2

I left this van unused over winter (Southern hemisphere). I had some trouble starting it a month or so back, and it turned out to be a loose electrical connection to the fuel pump. After I left it for another week, I now get no response at all when I turn the key. No lights on the dash, no sounds, and definitely nothing from the motor.

I tried connecting the battery to a charger, but it shows that the battery is already full. (I'd bought a new one as part of troubleshooting the fuel pump issue, so I would've been very surprised if it was flat.)

I checked the fuses by the passenger's feet, under the hood above the battery and on the red cable connected to the positive terminal. All the ones I can access seem fine. I can't figure out how to get a look at the ones in black or pale green boxes that are screwed in.

Any ideas what else should I check?

Improve this question
4
  • 2
    Sounds like connection issue with battery, grounding or blown main fuse. Have you used a meter to check for any voltage at the fuse box? Could wiring have been attacked by mice/squirrels?
    – narkeleptk
    Commented Nov 2, 2019 at 1:30
  • I didn't have access to a multimeter until the weekend, thanks for convincing me to go and get one - it turned out the battery was actually completely discharged. The fine print in the charger manual says that batteries with extremely low charge will also read as "fully charged" when they're first connected. After the multimeter showed 2.5V I left it for a couple of hours and the charger did the trick. Just now I reconnected the battery and the car started up again :-)
    – craq
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 8:33
  • So besides feeling a bit stupid now, I have to figure out what to do with the bounty. I feel like @narkeleptk earned it because they were earlier, the multimeter was the key, and checking voltages at each fuse (some of which can't be checked visually) would have been the next thing to do. At the moment, the only answer is from H. Daun, and it's not a bad answer either. If it stays that way, I'm happy to give them the bounty.
    – craq
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 8:36
  • H. Daun took the time to write it all out nice and post as a proper answer so I have no quarrels if you wanted to reward them.
    – narkeleptk
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 13:38

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
+50

You are getting no power at all do any of your accessories and relays etc (based on your description of no sounds at all).

This could be caused by some of the following (not an exhaustive list):

  • Battery, the battery has failed and is unable to output power (you indicate yours is fine)
  • Connection issue, a connection has failed somewhere preventing the battery from powering up the systems.
  • Fuse, a fuse has blown that is preventing power from the battery getting to the rest of the electronics.

I would do the following.

Confirm that no relays click active when you turn they car into ACC or ON/RUN, if there are indeed none at all, it sounds like one of the main fuse-able links have blown.

These are typically either large fuses in the fuse box or in a separate fuse box near the battery.

If you get none here, you will likely need to get a multi-meter and start probing for voltage in the fuse box to ensure there is any voltage in the fuse box and start troubleshooting from there.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .