Will not start, no dash lights, no power

JAMES EDWARD YORKS

MEMBER
2000 CHRYSLER SEBRING
2.5L
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
134,325 MILES

When I was driving the car the other day, it ran fine. I pulled in a parking lot and shut it off (darn coffee run). I got back in the car and it would not start. Please help me. This is something I am going to do on my own as I do not have the funds to have a mechanic do it. Here is what it does:

I have headlights, interior lights and enough power to put the windows down. It will not allow me to put the convertible top up so the power just is not there. When I turn the car to accessories, the door does its annoying ding ding and I have the transmission lights. When I flip the key to start, it does absolutely nothing except put the e-brake light on. We have checked the fuses, all in great shape. We have checked the relays including the starter relay and those were fine. We checked the battery and that was fine.
Otherwise, there is no spark, no start, and no power to any part of the car.

3 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

Everything you described points to the battery is defective or discharged. How did you test it and what were the results?

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Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 AT 5:58 PM

JAMES EDWARD YORKS

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Tried jumping it, nothing. Had someone from Autozone come out with the reader and it had said something like 500 cca. The headlights do not dim when trying to start it or when powering down the window. I can rip the tire off tomorrow and pull the battery out and pop a new one in, as a start?

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Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 AT 6:05 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

There are jump-start terminals under the hood so you do not have to go down to the battery. Measure the voltage between those two points. It will be 12.6 volts if the battery is good and fully-charged. If you find it is closer to 12.2 volts, it is good, but run down. If it is around 11 volts, it has a shorted cell and must be replaced. A jump-start may not overcome a shorted battery. Also, if a good battery is really run down, you may need to charge it for five to ten minutes with the jump-start, or charge it with a portable charger at a slow rate for an hour or two.

Unlike the simple, reliable, common sense starter circuits we had a few decades ago, the starter relays today are turned on by the engine computer. Computers will stop doing things or will do things erratically when system voltage is low. Things that do not have an unnecessary computer involved may still work.

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Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 AT 6:27 PM