Been having an intermittent problem lately with my car.

First happened two days ago. Drove the car in the morning and afternoon and everything seemed normal. Tried to start the car later that evening and after turning the key, no dash lights come on. Radio, headlights, and interior lights all work. Top does not work. When I press the Start button, nothing happens. No click, no sounds. I waited 10 minutes and tried again, and still no good. Eventually the car did start from repeatedly pressing the Start button.

After that incident, the car has been working fine until last night. As I was parking, the engine shut off and same symptoms as before. Dash lights would not come on, no response from Start button. The car will no longer start.

Cliff Notes:
-turn key, no dash lights
-no noise when pressing Start
-radio, interior light, headlights, alarm work
-top will not go down
-MY01 with 71k miles, battery is 1.5 years old

Any ideas?

 

Take the battery to get tested, lower Voltage things like interior lights will work with a dead battery still, absolutely no noise when pushing start means a dead/drained battery or horrible connection.

That reminds me, make sure you got good contact with the battery terminals, get a post scrubber and clean it.

 

I'd check for a bad alternator too. That seems to make things a little wacky also.

 

on another car i had the alternator fuse blow. damnedest thing 'cause the car kept driving but all electronic crap shut off (digital dash, wideband, radio, dash lights, etc)...

 

Way off topic, but wasnt there a rule against signatures longer than a normal thread page?

 

You're right, way off topic.

 

Would it still be a battery issue since nothing happens when I press the Start button? I've had a bad battery before, but when that happened I could hear rapid clicking noises from the starter.

 

Sounds like you have a battery drain somewhere. Do you have any aftermarket stereo equipment...amps & such?

 

no amp, just an alpine headunit that has been on the car for a year. also have a clifford alarm that's been on since 2001.

 

So you turn key to "on," press start and nothing, right? just radio and lights work. but then eventually it does turn on after several attempts at the start button. Could it be an intermittent failure of the ignition switch?? it could also be a faulty battery connection somewhere and after some movement of the car it regains a good connection and thats why it turns on... looks like your gonna have to do some troubleshooting