Car wont start. No electric. No nothing

Nikky5810

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Location
North carolina
TDI
2011
2011 tdi. Car was running 30 seconds ago. Go to start aging and nothing no dash board lights no interior lighting nothing had cables attached and even then nothing electrical worked. Battery test works fine. I read something about an imbolizer but would that also cause no interior lighting or anything to work thx in advance
 

mr.loops

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2010
Location
Kelowna
TDI
2002 jetta, 2003 Bora 1.8T
How was the battery tested - voltmeter?
What was the voltage reading?

When you where driving the car earlier did you see the battery light on the dash come on?

Does the car even crank? If so, does it crank strong or slowly




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Nikky5810

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Location
North carolina
TDI
2011
I forget what the guy said but I believe the number was in ththe highigh 600 to 700 range. Not sure if that borrows it down I dont recall seeing and display light come on. And no crank at all.
Nothing in the car works fob wont work lock doors button doesnt work. Turn key no HUD display come on absolutely nothing it's very weird
 

Rob Mayercik

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2001
Location
NJ, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS, Baltic Green/Beige
Maybe the ignition switch has died, or whatever actuating link between it and the key cylinder is no longer connected, so turning the key isn't moving the switch?
 

ToBiN

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Location
Colorado
TDI
2013 Sportwagen TDI/M6; 2006 Dodge 3500 Cummins/M6 Mega Cab; 2011 Jetta TDI/M6 (sold)
Trace battery cables. Maybe your ground came loose? is there any corrosion on the cables? If your dome lights don't work and the car is completely dead, I would venture to say its a cable issue.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
The battery is somehow not connected to the car. Check big wires/connects including grounds. Look at the main fuse boxes, something may have fried somewhere. Immo issue would not do that. Bad ignition switch would not disable fobs.
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Disconnect the battery cables, clean the cables and the battery posts, reconnect. Then turn the key and see if there is a difference. If not....



With a multimeter check the battery. You're looking for 12.4-12.8v, leaving the black multimeter wire on the ground post of the battery put the red lead on the stud on the starter that the battery connects to the reading should be the same that you got on top of the battery. Move the red wire to the fuse block on top of the battery, again you should have whatever reading you got on the battery on each side of each of those fuses.


If any of the reading are 0v you've found the place to start looking for a bad connection.


Cheap digital multimeters are available from Walmart or Home Depot for less than $30. Go on youtube and learn how to operate one if you don't know how.
 

Nikky5810

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Location
North carolina
TDI
2011
Thank you everyone for the advice. So apparently if the car doesnt recognize the key fob the car will not start n basically immobilize itself as an anti theft feature. So after going with the cheapest and most basic solutions first. It was the battery in the fob. $10.67 later car started no problems so far keeping fingers crossed
 
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