work). Rev the car to see if the light brightness increase. If so, the electrical system seems to receive electricity from the alternator but the battery does not keep charge.

Bad altenator: Start the car, turn on lights and check brightness. If faint and they not increase when revving - seems like the electricity from the alternator is not getting into the system.

Check with volt meter
Connect a volt meter to the batery while the engine is not running. Check the volts (DC). A normal car battery, charged up, will have about 12.6 volts. It's still OK if a bit lower, 9V is dischared. Reading your story, I expect you will get a low reading. This does not mean your battery is dead, but it is not charged.

Start the car. The volts must increase to >14 volt. Maybe, because your battery has run down, the volts will be lower, but if you don't see an increase in the volts - fault in your charging system. If the volts do increase, your charging system seems to be ok, your battery could have failed.

In both cases it may be a loose wire (check your ground wires and connection on the battery). Check if there is oxidation and if everything is on tight. A bad connection can prevent the car from charging. Do NOT run your car without the battery. The battery is part of the electrical system, removing it may cause a surge in your elec. system, causing damage.

Problems with the battery:
Check the battery. Can you fill the battery (little plugs / caps on the top) with battery water? Maybe the level has droped below the plates, refilling it may improve the situation (if not damaged to severe). Check if you can see any damage on the battery - e.g. cracks. Beware - of there is fluid leaking out of the battery, it's acid. Don't touch the acid!

Have the battery checked (live in Europe, don't know where you can have it checked where you are), down here they will check it for free.

Problems with the altenator:
Check the connections, check the belt. If ok - you'll have to have the altanator tested and repaired / replaced.