No crank: Sometimes it's the simple stuff

[fdcg27]

On Saturday, the '09 Forester would not do anything at all.
Not even the dome or dash lights would come on.
As is typical in these situations, I assumed dirty terminals.
I removed the cables and cleaned everything bright and shiny.
Still no joy at all.
I thought of the main fuse, but it looked fine and I couldn't see any reason that it would have blown anyway.
I tried jumping the car and it started right up.
I intended to drive straight to the nearest AAP and have them warranty the battery.
But no, I found that it wasn't the battery at all.
With all of the doors closed, I noticed that the liftgate dome light remained on.
It turns out that the switch must have been inadvertantly knocked into the on position and sitting for four days with the light on drained the battery.
Easy fix as it turned out.

 

[Shannow]

Had one of those myself recently.

Went to drive to work a recent Monday in the Caprice, and flat as a maggot.

Jumped it, the little jump pack, drove to work, and that night, flat again.

Jumped it, drove home, and left it sit for an hour while I [censored] about my 12 month old battery, and then took the meter out and checked terminal voltage...11, a few seconds later 12, 25 seconds later 11, 5 seconds later 12.

Turned out that my daughter dropped a water bottle on the floor (it annoys me more than I can convey), then moved the electric seat forward, crunching some of plastic the underseat trim (yep, the stuff that hides the electric seat stuff...that the Caprice gets), and jamming a seat tilt switch in the on position.

Would try to overtravel, then trip on thermal, and keep doing it all weekend.

Made enquiries, and got a negative answer that the water bottle was owned, that the seat was moved, and that the plastic went "crunch" in the meantime.

Then had daughter crying to mother that she knew she'd done it, and didn't want to tell us...

 

[InfmousCornholio]

Had this happen in the Honda.

Discovered the problem when we saw the lights stalk.. set to "on."

D-OHH!

I found newfound utility to have a charged jumper box after that, lol.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The apartment where I used to live had a parking lot on the side of a hill. I would occasionally have a dead battery on the Jeep (even after I fixed the gauge cluster - long story).

Turns out the parking lot was steep enough to turn on the switch for the underhood light. Since I didn't drive it often, it would sit for a few days until it drained the battery.

 

[Chris142]

Dont forget to fully charge your run down battery

 

[Rand]

I had the same issue in my 2011 forester.. The hatch switch was a rather bad example of automotive engineering.

I bumped it while unloading the snowblower which had perhaps 1" clearance.
Map lights can be a common cause as well.

I wish they would have went with LED at least then it would go days and days...

 

[EdwardC]

Nice to see an easy and obvious fix!!

Definitely fully charge it up as soon a possible. I've read that just a few deep discharges of starting batteries can lead to failure. I've swapped out my dome and map lights with LEDs to extend the run time if they're ever accidentally left of. The originals draw about 0.75A while the LEDs only draw about .06A, they seem just as bright too.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: EdwardC
Nice to see an easy and obvious fix!!

Definitely fully charge it up as soon a possible. I've read that just a few deep discharges of starting batteries can lead to failure. I've swapped out my dome and map lights with LEDs to extend the run time if they're ever accidentally left of. The originals draw about 0.75A while the LEDs only draw about .06A, they seem just as bright too.
I've had one in my dome light for about 7 years. (It's called a "festoon lamp" and Superbright LED has them. Mine is brighter than the filament bulb it replaced)