simple question requires possibly difficult answer
 

so I was out of town for about a month and I come home and my Alero's battery is dead. Put the key in and NOTHING happens. no lights, no dings, no engine. hooked up the jumper cables (1st try was my aunt's Ford Escape, 2nd try was my mom's Caravan) and got the same result both times: lights and sounds on the interior work, engine cranks, but doesn't want to fire up. I remembered I was low on gas, so I put some fresh gas from a can and still the same results.

What could this be? Fuel pump? Starter? I know the battery is dead and I'll need a replacement or a good charge, but why wouldn't a jump work?

no fire whatsoever or fires and won't stay on at all

turns, but never fires.

its a risk but id like to see you put in a new battery or makse damn sure you have a great connection with some HD jumper cables.

Check your battery terminals.. They may have a little rust or corrosion that can cause a bad connection. Something similar happened to a friend's malibu. I think a wire brush did the trick.

Needs a better jump. Leave the batteries connected for a while while the one car is running to charge up your battery more before attempting to start. I don't know how long you're waiting to jump after you turn the host car on... but it should be at least a little while..

yeah it takes a few to get a good charge to fire it.

:agree:

exactly what i was gonna say....also move the wires around a little bit....might not be getting the best connection. give it a couple min, fire it up.

hmmm...okay, i'll try it again tomorrow after work. I hope i don't have to buy a new battery

If your battery is really old to begin with, not using it for a month probably caused it to go completely dead meaning you will need a new battery altogether. Otherwise, you will have to jump it every time.

Slightly different, but I keep a trickle charger on my motorcycle battery to keep it peaked. When battery juice falls below 50% it begins to permanently damage the battery.

All true, but my Alero is not my daily driver and I often got for weeks, sometimes months without using it and it starts up just fine.

thats fine and dandy but when you have an old battery. sometiems all it takes is just one long period for it to drain before its absolutly no good.

to the OP. if you charge your battey with cables and then take them off, do your head lights remain on for alittle while showing that there is a charge in the battery or do they shut off as soon as you disconnect? if its the later of the two then you really need to try and swap a nother battery in

I decided to skip the charger and broke down and got a new battery. fired right up. When I was jumping it, it was turning, but the strength of each turn diminished as i kept trying. i figured that since it was a 7 year old battery, it was time for a replacement. WTF happened to battery prices?!?! the one I bought 7 years ago (SAME model as the one I bought today) was $35. the one I got today was $80

Get the charging system tested when you get time. I have found a few times over the years that when a battery goes it can overstress our alt and cause it to fail at the same time. Just get it checked for peace of mind when you get a chance. You may think all is fine until a month from now you kill another battery. If you do kill another battery in short order, you will want to get a alt for it...just mty 2 cnts

getting the charging systems not a bad idea. but remember his issue was because he let the vehicle sit for a month un used.