Long story short: My brother is the mechanic in the family, but he's on his honeymoon now and, being the dumbass that I am, I messed up his car pretty bad while trying to put in a new part he bought for himself.

I had the dash opened up, down to the gauge cluster, and had unplugged the wires going into the windshield wiper switches, the signals, cruise control, all of that stuff. While they were unplugged, I was stupid enough to be running the radio, with the engine off still. When I reassembled everything, radio STILL on and stuff now plugged back in, the car started , but only for a second.

I wasn't thinking, and started in first. I'm used to starting from neutral cause I'm a noob, so when the car lurched forward (parking brake still up, I let up off the clutch like a retard, and it stalled. Now it won't start.

I have NO IDEA what's wrong with it. It won't turn over. Interior lights still work and all, so I don't think it's the battery or whatever.

If somebody could help me out, what did I do wrong, and how can I fix it? I know next to nothing about cars, but I'm good mechanically, so I could probably figure out how to do whatever.

 

How long was the radio running while you were working on it? Long enough to drain the battery? Just because the lights work, doesn't mean the battery has a full charge. The starter draws a lot of amps, and if it's not getting all it needs, you'll just hear a "click" when you turn the key. Grab a multimeter and check battery voltage. It should have about 12.5 volts. Throw a battery charger on there and try to crank it. If it turns over, you know it wasn't getting enough juice.

 

The battery gauge flickers around the bottom when it's clicking... I'll check it with a voltmeter tomorrow, thanks a lot!

 

check your main fuse if ur worried u shorted sommat

 

Sounds like the battery is dead. Try charging it.

 

It could be dead even if the interior lights still come on? I'll give it a shot tomorrow, thanks.

 

I say check all the fuses, sometimes, even if the fuse is okay turning it 180 deg and pluggin it in due to the contacts.....just give it a try.

 

The interior light is a tiny draw of about 300mA or so. The starter pulls about 300A. The battery can be bead yet minor electrical loads still seem fine. But then when the starter is engaged, the voltage falls off rapidly.