My Car Won’t Start! What Should I Do First?

MY CAR WON’T START – WHAT SHOULD I DO FIRST?

Your Car won’t start? Having trouble? Frustrated because you’re stranded and left standing on the curb screaming “My car won’t start!”

Car-trouble like that is usually (but not always) a result of a battery problem. There’s a couple of things you can do immediately to check the battery on your car.

How to check the battery
One of the most common reasons for car trouble or when your car won’t start is a discharged or dead battery. If that’s the case, there’s a few possible reasons why that’s happened.

Sometimes you’ll find that you left an interior light on. Although a dome light doesn’t draw a lot of power, it’s enough to discharge your car’s battery if left on for extended periods of time, like overnight.

It’s also possible you’ve got a faulty component of the electrical system that drains the battery down.

If your car battery is old, it may not be holding a charge properly or as long as it used to. It should be noted that the typical car battery is only expected to last between 3 and 5 years – depending on your car and use.

It’s also common that car batteries just die – even if they were working fine the day before – started your car – and showed no signs of any problems.

In any case, when the your car’s battery is low on it’s charge, it just won’t have enough power to turn over the engine. One of the common signs is when you hear a ‘clicking’ noise when you try to start or the starter turns very slow.

IS YOUR CAR BATTERY DEAD? IS THE BATTERY DISCHARGED?
HERE’ HOW TO CHECK YOUR CAR’S BATTERY

Here is a simple way to check if your car battery is discharged. It will work on just about any vehicle and you don’t even have to pop the hood to do this.

Turn the ignition on – only the ignition – don’t start the engine. Next, turn the windshield wipers on. If they appear to move very slow, or a lot slower than they usually do, it’s because your battery is probably low on charge.

Still having problems because your car won’t start? Is it a dead battery? Before you try to jump your car’s battery, see this information about how to jump your car battery safely!