mmfreitas

Problem solved. It was just all the corrosion residue on the + terminal. Gave the whole thing a nice cleaning with water and baking powder, user a wire brishe to make it nice and shiny, then rubber some petrolium jelly on it and it's as good as new

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm getting close. I jumpstarted it and the car started. Weird how it went out in just the 5 minutes it took my wife to drop off my son at school. So after starting it I drove it for about half hour then tried to start it and same problem. I looked at the battery and it needed some serious cleaning. There was a good amount of corrosion and green goo on the positive post. So either that is offering some serious resistance, or the battery is really gone for good (it is still the original 11yo battery), or worst case the alternator is gone. It's pooring outside so I'm going to leave any further work on it until tomorrow. Thanks again.

My wife drove off to drop my son at school this morning and when she got back in the car the car wouldn't start. It makes a loud crackling or rapid clicking noise that seems to come from under the dash or inside the steering column. I've had a bad starter before as well as a dead battery before and this sounds different. The engine does not turn over. The lights and radio work fine. There is no CEL. I appologize if I don't have more information but I had to get to work and just had enough time to go pick her up and drive off to work without doing any more diagnostics. Does anyone have any idea what it could be or how I can better diagnose this problem? Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.