Car Repair: What If Your Vehicle Won't Start?

When it comes to car repair, nothing is quite as final as getting in your vehicle and realizing that turning that key is not going to make the engine come to life. The strange thing about the car not starting, however, is that it could be indicative of a big, very expensive problem or a problem that isn't very serious at all. Which category your problem falls into can be determined by performing a checklist of troubleshooting endeavors. Of course, if self diagnosis isn't your thing, you can always have it towed to a good mechanic, who will figure out the problem for you. If you're a bit more adventurous, here are some things you can check.

9 times out of 10, if your vehicle is relatively new and well cared for, what you are experiencing is some kind of problem with the battery, potentially related to corrosion. Thankfully, battery problems generally fall on the inexpensive side of car repair, so you don't have to worry about taking out a loan just yet. In fact, what you may be looking at is something that can be fixed in just a few minutes. Check your battery posts and make sure corrosion hasn't built up. If corrosion gets bad enough, it can prevent your battery from giving juice to the engine. Clean them off with a toothbrush and a good solvent. Some people even advise using Coca-Cola to get that excess dirt and corrosion off of the posts.

If corrosion isn't the problem, it may be that the battery itself is dead. This can usually be determined fairly easily. If your car radio, headlights, and other interior electronics aren't working any more than the ignition, it is probably a battery issue. If you have a pair of jumper cables and a battery pack (or, more likely, someone willing to jump you off), you will be able to find out for sure if that is the problem in short order. If you can get it started, leave it running for a while to let some juice get back into the battery. Now you have to determine what caused it to die. If you have it nailed to a specific incident (such as leaving an interior light on overnight), then you should be fine. If you can't, you'll probably want to invest in a new one.

Before you get into the expensive car repair problems, make sure the issue isn't with the ignition switch itself. A good way to check this is to put your key in the ignition and turn it to the ON placement. Look to your dashboard and see if the typical dashboard lights come on. If not, and you've already eliminated the battery as a possible suspect, you could be dealing with a bad switch.

Beyond these simple troubleshooting steps, if you can't find satisfaction, you could be looking at a more serious problem. Locate a good towing service and have your vehicle checked out by a reputable car repair shop.