Captain Bone

Guys,

My 1998 GS 300 will NOT start. Two days ago I tried to start my car and got absolutely no sound or noise at all. It wouldn't start so I charged it with a portable battery charger for 2 hours and it started up. Started fine yesterday. Today after sitting for about 14 hours I tried to start it and got nothing but the infamous "click click click" noise. The lights all came on inside the car and illuminated and the fuel gauge went up to where it should be at full tank status but no start. Now for some history...

In January I installed a BRAND NEW Optima Yellow Top battery. Shortly thereafter, I installed a new system consisting of an alpine 5 channel amp, JL 10" sub, and 6.5 Boston components all around. The system hasn't had any problems so I don't believe it could be related to that. Everything has been seemingly fine. Tomorrow I'm going to go to my local mechanic and see if the battery has been drained again or maybe this is a different issue all together?

Does anyone have any idea's what this could be? I'm POSITIVE I did not leave anything on and I'm EXTREMELY aggravated right now.

-Anthony

Richie

Sounds like a bad battery and/or something is draining the battery.

Captain Bone

I'm thinking something is draining the battery also.. Now is the task of figuring out what is draining it..

Thanks for the tip Richie..

Anyone else?

-Anthony

lexusk8

The alternator is my next guess. It could be on its last stage of life, and unfortunately it's a very costly fix

Carpe Diem

I bet it's a bad connection on the battery hot or ground either at the battery or on the "other" end.

George

fisher_price

Consider checking / changing the starter relay:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hreadid=111518

f_p

Captain Bone

Wow, all these different suggestions.

I hope my mechanic can figure it out for me.

-Anthony

braheem

iTrader: (4)

After the "Click Click" sound could you still jump start the car, if so it's not the relay.

I would double all of your wiring for loose connections, faulty grounding somewhere, and cuts in the insulation, also make sure none of the stereo power wires run over the distributor or alternator.

Then, I would make sure all of your "remote" connections on your amps and radio are from the same source ie antenna power fuse or at least make sure all the sources are off when the car is turned off (using a meter!)

Hope my 2 pennies help.

Good Luck!

Indio

iTrader: (1)

Have your battery checked first, it's the easiest and most logical problem, yours would not be the first "new" battery to go bad, if your battery tests ok, you have a major power draw to kill a 750 cca battery after only 14 hours, should not be too hard to find.

johnee78

iTrader: (4)

Do you have capacitor for your system?If you do , check to see how it was wired.If it was wired direct and not through your remote then it may be draining your battery.As for the click, click noise, also check how tight your neg. and pos. battery terminals are.Sometimes when the terminals are loose and can't make a good connection they tend to click.If neither of those are the problems then you may need to start checking the relay etc. On another note, I don't think it's the battery because it's a deep cycle and is meant to be drained and recharged.Let us know how it goes and good luck.

Captain Bone

Wish I knew that answer... I'm clueless as to wat a capacitator even is so I'm assuming it's direct wired... I;m just getting more and more PO'ed thinking about this.

-Anthony

LB Lex

If it was starting and working fine prior to the 14 hour down-time, then I believe you have a drain on the battery. Double and triple check everything to make sure there is no drain, but I think you will probably find a drain because there should be no reason the battery loses its power when no current is being drawn from it.

Furthermore, when did you battery problems start, within a month or so after installing your system? If your answer is "yes", I think it is something to do with your system. I know you said that you are positive that you left nothing on, but if you system was installed incorrectly wherein the amps and other equipment don't turn off when your ignition is off, this will drain your battery. Furthermore, just because your system is running right, it does not mean that there is no drain.

Additionally, it was suggested above that if you are able to start the car with a jump, then there is nothing wrong with your starting/ignition system, so you can check this off this list of possible culprits.

And if the mechanic finds no drain in the system, maybe your alternator cannot recharge the battery fast enough to compensate for the power drawn by your audio system when it's on. Have him check your alternator to make sure it is putting out the required 14.5 amps.

johnee78

iTrader: (4)

A capacitor is sometimes referred to as a CAP or bass cap.It sometimes looks like a thermos(cylinder).Check with your installer to see if one was installled. If this is the problem then don't worry because it's an easy fix and you didn't harm anything.The optima yellow top is bullet proof.

Richie

I have expierenced this also.
Better check this too!!!!

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

whadda ya say we stop guessing and find out?

Issue #1- pull the main inline fuse to the amps, (under the hood at the battery) charge the battery, start the car, drive it around for 15 minutes to charge it up. shut it off and walk away.

come back in a few hours, and see if the battery is dead.

report back.

we'll do this first since after using a charger the car starts, so it is obviously a voltage problem with the battery. we'll eliminate the drain problem to find the source.