Rep Power: 0

OK, I apologize, because the 2003 Civic I'm talking about here isn't in my hands. It's in the hands of my daughter, 2000 miles away. But she has some very strange problems.

She had a dead battery. Realized it was 5+ years old, so got a jump start, went and got a new one. They checked her alternator. No biggie. Then four days later, after good daily performance, she can't start her car. DVM says battery is completely dead. Whaaa? Now she can't start the car with a jump start. No sound at all. It's not even trying to start. Whaaa? Whaaa??

I can't put these symptoms together. If there was a dead short in or across the battery, you'd short out the car doing the jump start, no? But the car used for the jump start runs fine when hooked up.

Ideas? Maybe a switch is broken or a fuse is blown, which would prevent starting. But how does that fit with a dead battery? Maybe the alternator crapped out suddenly, but why would that prevent a jump start?

I'm trying to diagnose this at a distance, which is pretty frustrating. Hard to avoid a conclusion with two unrelated faults.

 
Rep Power: 134

Check battery - check battery connections - check alternator and alternator ground on the bracket - check starter - try a different key - does the green immobilizer light continue to flash or stay on? - check fuses and wires for shorts and grounds - check ignition switch - check for a parasitic draw on the battery - did you install any aftermarket stereo radar etc. that may draw the battery down?

 
Rep Power: 134

Is the boosting procedure done like this: Positive to positive and then negative on booster battery to negative to ground point on the discharged car?

 
Rep Power: 0

Thank you.

Check battery connections? Well, AutoZone installed the battery, and it worked. Why would the connections go bad in three days? Also how would that prevent a jump start?

Alternator ground? Good idea. But Autozone checked the charging, presumably by just looking at overvoltage when the car was running. Alternator must have been grounded then. But again, that wouldn't prevent a jump start.

Parasitic draw on the battery is an interesting idea. Basically a slow short. But why would that prevent a jump start? Nothing recently installed. A hard short would kill the car doing the jump-start, no?

Ignition switch failure is an obvious candidate, but how does a bad ignition switch drain the battery?

Yep, positive-to-positive, and negative-to-negative for the failed jump start. Though they failed once on this in the past by connecting negative to a bad ground. I think they learned their lesson and do it right now.

 
Rep Power: 210

you would be surprised at how much trouble loose or corroded battery terminals can cause, its one of the most easiest things to clean and check, yet its probably the most overlooked,

and seeing as autozone installed the battery, that is even MORE of a reason to check and clean them!!!

disconnect them, clean with baking soda and water, use a wire brush if nessessary or sandpaper

 
Rep Power: 0

Still don't understand how that would prevent a jump start. I don't need a battery at all, much less decent connections, to get a jump start.

 
Rep Power: 518

No lights, no dashboard action, electrically dead even with jumper cables on it?

If someone, ANYone tried to connect jumper cables backwards, it blows the largest fuse in the box (80A, large squareish with a clear window on top). After that blows, nothing in the car works except maybe the horn, hazards and brake lights on some models.

Check if the AC compressor is stuck on (after getting the car to power up again)
The clutch 2-3 amp draw can drain a battery overnight. Bad/stuck relay is the common cause.

 
Rep Power: 0

OK, situation somewhat resolved. I think the inability to jump start was a user-failure. They just didn't find a functional ground. The battery turned out to be entirely defective. Brought it back to AutoZone, they tried to charge it and couldn't. Got a new one. Alternator checks out fine, as it did before.

Very interesting about inverting the jumper cables and blowing fuses. Never thought of that.

One would like to believe everything will be fine now. But if the battery keeps getting drained overnight then the idea of a short from the clutch draw is something that really needs to be considered.

Excellent advice. Thank you!