So I go out to start my car this morning, because I have to move it, and it sort of turns over then stops. I hear a 'click' and that's the end of it. Try it again, and 'click click click click' nothing.

It seems as if the starter has died?????



This is bullshit because as it is, I doubt I'm getting enough from insurance to fix the damage and now suddenly the thing starts falling apart on me!

I've had this happen several times. First make sure your cables are tight on the battery. I've had a loose battery terminal make things act weird, like lights come on, but starter won't turn.



If you're sure it's the starter, crawl under the car with a hammer and give it a few taps. I also had this problem before, after tapping it the starter worked for another few months before I had to replace it (in the mean time, I bought a mazda reman starter, and just waited for the other one to die).

Yeah, both of my terminals were old and loose. I replaced the negative terminal just fine and wedged the positive one. It's not going ANYWHERE I assure you.



Strange, my lights come on and the battery seems fine, but it won't open my sunroof at all, it's too weak. So it has to be the battery. Thing is, why would it die overnight. Yesterday when I started it (For the first time in like a week) it turned over slowly a few times before starting. The only thing I can think of that I did is I had my hatch light on, but it turns off when you close the hatch. Then again, you have to smack it several times to get it to come on. Maybe that light causes a drain?



My right turn signal since the accident blinks like crazy when you engage it. Could be a bad ground?



What in hell could cause my battery to die?

Just assume the light stayed on, and charge or replace your battery. If it drains quickly after that, get your alternator tested (most places do it for free). If it still drains, you might have a short somewhere, I don't have any experience tracking those down, so I don't know how to do it.



If the turn signal blinks real quickly, it usually means one of the bulbs on that side is out. Replace the busted bulb, and it should work fine.

There's the thing, the bulbs are fine. The alternator is fairly new.

theres your problem, you just said it yourself, if all the bulbs are fine, but the light is blinking away crazily, then in the accident, something got grounded that shouldnt be. Chances are that the wiring or one of the connectors for the turn signal on that side got crushed or broken and its touching something that it shouldnt be, shorting the turn signal system and causing the battery to drain. Whenever the battery is really weak on my car, it will just cause the starter solenoid to flutter, making a whole bunch of clicking noises but no actual engagement or rotation. Your starter is fine, the problem is a short elsewhere in the car.



Does the turn signal for hte other direction work?

Yes. Actually, the accident caused my sunroof to work right. It used to pop up and then not slide back any further until you manually cranked it back an inch or two, then it'd slide and such. The accident fixed that. haha



The other signal works fine.



All the wiring and stuff hasn't moved though...which is strange. I actually closed my sunroof on battery last night, and it moved kinda slow because I tend to do that a lot (Forget to shut it and then do it on batter, as well as the window) so maybe it just wore the battery down. I also turned off the automatic hatch light in case that was the drain. I'll jump it, drive it for a while and see if it's fine. My battery was kinda weak...hovering just barely above 12 volts on the gauge.

Charged up the battery with my dad's boat charger (Hey, turns out my dad IS good for something other than making my life miserable!) , fired right up and such. Seems to be holding charge. Turned the hatch light off, checked to see if anything got grounded that shouldn't have, but could find nothing visible.



We'll see how this goes.

my alternator just died while i was driving yesterday got stuck in the middle of the highway wow that sucked and im still with out my car. its upseting because i just put a new alternator and batery in less then 2 monthes ago

my alternator just died while i was driving yesterday got stuck in the middle of the highway wow that sucked and im still with out my car. its upseting because i just put a new alternator and batery in less then 2 monthes ago